IKEA CASE STUDY

ABOUT IKEA’S MISSION, VISION AND CULTURE:

IKEA’s group was deeply rooted in the Swedish culture where Ingvar Kamprad the founder of IKEA was
from. IKEA’s mission and its vision can be interpreted from their Swedish roots which manifest humility,
hard work, helping the community, and being close to nature. We can correlate humility and helping the
community to IKEA’s group's vision which is “To create a better everyday life for the many people”.
IKEA’s Mission was to give the many people “Democratic design” which was providing quality pieces at
accessible prices.

STRENGTHS OF IKEA:
IKEA’s strengths come from its supplier code of conduct “The IKEA way (IWAY)”. The IWAY did not just
look to benefit IKEA but also its suppliers. Sandeep Sanan, BDM for IKEA South Asia had shared that the
average working time with their suppliers was 12 years which proved how effective the IWAY was. The
IWAY was one of the biggest strengths for IKEA as it looked out for its suppliers and its employees.
Helped their suppliers with skill development, technology transfers, and provided any support to ensure
they stayed with IKEA. They even cared for their supplier's employees by giving them good working
hours, proper safety on the floor, and minimum salaries. The IKEA group’s focus on moving with time
and always identifying the state-of-the-art techniques to create low-priced items and its process of
involving a diverse team of technicians, manufacturers, and specialists to make the design process
unique was also one of their core strengths. Their adaptation of any Market, which is shown by
showcasing international bestsellers like the Expandable Billy bookcase as well as products specifically
made for India ranging from pressure cookers to spice utensils.

IKEA’S TARGET BUYERS IN THE INDIAN MARKET:

IKEA’S market research in India checked every aspect of market segmentation. The target buyers in the
Indian market varied a lot because of the sheer population of India and its lifestyle difference, they
ranged from brand-conscious and fun-loving young customers to students who loved low-cost functional
designs with resale value. After extensive research done by Maeztu and his team and Marie Lundstrӧm
IKEA could see the different values and ethnic backgrounds in different parts of the country, which only
expanded the target buyers demographic but found, resemblances within the different cultures, were
inviting relatives, friends, and family for meals and ate on the sofa and their love for bright colors, their
love for sofa and how their lives revolve around it seeing this IKEA India decided to modify its standard
design to make inflatable couches and sofa beds to fulfill consumers’ needs.
CHALLENGES IKEA IS FACING IN THE INDIAN MARKET:
IKEA’S Biggest challenge started in the furniture industry where they had problems finding the right
suppliers that met their standards or even have the mindset to reach those standards while being
environmentally friendly. The IWAY didn’t have as success in India as it did in Sweden or other parts of
the world. The diversity of India also posed a threat to IKEA as the geography within India changed, the
entire lifestyle was different as the people living in different parts of the country had their sense of
living, this caused IKEA to produce even a wider selection of products. The furniture market mainly being
unorganized which was 70% of the market caused IKEA to have trouble with competition as the
competition wasn’t a large group or an established company but of unorganized local retailers. These
are some of the challenges IKEA is facing in the Indian Market.