Experience at IKEA

I remember the first time I walked into Ikea. It was the most amazing experience I had ever had. I really hadn’t done any furniture shopping until I needed to move to my apartment in college. As we discussed in class, I was one of the many people who believed furniture shopping would be a big drag and painful excruciating experience. So I wasn’t really looking forward to furnishing my apartment at all.

Big sign is very inviting!

But even before I walked in the store, they had 5 furniture pieces that were extremely good deals for college students – I still remember of them was a table for 7.99. When I saw that I knew I was at the right place to shop for furniture. I remember going to Roomstore when I was little. This was the only other furniture shopping experience I had prior to IKEA. When I saw the prices at Roomstore, I almost fainted. But even before I walked into the store the point of sales display they set up was already giving me a good impression of IKEA. And after that, when I saw the interior designed rooms with IKEA furniture, I was honestly shocked at how amazing such affordable simple furniture can look when they put everything together. This was all in the first few moments of getting out of the car and walking inside and IKEA had already created this impressive image about their brand and store.

Arrows leading the experience through the interior designed rooms

 What I liked a lot was that the store was laid out in a way so that it was an experience for the consumer. So like from the beginning you start at the interior designed rooms and arrows lead you to the chairs, kitchens, beds and so on. Designing and really walking through everything with the people your with is really what made the experience special. I mean no one goes shopping for furniture alone, there are always opinions to be discussed and really it’s an experience to decorate one’s own house. The experience was really fun. I remember they also had like demonstrations where they had a hammer running into a chair continuously and a sign that said they thoroughly tested the quality of their product. I was really impressed at the amount of effort they put to actually demonstrating something like this. Most other furniture stores are just like “yeah it won’t break” but IKEA really actually shows you a hammer running into a chair as proof. I think I felt a whole lot safer buying their products knowing that it was quality after that.  And halfway through this experiential journey, there is a food court! This was what really surprised me when I was there. I mean who expects a food court at a furniture store? I really felt like I was walking a journey going through the store. We had a rest and respite in the middle of the day and ate Swedish meatballs and got to try out exotic dishes from Sweden and Europe. I remember how we talked about how IKEA targets the experience to families because they want to make the furniture adventure fun and wants to make the families come back. I can totally see that now that I look back on my first trip. The interior designed rooms where family members can discuss how furniture could be arranged in accordance with their own house. And the food court in the middle. Not only that, but the end of the journey, where you actually have to pick up the furniture by yourself and you have to work with your family members to arrange it so that it’s not too heavy and all. You work as a team and that team effort builds some kind of connection and experience.

I think what IKEA was trying to do with their strategy in terms of consumer experience was that they were trying to capitalize a place where families can bond and select furniture for their house. Hence the food court in the middle of the stores. They also spent small parts proving to their costumers broad and general brand ideas like they create simple yet durable furniture. Hence the hammer running into the chair. And also the point of sales display they had out before I even walked in meant they were trying to convey that they were selling affordable priced product because no one really wants to go into a store and have them tell you it’s going to cost a fortune to decorate. So all these little tiny details combine and create a great experience for the customers.