A company that speaks the global language By Bethany Cole

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

 Founded in 1943 in Sweden  1963 – Opened first store in Norway  1974 – Opened first store in Germany  Opened first store in Canada

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

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

 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

 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

 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

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