Week One: Ikea's Brief History and Mission Statement

Ikea was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943.  The name of the brand is actually short for Ingvar Kamprad's initials and the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, which is the farm and village where he grew up in Sweden.  He first started to sell pens, wallets, watches, picture frames, table runners, and jewelry at low prices, until, five years later, he introduced furniture into his business.  After seeing positive feedback, he expanded the line and produced the first Ikea catalog in 1951.  Ikea had it's first showroom in 1953, so that their customers can see and feel the quality of the furniture before they plan on buying it.  The showroom was also an example of what was the right choice when other companies were lowering prices as well.  In the end, Ikea was successful at this, and moved on to designing furniture for flat-pacts.  Flat-packing began when a worker of the company disassembled a table to fit inside of a car to avoid damage to the product.  Self-assembled furniture also stemmed from this action.  Finally, in 1958, the first Ikea store opened in Älmhult, Sweden, which was the largest furniture display in Scandinavia with 6,700 square feet of home furnishings.

 But, of course, Ikea wasn't done there.  After it's first in-store restaurant opens, and three decades worth of store openings around Europe, the United States, and Australia, the official Ikea website is launched in 1997.  Now, as of May 2010, Ikea has 313 stores in 37 different countries.  Ikea's mission statement is "to create a better everyday life for the many," which means they "offer a wide range of home furnishings with good design and function at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.  Most of the time, beautifully designed home furnishings are usually created for the few who can afford them. From the beginning, IKEA has taken a different path. We have decided to side with the many. That means responding to the home furnishing needs of people around the world: people with many different needs, tastes, dreams, aspirations and wallet sizes; people who want to improve their homes and their everyday lives.  It's not difficult to manufacture expensive fine furniture: just spend the money and let the customers pay. To manufacture beautiful, durable furniture at low prices is not so easy - it requires a different approach. It is all about finding simple solutions and saving on every method, process or approach adopted - but not on ideas."  (ikea.com/ms/en_AA/about_ikea/the_ikea_way/our_business_idea/a_better_everyday_life.html)