Why is IKEA successful?

In what ways is IKEA different? As summarized by IKEA itself, the product line is extensive, the design is exquisite and practical, the price is low, and it is also a professional inducement, such as experiential marketing, supply chain management, IKEA structure and so on. If you believe this, please be careful. Think about the story of the Trojan horse. Troy only saw the huge Trojan horse, but did not find the Greek soldiers hiding behind the Trojan horse.

Where is the backbone of IKEA benchmarking?

Reverse strategic positioning

Tracing back to the source, the success of IKEA is first of all the success of corporate strategic positioning. Deng Delong, general manager of trout Brand Strategy Consulting Company, believes that "IKEA's strategic positioning is self-service furniture service provider, and this unique positioning is the core of IKEA. Once occupied, it is difficult for competitors to imitate, and it is futile to imitate a link alone.

In corporate strategy master Michael. Porter's classic article "What is strategy? Published in 1996. Porter takes IKEA as a case to reveal what is the unique strategic positioning. "IKEA is doing the opposite." Ikea chose to carry out activities in a different way from other competitors and became a representative enterprise to explain its strategic positioning.

The core of IKEA's reverse strategic positioning is "low price" and "limited service". IKEA aims at young furniture customers, who care about low-priced fashion furniture. To fully understand this strategic positioning, we should go back to the beginning of IKEA. From 1950 to the early 1970s, the gross national product of Sweden grew at an average annual rate of 4%. The wave of modernization brought by this continuous growth makes the city expand and radiate to the suburbs. Young people urgently need to find a place to live and decorate their houses as cheaply as possible. This situation is strikingly similar to that of China today, which led to the "gold demand" in the "golden age".

1953, Ingvar, founder of IKEA. Kamprad gave up fountain pens, Christmas cards and all other industries, specializing in low-priced furniture business. However, at that time, the furniture market in Sweden was almost monopolized by the manufacturer cartel and the retailer cartel. The supply contract between the two furniture giants essentially ruled out the possibility of any competitor's entry, which means that the rules of the game have been set. Kamprad gave up confrontation and chose to "do the opposite": sell furniture directly to consumers as a furniture manufacturer and purchase furniture directly from independent manufacturers as a retailer.

In the following years, kamprad continued to carry forward this strategy of "doing the opposite". From 65438 to 0955, IKEA began to design its own furniture. 1956, IKEA introduced flat packaging, which became the key factor of IKEA's low price. 1958, the first IKEA store opened in Amholt, Sweden. From 65438 to 0963, IKEA began to enter overseas markets. 1965, the optional concept was born. ...

IKEA's strategy of "doing the opposite" is also reflected in its unique pricing method of "designing from the price tag". Look at the hot dogs sold by IKEA, which cost only 3 yuan, while in other places, similar products cost almost 10 yuan. This little hot dog perfectly embodies IKEA's "hot dog principle": the price is not only lower than others, but also much lower than others. In order to achieve this goal, IKEA's R&D system has adopted a unique method. One is to determine the price, that is, IKEA sets a relatively low sales price for the product before the designer designs the product, and then in turn looks for suppliers who can provide the product at a cost price lower than this price, thus combining low cost with high efficiency.

From the unique marketing concept to the strategic positioning, IKEA has spent decades to make it run efficiently. Around the strategic positioning, IKEA has carried out a series of interlocking integration. It looks like a sophisticated machine, but IKEA's strategic positioning consists of some priority strategic themes: first, limited customer service. In order to catch customers who are willing to save costs at the expense of service, IKEA has given up the usual tricks of its competitors. Ikea abandoned the sales method of sales staff close to customers, but adopted the self-help method of sales staff consultation and in-store display. Ikea doesn't have many service personnel, but it always reminds customers to "look at the label: on the label, you will see the purchase guide, maintenance method and price." Secondly, customers help themselves to shop. IKEA is good at setting up model rooms to display related products. Customers can imagine all kinds of furniture together without the help of designers. Ikea also encourages customers to "open drawers, open doors, walk on carpets, or try whether beds and sofas are strong." In this way, you will find how comfortable it is to rest on the IKEA sofa. "The third is modular furniture design. Different from other manufacturers' dependence on manufacturers, IKEA feels that it is more in line with the company's positioning to design low-cost, modular and self-assembled furniture.

Fourth, reduce manufacturing costs. In addition to cooperating with OEM suppliers, IKEA also encourages competition among suppliers, and IKEA also tends to award orders to manufacturers with lower overall prices. In order to further reduce the price, IKEA has adjusted its global supply chain layout. According to the sales changes of different products in different places, IKEA also constantly adjusts the global distribution of its production orders.

