Do you think of IKEA products when you are renovating your home or getting new furniture? What about accessories like table lamps and floor rugs? Or, having a complete remodel of your entire interior? For many people, the Swedish retailer is at the top of their shopping list and if it’s not on yours yet, it’s probably time for you to hit an IKEA store to see what all the fuss is about.
IKEA can be described as a one-of-a-kind homewares store. You might even go so far as to call it a spectacular furniture store. The sort of place browsers can go for their vacations!
It is a Swedish-founded multinational group that has been designing and selling all types of home products, ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances, and a wide range of other amazing goods and even home services. Perhaps, you shouldn’t be surprised when you see a group of excited and overenthusiastic people huddled over an IKEA catalog that has just come out, and gushing over every page and every single design in that book! That is what makes IKEA so special; it is not just any furniture store, it has actually transformed into a way of life. If you’re out to dinner and asked “Have you got a BILLY?” you know instantly you’re being asked about the iconic Billy Bookcase, IKEA’s second-best selling item (see the statistics about their meatballs below), which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2019.
Fun Fact: The inventor of the Billy Bookcase also invented flat-pack furniture! He couldn’t fit a table into the his car so pulled off the legs to make it work. IKEA have taken the concept of flat-pack and made it their own, to the extent that in partnership with a construction company in Sweden, they now make prefabricated houses for the masses.
The 2021 print catalog is especially interesting since it celebrates IKEA’s 70th anniversary and is the final print version to be published. Customer behavior has changed and online sales have rocketed so Ikea’s decision to shelve its beloved catalog probably comes as no surprise.
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IKEA – A Real Universal Wonder
With its operations expanding to a total of 44 countries, IKEA has become a global destination store and the world’s largest furniture retailer. From something as simple as a potato peeler to full-sized bathroom furniture sets, it has literally everything, you just name it.
Entering an IKEA store for the first time is something like how you imagine Alice would have felt as she exited the Rabbit Hole. The best thing about any IKEA store for newbies is that there is a linear layout so you won’t become mesmerized about the sheer number of products and never find your way out again! There is an incredible range and variety and they were the first to set out furniture stores in rooms so that if you are challenged by interior design, you can simply buy the whole room. Chances are that for some of their stores, it will probably take you more than a day to take in everything!
Fun Fact: While all the IKEA stores may look the same from the outside, the interiors can vary enormously depending on the culture of the country. For instance, because children in South Korea sleep in their parents’ room until they are six or seven, the bedrooms in the South Korean IKEA stores have children’s beds next to the larger adult bed. Source: Fast Company
In 2021 IKEA runs 458 stores and 30 franchised units worldwide with the largest market being in Germany where it has a total of 53 massive stores. The company was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad and the first ever IKEA store that opened was in Almhult, Sweden. Eventually, that was followed by the opening of other outlets and stores in neighboring countries like Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.
Interestingly, the name ‘IKEA’ isn’t just a random name that was coined one lazy Sunday afternoon, but it actually holds great significance for the company’s founder, Ingvar Kamprad, and now its new owner, Mathias Kamprad, Ingvar’s son. The name is an acronym where the first two letters represent the first and last names of its founder i.e. Ingvar Kamprad, the third letter is his birthplace Elmtaryd, and the last letter is a symbol of a nearby village in Southern Sweden called, Agunnyrad.
IKEA thrives on their beautiful vision which is to ‘create a better everyday life for the many people’. The store has been working on that vision and bringing it to life ever since the day it was founded by offering highly functional, practical-to-use and extremely well-designed home furnishing products at prices that wouldn’t burn a hole in people’s pockets. IKEA took reverse-engineering to new levels by working out what people could afford to pay for furniture items, and then designed and sourced materials to make that price possible.
IKEA’s main strength that sets it apart from other such stores and gives it a definite edge over them, lies in the fact that it aims to furnish your entire home rather than catering to a specified list of things. Be it your bathroom, kitchen, dining or even your garden, IKEA has a little something for everything and everyone. To demonstrate this point, the company had to ban sleepovers in its stores when it became the target of an online challenge to sleep in a department store overnight.
