Ikea

International Marketing
April 2010
Vanesa Aba
Alba Caínzos
Melania Mantiñán
María Terrón
Index
Introduction________________________________________________

____ 2
About IKEA______________________________________________________ 3
The IKEA concept ______________________________________________ 7
SWOT Analysis __________________________________________________ 9
Pros &Cons: Strategic alliances and joint ventures _______ 10
IKEA Strategies __________________________________________________ 12
Political and Economic environment in Brazil______________ 16
IKEA in Spain _____________________________________________________ 18
Sources ____________________________________________________________

19

Introduction
IKEA is an internationally known home furnishingretailer. It has grown rapidly since it was founded in 1943. Today it is the world's largest furniture retailer, and it is recognized for its Scandinavian style. The majority of IKEA's furniture is flat-pack, ready to be assembled by the consumer. This allows a reduction in costs and packaging. IKEA carries a range of 9,500 products, including home furniture and accessories. This wide range isavailable in all IKEA stores and customers can order much of the range online through IKEA's website.

IKEA stores also include restaurants which serve typical Swedish food. They also have small food shops selling Swedish groceries, everything from the famous meatballs to jam. Stores are located worldwide.
Low prices are one of the key concepts of the IKEA model. This low price strategy iscarried out thanks to a wide range of well designed and functional products. IKEA's products cater for every lifestyle and life stage of its customers, who come from all age groups and types of households. This is vital in times when the retail sector is depressed, as it increases IKEA's potential market.

Since it was founded IKEA has always had concern for people and the environment. The IKEAvision 'to create a better everyday life for the many people' puts this concern at the heart of the business. IKEA has responded to the public’s rising concern for sustainability in its choice of product range, suppliers, stores and communication. It has also spotted business potential in providing sustainable solutions. IKEA's concern for people and the environment encourages it to make better useof both raw materials and energy. This keeps costs down and helps the company to reach its green targets and have an overall positive impact on the environment.
IKEA's goals of sustainability and environmental design are central to its business strategy. It has launched a new sustainability plan to take the company through to 2015. This will combine social, environmental and economic issues.About IKEA
IKEA history - how it all began

The IKEA story began in 1943 in the small village of Agunnaryd in Sweden, when founder Ingvar Kamprad was just 17. Since then, the IKEA Group has grown into a major retail experience with 123,000 co-workers in 25 countries/territories generating annual sales of more than 21.5 billion euros.
There is a grand total of 301 IKEA stores in 37countries/territories. The IKEA Group itself owns 267 stores in 25 countries:
 
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA.
 
The other 34 stores are owned and run by franchisees outside the IKEA Group in 16 countries/territories. These are Australia (2), the United Arab Emirates (2), Cyprus (1), Greece (3), Hong Kong (3), Iceland (1), Israel (1), Kuwait (1), Malaysia (1), the Netherlands (1), Romania (1), Saudi Arabia (3), Singapore (2), Spain (4), Taiwan (4), and Turkey (4).

The following history shows how over six decades IKEA went from the woods of southern Sweden to being a major retail experience in 40...