This low-price positioning is at the expense of some customer services, which also leads to customer complaints. In China, IKEA will be strongly questioned by customers: Why is there a charge for delivery? Why do you assemble your own furniture? Ikea has not given up its principle of "low cost", but it has also added many additional services that competitors do not have to make up: providing childcare services in stores; Extend business hours, even at night 10 during the National Day; Provide low-priced and delicious food and beverage service, and a curry chicken set meal only needs 9 yuan! These "reverse" strategies obviously excite young customers, because they may have children (but no nanny), have money but can only go shopping after work, and they prefer fast food.

Reverse thinking and unique positioning are ubiquitous in the production and sales process of IKEA. In the words of kamprad, the founder of IKEA, it is to turn shortcomings into profits. The specific way is that IKEA will let the shirt factory make chair cushions and the door and window factory make table frames, increase the price of umbrellas in sunny days and sell them at a discount when it rains. A typical example is "Xipa Chair". It took IKEA several months to find a suitable manufacturer, but it didn't succeed. Later, the designer of IKEA had a whim and decided to let the manufacturer of plastic bowls and buckets produce this kind of chair. As a result, the lines were simpler and brighter than originally designed.

Before the opening of IKEA Guangzhou store this year, IKEA designed the invitation letter to look like a plane ticket, which means that when we arrive at IKEA, we can leap to Sweden in one step. In early autumn of 2003, when IKEA released its New Year's strategy, it built a huge bedroom on a roof in Shanghai. All the guests and reporters are wearing pajamas and slippers, which look funny, in order to highlight the theme of "comfort".

Ikea spirit

A year ago, Du, general manager of IKEA China, was asked by a reporter: Why do you like to compare IKEA to animals? "Du Gou", thought for a long time before answering. In Du's view, this animal represents friendliness, loyalty, trustworthiness and peace, which coincides with IKEA's entrepreneurial spirit.

The source of IKEA spirit can be traced back to Ingvar, the founder of IKEA. Kamprad was born in Smaran, Sweden. The original meaning of Swedish is "small place", where the land is barren and people live in poverty, but the residents there are famous for their hard work and are good at making full use of extremely limited resources. This Smaran spirit makes IKEA exude a flexible civilian atmosphere both inside and outside.

Although there are many sayings, the core of IKEA spirit is "democratic spirit". For kamprad, the emergence of IKEA's "democratic spirit" lies in an accident in the 19 era. At that time, kamprad went to Italy to attend a furniture exhibition, and all he saw during the day were the most modern, luxurious and expensive furniture. At night, kamprad walked into an ordinary Italian family, and all he saw was cheap and even ugly. This scene dealt a great blow to kamprad. At the beginning of IKEA's business, kamprad set IKEA's development goal as: to create a bright future for ordinary people's daily life.

Fifty years ago, when the home furnishing industry marched towards higher prices and more luxurious designs, IKEA's concept of "popularization" was indeed a bit "hostile to the world". However, for kamprad, he caught a huge social wave. In fact, this sense of democracy and equality has a long history in Sweden. Everyone in Sweden will be cultivated and agree with the value that everyone should get equal opportunities, whether poor or rich. Only by understanding this unique Swedish spirit can we deeply understand the true meaning of IKEA's strategy of "low price under high value".

IKEA calls its products "democratic design"-simple, beautiful and reasonable in price. It is not difficult for designers to design a gorgeous piece of furniture at a high cost, but for IKEA designers, it is necessary to complete a product with the same efficacy and aesthetic feeling with limited resources. Industrial design is not a display of designers' aesthetic taste, but a comprehensive consideration of function, aesthetics and cost.

The true core of IKEA's democratic spirit is "alliance with customers". Ikea has repeatedly stressed that every product embodies the business philosophy of "serving the majority". In IKEA, after a new designer enters the company, the first lesson is to understand "the language of IKEA", and then he can let go of designing. When developing and designing new products, IKEA attaches great importance to involving front-line personnel in the design process, because only they know the needs of customers better; In addition, a large part of IKEA's product designers come directly from the retail department, have direct experience in dealing with customers, and have a better understanding of customer needs.

In order to emphasize the democratic idea of "alliance with customers" to employees, 1976, kamprad wrote The Belief of a Furniture Dealer, which became the "IKEA Bible". "Part of creating a better life for most people includes breaking the restrictions of status and tradition-becoming a freer person. To do this, we must be different. " Even in the 1990s, when IKEA accelerated its global development, it tried to maintain its original corporate culture. Kamprad said directly, "IKEA has always adhered to its important tradition, because this is not Swedish culture, but company culture. Otherwise, employees in other countries will not feel that they belong to IKEA. " In addition to bringing "simple, beautiful and reasonable price" products to the global market, IKEA also spreads the Nordic spirit of "equality and freedom" to all places. For young people, IKEA is more lethal than the practicality of products. No one can ignore such a general trend: everyone is eager to be the protagonist and dominator.

