The Internationalization Of IKEA

International marketing:

Ikea is Swedish and international company found by Ingvar Kamprad. IKEA designs and sells ready to assemble furniture and home accessories.

The sources of IKEA’s successful entry into the furniture retail business were IKEA’s low prices and quality. Kamprad began selling furniture in his mail order company. Later he turned it into a business. Since 1935, furniture prices increased faster than any other retail good at around 41%. Kamprad reacted to this by selling his furniture in a price that all could afford. People saw IKEA furniture as an investment for the next 20 years. IKEA is known for paying the workers a living wage and is very transparent about the process of how the products are processed. Ikea works

Therefor Ikea is more advanced than its competitors due to the showrooms and the cafeteria that they provide for the customers. This made Ikea being a unique place for customers to go. IKEA is also a standalone store, meaning shoppers do not have to go though shopping center traffic or any other similar conditions.

Internationalization of IKEA was very important because it drove many IKEA’s top managers to positions of more responsibility, it increased profit, it enlarged the area of sales and it brought IKEA into new market places. It was also extremely important to make IKEA international because the Swedish furniture market was very adequate.

One of the challenges that IKEA faced was the fact that the average age and the income level in most developed countries was expected to increase while IKEA’s target market segment of young families which have a low to middle income, would be decreasing. However to overcome this issue, IKEA choose to solve this issue by expanding to different categories of furniture depending on the age factor; such as a variety of traditional designs for older people who are financially stable. Also different work based furniture for workers. IKEA also had to think about the different trade rates and the economical

Sweden is one of the most forceful defenders of women's rights and in this image there has clearly been a struggle between the values and financial problems. However when it comes to Saudi Arabia, it has happened before that a western business has surrounded woman’s rights to business interests.

In Sweden women have no clothing rules or any other rules of not being allowed to show skin. However, this is the total opposite of Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia women live under various restrictions, including no right to drive, and must be covered whenever they are outside their home.

IKEA nevertheless, regrets removing the woman from the Saudi Arabian IKEA catalogue. "We support the fundamental human rights of all people and we do not accept any kind of discrimination," the company, IKEA said in a statement to the BBC.

IKEA has a ling history with the UK. IKEA entered the market in 1987 and now has 17 stores in the UK. IKEA is one of UK’s biggest markets, then in Germany and then the USA. The target group is women in families aged 25- 45 in middle class (varies with the different products). IKEA in the UK also had a low price image and the customers trust IKEA. This of course is very important in the market, low prices and good