Ikea, brand audit

Résumé du document

The scopes of this report are the following: we want to understand more about IKEA's strategies in the furniture retail market. When it comes to brand auditing, several questions should be examined and assessed. These questions are: How well is the business' current brand strategy working? What are the company's strengths and weaknesses? What are its external opportunities and threats? How competitive are the business prices and costs? How strong is the business' competitive position in comparison to its competitors and finally, what strategic issues are the business facing?

IKEA is a china based franchise of household furniture stores. The IKEA began its operations in 1926. The founder Ingvar Kamprad was born in Småland in southern Sweden. In the 40's, he developed IKEA as a furniture retail store. This period explored furniture designs, self assembly, advertising, the use of a catalog and showroom to reach people. In the 60's, the IKEA concept started to take shape. New IKEA stores opened and “hero products” were developed such as POÄNG and BILLY bookcase. The owner and franchiser of the IKEA system is based in the Netherlands. Their business motto is: "We shall offer a wide range of well-designed, functional furnished home products at low price that as many people as possible will be able to afford them."

Extraits

[...] The brand is also a very favorable. IKEA satisfies every needs and wants of customers by offering a wide range of products and has a unique brand association as explained above. Strategic Brand Management Recommendations: IKEA should probably, in the long term, create an electronic catalogue. By doing this, on a CD for example, it would reduce the delivery costs to a minimum as a CD is much smaller than an 800 pages IKEA catalogue. It would also be a better thing for the environment. [...]

[...] They are indirect competitors. SWOT Analysis of IKEA: Brand Equity Evaluation: Brand Awareness: - Brand Recognition: IKEA is linked to a lot of elements that help the customer with the brand recognition. Those different attributes are the big blue warehouses, the big yellow IKEA letters on the stores, the flat-pack that is only associated with IKEA and for a lot of customers, the Daims candy that are sold inside the shops as well as the hours spend building a small table. [...]

[...] What are its external opportunities and threats? How competitive are the business prices and costs? How strong is the business competitive position in comparison to its competitors and finally, what strategic issues are facing business? Background about the Brand: Historically speaking: IKEA is a franchise-based chain of household furniture stores. The IKEA story begins in 1926 when the founder Ingvar Kamprad was born in Småland in southern Sweden. In the 40's, Ingvar Kamprad, an entrepreneur, develops IKEA as a furniture retailer. [...]

[...] Anders Dahlvig, the former CEO, even said about IKEA that the awareness of the brand was much bigger than the size of the company. IKEA is also a sort of state of mind. It is cheap, modern, has a lot of promotions and has even become a sort of family attraction. Because of these qualities, IKEA is the cure to people multiple furniture choice and lifestyle because for every product, there are a lot of choices, all of which are at a reasonable price. [...]

[...] Moreover, creating an electronic catalogue could allow a 3D animation of the different products in a real environment. Customers would not have to come to IKEA stores to measure furniture and it would certainly allow a catalogue with much more products than a normal paper catalogue would contain. References - Armitstead, Louise (October 2010). "Ikea". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.economist.com/node/18229400?story_id=18229400 www.Ikea.com http://www.rue89.com/2012/02/28/espionnage-quand-ikea-faisait-son-marche- dans-les-fichiers-de-police-229786 Linked into the consumer's mind. Going to an IKEA is like going a wine club for some customers. [...]