Brand religion

In terms of brand strategy, IKEA is also "doing the opposite". In September 2005, Businessweek and Interbrand jointly launched the list of "Best Brands in the World", and IKEA ranked 42nd, with a brand value of $7,865,438 million+$70 million. Prior to this, IKEA has been among the top 50 "Best Brands in the World" for three consecutive years. Incredibly, IKEA rarely invests in advertising.

In fact, the real core of IKEA brand is to make customers become brand communicators, not rigid advertisements. As a British media commented on IKEA: "It is not just a store, it is a religion; This is not selling furniture, it is setting up a dream for you. " Ikea knows the way of word-of-mouth communication, which seems primitive and clumsy, but it is efficient and perfect. IKEA is the "church" of this "brand religion". The 223 IKEA stores all over the world are "churches" that walk around. IKEA employees are the "clergy" of this "brand religion". After systematic training and value edification, they convey a set of life attitude and value style to the "teaching people", more than 300 million customers who enter IKEA every year.

In order to make more customers become brand evangelists of IKEA, an important strategy of IKEA is to "sell dreams instead of products". In order to do this, IKEA not only provides extensive, beautifully designed, practical and low-priced products, but also combines products with public welfare undertakings. About 10 years ago, IKEA Group began to participate in environmental protection issues in a planned way, involving materials and products, forests, suppliers, transportation, shopping mall environment and so on. Now, IKEA has taken the lead in passing the "Forest Certification", which is a popular international eco-environmental certification, including forest management certification and production chain audit. Ikea even said that it would not ignore social phenomena such as child labor, racial discrimination and the use of illegal wood from primitive natural forests.

For a long time, the main force that IKEA relies on to spread its brand is the IKEA Catalogue. Many people compare it to printing more books than bibles. In fact, its communication effect is comparable to that of the Bible. This booklet, which was born in 195 1, has obvious mail order characteristics. However, kamprad gradually turned it into a sermon manual for a new life. These catalogues not only list the photos and prices of the products, but also fully display the features of IKEA products from the aspects of functionality and aesthetics through the careful design of designers, from which customers can find inspiration and practical solutions for home layout. At the beginning of September every year, at the beginning of the new fiscal year, IKEA will distribute beautifully made catalogues to consumers free of charge. In 2005, IKEA Catalogue * * was distributed in 25 languages and 52 editions1600,000 copies.

Ikea also has a unique strategy, adopting the brand of "integrated brand" mode, that is, having brand, design and sales channels. In terms of product brands, IKEA divides the company's more than 20,000 products into three series: IKEA office, home storage and children's IKEA. With the strong support of IKEA brand, more than 20,000 products have established their own brands. From Sandomon sofa to EXPEDIT bookcase; From FAKTUM cabinet to MOMENT dining table; Champagne glasses as small as a dollar, JULEN.

But in China, IKEA also began to try other brand strategies. In September, 2002, a TV short film called "A Good Life at IKEA" was broadcast in Beijing and Shanghai at the same time, which was the first time that IKEA used the media of TV in the four years since it entered the China market. Every episode of this 8-minute short film uses stories to solve a difficult problem in family life.

According to Du, president of IKEA Asia Pacific, these activities are to support IKEA's image of creating a better life for ordinary people every day. Du said, "Our goal is to do a random market survey on the street and ask consumers: How to better decorate their houses? I hope their answer is: IKEA. Make IKEA the first choice. "

Kamprad's Secret

There is no denying that IKEA is famous not only for its business model, but also for the way kamprad manages the company. What's kamprad's secret? The core of this secret lies in kamprad's firm belief that the company has never reached a perfect state, so don't cry roast meat. Don't take anything for granted, you must plan and prepare for the difficult times in the future. His creed is: success is the greatest enemy of success. In view of this idea, kamprad designed a set of extremely perfect and exquisite control system. The dual fund in the Netherlands, Ying's Fund-IKEA Fund, is the backstage boss of IKEA organization, with Ying's Holding Group and two auxiliary groups for substantive operation: one is IKEA Service Group, and the other is IKEA Indoor Systems Company. Only in this way can we ensure that we are not subject to a certain country or government, but always under the control of the family and enjoy the greatest benefits.

