IKEA, a conglomerate that designs and sells 

ready-to-assemble furniture, , kitchen appliances

and home accessories, among other goods and home services. Founded in Sweden in 1943 by
17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been the world's largest furniture  retailer since 2008

Inbound logistics for IKEA is associated with purchasing raw materials from 1002 suppliers
located in 51 countries globally and relationships with supplier are maintained via 42 trading
offices around the world. IKEA store is massive and has more than 9,500 product range  and
about 20-25per cent of employees in each store deal with logistics. Economies of scale and the
presence of strategic relationships with suppliers and Do-It-Yourself assembly principle for
many IKEA products lowers the cost of packaging and makes inbound logistics easier to
facilitate.
 IKEA operations are divided into three divisions – Franchise, Property and Finance divisions,
with Franchise Division being the core of the business. IKEA follows de-centralization business
strategy in running its global operations. According to this strategy, regional managers are
granted decision-making autonomy taking into account unique aspects of their markets, local
culture, patterns of local consumer behaviour and other region-specific factors.
IKEA Group has 340 stores in 28 markets around the world. The majority of IKEA products are
developed by IKEA Industry, the largest producer of wooden furniture in the world. IKEA
Industry consists of 40 production units in 10 countries. IKEA, by locating the massive chunk of
its manufacturing units in Eastern Europe and China, the company saves on the cost of human
resources to a significant extent.
  Customers are responsible for costs associated with the transportation of goods purchased
from IKEA stores. The company offers two types of delivery services. Parcel delivery is a service
to deliver small items weighting up to 25kg and the company charges around USD 12 depending
on the location of the specific store.
Truck delivery, on the other hand, is made for purchases exceeding 25kg and IKEA charges
starting from approximately USD 50 for truck delivery.
The home improvement and furnishing chain uses print and media advertising, sales
promotion, events and experiences, public relations and direct marketing techniques in an
integrated manner.
IKEA is a multichannel retailer and integrates selling through stores, catalogs, website and
app.  The furniture giant relies in its catalogues extensively for marketing and sales and more
than 200 million catalogues are printed each year globally.
 If customers find out that some parts of assembly furniture are missing, they don’t have to go
back to IKEA store. Customers can find out the missing part number (listed in the assembly
instructions), call their local store to ask for replacements and the replacement will be mailed
to them. In FY19 alone, IKEA Group Customer Support Centres provided personal support to 20
million customers. Covering topics ranging from product advice and order changes to lost teddy
bears.