The Persevering Story of IKEA and Ingvar Kamprad

Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, was born in Sweden in 1926. Little Ingvar spent his time selling pens, beads, matches, necklaces and similar small items to people nearby, rather than playing games like his peers. Ingvar, who has dyslexia, learned to read and write a little longer. Despite his learning disability, his father gave him some money for successfully completing high school, and this money became the starting point of IKEA.

Opened in 1943, IKEA only sold small household items for the first few years. Ingvar was handing out coffee and cookies to attract customers to the store. Later, he started selling furniture after being influenced by a rival firm selling furniture. When the sales yielded positive results, he decided to move forward in the furniture field; His goal was to sell cheap furniture. The first IKEA catalog was published in 1951. This catalog was a novelty for customers, as they could foresee the product they would buy and its features.

Ingvar Kamprad later bought a furniture factory, cutting costs even further. This act was condemned by the Swedish Furniture Federation. Some suppliers have ended the partnership. Thereupon, Kamprad started to import furniture pieces by finding new suppliers from Poland, and thus the concept of "piece furniture", which is IKEA's biggest differentiation point, came to life.

IKEA was not successful for a while when it first entered the US market. After the general manager went to America to investigate why, IKEA products turned out to be too small for large American homes. On top of that, IKEA redesigned one-fifth of its product line for the United States and sales increased by 40%.

It has continuously increased the number of stores and opened to different markets. IKEA has eliminated its competitors one by one with its combinable furniture suitable for both the budget and the eye. Ingvar Kamprad moved IKEA's headquarters to Copenhagen to avoid overtaxation in Sweden. It is currently headquartered in the Netherlands. The first two letters of the IKEA name come from the initials of its founder, Ingvar Kamprad, and the last two letters from the Elmtaryd farm in Agunnaryd, where Kamprad grew up. The logo takes its color from the Swedish flag.

Ingvar Kamprad, who died in 2018, was known for his meticulous work and frugality. Having traveled in economy class on airplanes all his life, driving an old-fashioned car and advising his employees that both sides of the paper should be used, Kamprad became the fourth richest person in the world in 2005 with a fortune of $28 billion.