1. A company that speaks the global language By Bethany Cole

2. WAL-MART (2012)  8,500 stores  Located in 15 countries  Revenue 26.5 Billion  Net Income: 15.6 Billion IKEA (2012)  332 stores  Located in 38 countries  Revenue 23.5 Billion  Net Income: 2.7 Billion

3.  Founded in 1943 in Sweden  1963 – Opened first store in Norway  1974 – Opened first store in Germany  1975 - Opened first store in Canada

4. Ikea uses universal ideas such as:  Customer Savings  Product Value  “Young people of all ages”  Hold onto their Swedish identity, while adopting local tastes. Ikea Dubai

5. Swedish menu items include:  Swedish Meatballs  Lingonberry jam  Ligonberry juice  Hot dogs  Prinsesstarta (Princess Cake)  Swedish Cookies

6.  Most Ikea food products are manufactured in Sweden, with traditional Swedish recipes  All Ikea refills are free  Product lines are named in Swedish  Bathroom articles: Scandinavian lakes, rivers and bays  Kitchens: grammatical terms  Chairs, desks: men's names  Fabrics, curtains: women's names  Garden furniture: Swedish islands  Lighting: terms from music, chemistry, and meteorology

7.  Viewed as an upscale furniture store when it first opened in 1998  China was not a very profitable country for Ikea  In 2010, Ikea reported 20% growth in sale in China after introducing products such as:  Chopsticks  Curtains  Mosquito nets  Water fountains

8.  Ikea is the worlds third largest consumer of wood  Ikea conducts thousand s of “home visits” each year  Ikea catalog is prints 175 million copies worldwide annually

9. "Fascinating IKEA Facts, Figures & Insider Info The New Yorker." Apartment Therapy. N.p., Oct. 2011. Web. 24 June 2012.. "IKEA." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 June 2012. Web. 24 June 2012.. "List of Countries with IKEA Stores." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 June 2012. Web. 24 June 2012.. "Walmart." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 June 2012. Web. 24 June 2012..