The IKEA Catalog
So, you are unable to head to the IKEA store in your region to look at their recent, brand-new collection because it is just way too far away from where you live? Or simply, there is no IKEA store in your country? I know what this feels like. Dare I say under-privileged? It sure felt like it when there was no IKEA store in Ireland and I then moved to New Zealand and there wasn’t one there either! Furnishing houses in both countries without the Swedish assistance was challenging at times.
Hopefully you’ve got an IKEA in your country and you’re not feeling bereft because your favorite furniture store in the whole world has their catalog with their latest collection out and you just can’t see it for yourself.
Fear not! IKEA’s promise to take good care of its customers and its vision to make a better everyday life for its customers led to the birth of the annual IKEA Catalog
Since its inception in 2004, it has become the major major marketing tool for the Swedish furniture company and spends approximately 70 per cent of its entire marketing budget on content creation. Source: Business2community Around 208 million copies of their catalog are printed and distributed in 32 languages and 62 variations worldwide, which is almost triple the number of Bibles printed and sold during the same period. The 2021 printed catalog is the final version in this format. It will no longer be printed but will now be available for US customers online on the IKEA website and on their App.
If you think that the IKEA catalog is simply a glimpse at their amazingly diverse range of products and appliances, you couldn’t be more wrong because it is so much more than that! The catalog doesn’t only display the products that are available in all the IKEA stores, but it also provides absolutely unique affordable solutions and really innovative approaches, all of which are catered towards a better, stylish and easy living.
Now, you might think to yourself that the IKEA stores are so incredibly huge so how on earth could a single catalog be a representative of the entire physical store? Well, the answer to your question lies in the fact that the book contains over 300 pages and displays more than 12000 products! To add to that, each edition takes almost a total of 10 full months to be developed from the basic concept to the actual final product. Hardly surprising considering that approximately 2,000 new products are added annually.
Why Get Your Hands on the IKEA Catalog This Instance
When you read about the most popular and widely circulated books in the world, you would typically expect them to be religious texts like the Bible or perhaps, young adult fiction such as the Harry Potter series.
Surprisingly, right up there with them is the yearly IKEA catalog and has been ranked as one of the most popular books in the world. Now that this iconic publication will no longer be produced, the 2021 edition is even more desirable for the nostalgia value alone. But these are other reasons why you must get your hands on the IKEA catalog!
Single Solution to all Your Renovation Woes
If you have ever renovated your home, you will know exactly the kind of struggle and hassle you have to go through when trying to pull a room design together from different sources. Hopping from website to website, choosing, comparing, checking reviews and most of all, trying to find something that looks a bit different, a bit more unique. Like you.
And then, if you interior design doesn’t come naturally to you, you being to doubt your choices. Will you end up with a contemporary-styled home or will it look like it just stepped out of the 80s because that’s the last fashion you remember?
The IKEA catalog offers you a solution that is literally the one-stop shop for every piece of furniture and accessory that you need. You can find anything and everything in that catalogue! If it’s the online catalog you have you can zoom in and out to check features, add to your shopping cart for later, choose your colors, and even print off as PDFs if you want the paper version.
Simply Flip through Pages
If you don’t have the print version, you can still flip through the pages online as the catalog is laid out as a flip book. However, for this year, enjoy the experience of cozying up on your couch with a hot chocolate or coffee and flip through the pages on a cold, winter evening. You can pick out what you want and then see it in more detail online and even place your order without leaving the house.
Killer Furnishing Ideas for your Home
Most people considering a renovation on their home want their design to be contemporary and on-trend. If your closest furniture showroom still has stock from 5 years ago, you’re going to be out of step with your friends and neighbours. And the truth is, your home is THE place you want to show off.
The IKEA catalog is the best and the easiest way to take a look at the most current and modern designs that are making waves in the furniture world. The best part about this iconic catalog is that it also gives you innovative and artistic ideas as to what you should and shouldn’t do when relocating or renovating.
