When listing top furniture retailers of the world, remembering any other name before Ikea almost seems an impossible task. Ikea’s awareness of household furniture requirements for various types of consumers and its ability to have unique furniture layouts for every consumer type is a practice worth all the five-star ratings and positive feedback they get. The quality of ready-to-assemble furniture they provide is authentic and original and this plays a significant part in attracting consumers to their brand. This, however, creates a curious question: who makes all the furniture put up by Ikea in their showrooms and where? Although the popular furniture designs and features are created in Sweden, all the actual production and manufacturing takes place in countries like China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar, along with Eastern European countries like Romania and Poland. In total, over 1,300 vendors in 52 countries responsibly finalize and supply IKEA’s Swedish-style furniture across the world.
IKEA’s furniture: where are they made?
- IKEA furniture is made in different countries all across the world like China, Germany, and Sweden. The company has manufacturing facilities in more than 50 countries, with its sources of raw materials from even more places. IKEA furniture, is typically made of wood, metal, plastic, and a combination of all those materials.
- IKEA consists of about 43 production units in over nine countries: Hungry, China, Romania, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United States of America. These countries produce it’s popular items, such as chairs, tables, and dressers. IKEA also sources its raw materials from suppliers in these countries, which significantly helps them keep the costs down.
- One of the criticisms towards IKEA has been its past use of cheap labor in developing nations to produce its products. Concerning such criticisms, the company has taken steps to improve its working conditions at its factories along with ensuring that employees are paid fair wages.
- IKEA today is known for manufacturing more items in developed countries like the United States and Sweden although IKEA was forced to shut down its only factory in the US due to it incurring more than desired production costs.
The making of IKEA Furniture
- One interesting fact about IKEA; they do not make their furniture. The furniture designs are handled by IKEA designers all of whom reside and work in Sweden. The manufacturing takes place in factories spread across Europe and South East Asia.
- IKEA uses both in-house development and outsourcing to manufacture its products. They achieve this by signing manufacturing deal with other countries where IKEA develop their products depending on which location has the lowest production cost.
- Once the separate pieces are completed, they are shipped or distributed to IKEA retail centers across the world where interested customers buy them and then assemble those final products at home.
- China today is a favorable location for manufacturing since they have the lowest cost of production, which is why over 50% of IKEA’s products are produced there. The IKEA-owned factories are also stepping up their game and turning out products that fill their shelves. Cost of production is the important thing for this retail furniture giant.
IKEA’s quality of furniture and how it is different from other stores
- IKEA furniture is some of the best quality furniture available in the market. IKEA furniture is known for its durable nature with valid warranties.
- IKEA’s wide variety of furniture is created for a specific use, which explains why the wide variety of home furnishing and house decoration products are available to customers.
- Furniture used outside of its intended usage and for an extended period probably might not last as long as expected. This is why IKEA promotes its products for specific use with the promise that they will last for years if you use them responsibly.
- What separates IKEA from its competitors is its innovative and unique approach to designing and building its furniture as they are built in such a way that those with zero knowledge of assembling complex items would also be able to put together the different pieces into one complete piece of furniture. Giving people a connection to that furniture which they build by themselves.
How IKEA manages to keep its prices low?
- IKEA follows a low-cost and obligation-free business model, with the objective of optimum flexibility and minimal investment cost for serving various customer needs across different geographies. IKEA has always strived towards providing its products at the best possible price.
- IKEA also adopted a vertically -integrated supply chain model. This includes self-owned forestry operations, forestry specialists, and direct sourcing from over a thousand suppliers in more than 50 countries allowing them to maintain low prices across their huge network of stores.
- Within this past decade, the company also embraced an asset-light business model without the hassle of investing too much in inventories and property.
Conclusion
IKEA has a strong hold on millions of the middle class who come under the wider umbrella of the consumer class of people since it contains numerous groups of individuals and families that have a considerable amount of disposable income. Meaning that this is the target audience IKEA generally works toward attracting. The outsourcing and in-house development initiatives, along with the cost-effective and customer-friendly business models are clear indicators of IKEA’s success in the 21st century with its 79 years of humble origins safely in the background. One of the company’s famous strategies i.e. the IKEA effect is highly regarded as among many unique strategies that have helped the company in creating a special place in their customer’s minds that very few other companies have been able to replicate giving IKEA a quality advantage over its peers.
