The roots of IKEA can be traced way back to the early 1940s when founder Ingvar Kamprad first began to sell furniture under the IKEA brand name. However, back then IKEA was only a small business that had virtually no impact on the furniture market. The same cannot be said about IKEA today.
Since then the company has expanded rapidly, spanning across multiple continents, and has impacted the global furniture market in numerous ways. The biggest way was the introduction of flat-packed furniture, which allowed people to save money if they are willing to assemble the furniture themselves. Although nowadays flat pack furniture isn’t anything special, as many other companies have jumped on the bandwagon, back then it was a revolutionary idea.
However, there have been rumors that IKEA flat-pack furniture is starting to lose its appeal. This article will discuss whether these rumors are true by looking at some of the advantages and disadvantages of IKEA style, quick-to-assemble, flat-pack furniture.
People Still Want Cheap Furniture
The biggest reason people tend to opt for purchasing IKEA furniture is because of its low prices. The reason why the price of IKEA furniture is so low is because they can fit more goods into shipment crates because the furniture hasn’t been assembled. This helps to keep transportation costs right down, meaning they can sell the items to their customers at low prices.
The fact of the matter is, low-cost furniture is always going to have a huge appeal. People will always appreciate that whether they have just moved into a new home, or one of their dining tables legs has gone they are able to head down to IKEA and pick up the furniture they need, without it affecting their wallet too much.
But People Also Want Originality
Nowadays, it is becoming more popular and trendy to have original furniture. This may mean purchasing custom-made furniture, doing a little bit of design work yourself or heading down to a thrift shop to find an edgy, unique piece of furniture.
Originality is something that IKEA furniture simply cannot offer. This is because their furniture is produced in vast quantities for the mass market. Because IKEA furniture cannot offer originality some individuals may not find it as appealing as other types of furniture.
Another solution can be creativity. You can still buy your home accessories in IKEA and can add some creativity to it. If you are a good painter, designer or simply really good at DIY, your case is almost solved.
Do People Have The Time For Assembling Furniture?
It has been suggested that we are now living busier and busier lives than ever before and that we want everything to happen in an instant. Assembling IKEA furniture is something that doesn’t happen in an instant. At least, not for me. Putting it together takes a lot of time and for some, it can be quite a stressful task. A lot of people would rather purchase ready-made furniture to save them the time and hassle. However, it is a little too bold to say that nobody has time to assemble furniture. People still have free time and will mostly likely continue to purchase flat pack furniture and put it together by themselves. It can also give you the feeling that you have done something for your flat and can make you proud saying: I made this!
People Want Quality
A criticism of IKEA flat pack furniture is that it isn’t the highest quality of furniture on the market. Therefore it could be argued that a lot of people would rather spend a little extra in order to get some furniture that is of higher quality. This may be the case for some people, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone wants to pay more. Therefore, IKEA furniture can still been seen as being appealing for a lot of people.
So Is IKEA Furniture Losing Its Appeal?
The final verdict is that IKEA furniture isn’t losing its appeal. Not for everyone. It’s just that nowadays there is a lot more choice when it comes to getting furniture. Cheap flat pack furniture continues to be appealing for some, whilst others would prefer to buy home-made, higher quality furniture instead. It’s also worth noting that people usually purchase furniture from a number of different places. So just because a person goes to IKEA doesn’t necessarily mean they have to buy all their furniture from there.
This is a guest post by Samantha, who is a full-time blogger and writer, but also a huge DIY and home decorating fan.