Convenience at Its Best
There are many ‘best’ parts about the IKEA catalog, but you know what really and truly stands out about it? It has prices mentioned on top or towards the side of every single piece of furniture, home product, kitchen appliance, or any other miscellaneous item on every page! If that is not sheer convenience at its best, we don’t know what is! This feature comes in particularly handy when you want to remodel your house. You can easily calculate the cost of the things that you like best and then compare them with what you had in mind or according to the budget that you set for furniture.
Free Inspiration Inside
Another great thing about the catalog is that it is not meant for only those people who are looking to completely refashion their home, but it is also for those who just want some inspiration for refreshing their interior with some new, unique ideas. The catalog is a treasure trove of ideas so whether you want to change how your kitchen looks or want to get a stylish bookshelf for your bedroom, you will find just about everything in there.
Designer Advice within the Catalog
Every year the catalog comes with surprising nuggets of information from amazing interior designers. They give some of their most inspiring advice on how to decorate your home and jazz it up a little with the help of a few changes here and there. Keep your eye out for this advice if you want to find out different ways to rearrange and modify your existing furniture!
How to Get the IKEA Catalog?
Well this is a question that used to bother many IKEA fans but no longer is this the case. Simply log online to IKEA.com and it will default to your specific country.
However, although we’ve said it before, we’ll say it again, IKEA always looks out for its devoted customers by providing them with extreme ease and convenience. This amazing Swedish company has come up with several ways through which everyone can have their fix of IKEA catalog
Pick a Free Catalog from the Store
If you have an IKEA store near your house, excellent, but if you can’t go there every other day, simply pick a catalog from its outlet. Each year, the staff at IKEA distributes the catalog at every outlet or store where they keep it available for their customers.
All you have to do is visit the nearest IKEA store and pick one up for free! Isn’t that just so amazing? It just goes to show how they truly care about their fans and customers.
View It Online
So, you went to your nearest IKEA store to get a free catalog, only to find out that they are not available anymore. Well, that shouldn’t be an issue because the entire range is available online for you to view without any hindrance. All you have to do is visit their website, find the online catalog and keep flipping until you find what you are looking for. The online catalog also has fascinating videos, amazing tricks, and tips for your home and some incredible inspirations and ideas for revamping your home.
Download a PDF Version
Other than having to scroll online, you can simply download a PDF of the catalog pages you need, and print or save so you can look at it whenever you want!
Get the App on Your Phone
Most people just prefer having everything on their mobile phone because nowadays, phones have simply become a way of life. What could be better than having the entire IKEA catalog on your phone, right? All you need to do is download the IKEA mobile application which is like an extended version of the catalog that you find online or in the printed form. The biggest benefit associated with the app is that it saves a lot of time because you can take screenshots of your favorite items and save it in your phone. Whenever you go to the store next, you can simply show the staff a picture of what you want and they can confirm the availability of the product within a matter of a few minutes. IKEA has apps for both iOS and Android that you can download via the Apple App Store or Google Play, respectively. The apps come with additional features on the go which is a plus for most users.
Order Online
Most IKEA stores now have online ordering and delivery straight to your door. You can add what you need from the catalog straight to your shopping basket as if you were there browsing the aisles in person. Just go the website, select the catalog you want, and place your order. You will need to provide your name and address and method of payment. They take all major credit cards, IKEA Gift Cards and PayPal which is a welcome option for many people who don’t like using credit cards online.
The IKEA Catalog is undeniably a super easy and convenient way of exploring your favorite furniture store without leaving your home. However, if you ever get the opportunity, do visit a physical store. Walking through those fascinating corridors and aisles filled with furniture and homeware is just an incredible experience in itself. Regardless of whether you wish to purchase anything from the store or not, even roaming around will be great fun as you test out the furniture and examine the accessories for when you do need them.
Also, I can’t finish without mentioning the food! From deliciously tender meatballs (they sell over 1.5 Billion every year) to Toblerone-filled pain au chocolat, the food will delight. Also, don’t wait until the end of your day to eat, you’re likely to make unnecessary, rash purchases when you’re hungry so it makes sense to eat and then get back into the fray.
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