Equally important, kamprad understands the principle of combining rigidity with softness, and even a perfect system needs flexible emotional connection. Kamprad believes that the most important thing in leadership is "love". Only by applying this emotional advantage to employees can the whole enterprise become an emotional bond of a family. Kamprad's most emphasized business philosophy is "embracing art". When he meets the person he likes, he will give a strong hug first, and then a strong hug when he says goodbye. This concept is so important that kamprad always thinks about these questions when considering some important positions: Do they feel at home? Are they frugal? Can they deeply understand the intention of serving the majority of people?

More importantly, kamprad hopes that every employee at IKEA can turn frugality into profit. Unlike the bosses of traditional enterprises, kamprad's preference for thrift is almost paranoid. In the IKEA office in helsingborg, southern Sweden, visitors can see the striking slogan "Killa-Watt" on the wall at a glance. This almost paranoid frugality strategy not only forms a habit, but also forms a working attitude and solution. For example, when IKEA managers visited the northeast forest region of China, they found that when a large number of birch trunks were piled up on the forest floor, they were useless in the forest region, but IKEA did not give up these "useless things". They succeeded in making these materials into various houses.

Kamprad didn't lead the company by virtue of his personal charm, but successfully incorporated this personal factor into the blood of IKEA. In 2002, kamprad officially retired from the background, while the expansion speed of IKEA continued unabated.

Flexible enterprise

The enterprising IKEA is an enterprise that emphasizes flexible management.

"It is because of the management style of IKEA that I have worked in IKEA for 19 years." Du said that in Du's view, "IKEA is very human and requires IKEA managers to respect every employee and everyone is equal. Everyone is friendly. IKEA has created a free environment where everyone can take responsibility. Ikea will not punish you for making a mistake, but will give employees many opportunities. " Kamprad has been promoting the corporate culture of "company is home, and home is company" in IKEA since its establishment. The bread here has two meanings: first, he regards the company as a family, and he is the leader of the whole family; The other includes IKEA's concept of "producing affordable, practical, beautiful and cheap daily necessities for most people, that is, making it easy for others to settle down". Even in the global development, IKEA strives to maintain its original corporate culture. Kamprad said directly, "IKEA has always adhered to its important tradition, because this is not Swedish culture, but company culture. Otherwise, employees in other countries will feel that they belong to IKEA. " In order to achieve a standardized business development model, IKEA has also spent a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources to formulate a series of employee training processes and standards. One of the centers of IKEA training is to deeply implant IKEA's ideas into employees' hearts, cultivate a macro flexible thinking system, effectively deal with external changes, how to face difficulties, cultivate problem-solving ability and how to improve teamwork. Du's understanding is, "The core is to let these employees have an inspiring task. Ikea managers have more responsibilities than employees, and managers have the responsibility to take care of employees. The relationship between managers and employees is a very important link. In addition, the company should give employees more opportunities to expand their work experience and ability, and give you room to expand within the company. Therefore, everyone will say, "I have a job I like and people who are easy to get along with, and then I have a good future." Why should I leave? "For customers, the most direct expression of IKEA's flexibility is' IKEA smile'. In fact, smile service is not only reflected in the modular requirements of smile, but also includes flexible values: careful design, careful service, sincere listening to customers' voices, and promoting the development of IKEA. This flexibility makes IKEA's enterprise architecture and process design adaptable and flexible enough to respond quickly and efficiently according to the different needs of customers.

However, the unique flexibility of IKEA has also been challenged. In this era of faster updating, many people complain that the design speed of IKEA changes too slowly, basically only once a year, and they turn to another Nordic style furniture innovation. Others complain that the price of IKEA has dropped too slowly, and they choose domestic furniture brands like Jinma instead.

But what we can't ignore is IKEA's tenacity behind flexibility. In fiscal year 2004, the sales of IKEA in China was RMB 654.38+0 billion, accounting for only 6.5438+0% of the global sales of EUR 654.38+0.28 billion. However, in terms of sales and the number of visitors to a single store, IKEA China is in the forefront, which shows that IKEA still has great potential in the China market. IKEA Guangzhou Store opened on June 65438+1October 65438+February this year, which is the third store of IKEA in China. By 20 1 1, the number will increase to 10.

Compared with many competitors, where is IKEA's strongest competitiveness?

Du concluded, "First, the serialization of our products. Secondly, we show the method of our product series. Third, we create a unique shopping environment. Many customers don't necessarily buy things in the mall, but they are willing to shop here. " Du Yanfu's answer is very mild. But IKEA, which attracts customers like a magnet, finally hopes to attract more than just people. Check again, Wright 100 may find the information you need. 20 1 1-7-23 16:54:44