History Of IKEA And Its SWOT Analysis

History Of IKEA And Its SWOT Analysis

Executive Summary

IKEA is a Sweden based company that is involved in the production of home appliances, furniture that is ready to assemble, electronic appliances amongst other products. IKEA is regarded as one of the biggest furniture retailers in the world. IKEA was founded in 1943 by one Ingvar Kamprad. Apart from Latin America and Africa, IKEA has stores throughout the world (Moon & Harvard Business School, 2004). IKEA is an acronym derived from the initials of the founder’s name (I &K), the farm that Kamprad grew up in Elmtaryd (E) and his hometown Agunnaryd (A).

Over the years, IKEA has been able to come up with a number of new products. The products vary with their functions (Dahlvig, 2012). Products may be furniture as mentioned above, kitchen appliances or even children’s toys. This means that there is a target audience for whatever new product is unveiled to the market. For example if a new toy is launched, obviously it would be meant for the kids, if a TV set is launched then it means it will be for the whole family and the trend will continue. The newest product that IKEA is launching is a new barbecue grill.

Barbeque grills have been in existence for some time and IKEA has not lagged behind in making the available. Barbeque grills are kitchen appliances that have been traditionally reserved for the men but IKEA makes it models user friendly so that anyone who is interested might be able to use them (Lewis, 2008). The new barbeque grill that IKEA wants to launch is known as the Bgrill 2013. The Bgrill 2013 is the latest barbeque grill that IKEA will produce and it will be a gas fueled grilled. The option of it being a gas fuelled grill is that IKEA has strict environmental policies and if compared to charcoal fuelled grills, gas is better. The target audience for this kind of grill will be the men, since men are the majority users of grills.

Project Description

Having established that IKEA is coming up with a new barbeque grill, it is important to know how the new product will be marketed. The grill will be referred to as the Bgrill 2013 and will mostly target the men. The reason for IKEA targeting the men is that, from analyzed purchasing trends, the men are the ones who purchase the grills. Another reason that the men are the targeted audience for the Bgrill 2013 is that, the societal norm puts men as those who do most of the grilling compared to any other gender/age group (Lewis, 2008).

There are several ways that the marketing strategy will take place. The most predominant strategy will be advertising. The advertising will use platforms such as TV, radio and newspaper/magazines. The reason these platforms will be used is that men (the main target audience) have access to them. This will allow the men to know about the Bgrill 2013 if it is advertised on them. Billboards will also be another appropriate way to advertise the Bgrill 2013. Billboards are effective since they are conspicuous to everyone inclusive of the target audience. The other marketing strategy will be door-to-door marketing. As it has been established, grills can be considered as kitchen appliance and for kitchen appliances one of the best ways to market them is to visit potential customers at their homes. This will enable the potential customers to have a personalized experience when being convinced to purchase the Bgrill 2013 (Dahlvig, 2012). The main reason that IKEA decide to come up with the Bgrill 2013 project is that the grill can realize immense profit if utilized well.

The Bgrill 2013 is a grill that can be used throughout the different seasons of the year. This makes it convenient for everybody thus making it an attractive commodity for potential consumers.

Consumer Analysis

SWOT

In any project that is undertaken, it is important to undertake a consumer analysis to effectively determine how a new product can break into the market. One of the ways to undertake the consumer analysis is by the use of SWOT. SWOT refers to strength, weakness, opportunity and threats. This form of analysis will effectively allow a precise consumer analysis for Bgrill 2013.

The strength of the Bgrill 2013 is that it is a modernized barbeque grill. The Bgrill is a gas fuelled barbeque grill that is safe and easy to use. It is a common fact that charcoal is not one of the best fuels to use especially with children around. Charcoal is known to cause carbon monoxide related accidents that may be fatal. The Bgrill 2013 is safe considering its piped system, which ensures the safe use of gas. The grilling space is another strength that the Bgrill 2013 has. The number of food products that can be grilled at the same is high making it efficient.

The weakness that Bgrill is that it is bulky. In order to have a large grilling space, the Bgrill has to be large. However with time, consumers need smaller and portable commodities. This means that the Bgrill is at a disadvantage compared to other smaller types of grills. For the opportunity aspect of SWOT, the Bgrill can utilize the fact that most grills do not have the capacity that it has when it comes to grilling space. The Bgrill can use that as advantage to capture the consumers who prefer a larger grilling space.

With this in mind, IKEA can create other types of grills that have large grilling space. This will enable IKEA to capitalize on an untapped market. The grills will not have to be exactly like the Bgrill 2013 but can borrow its concept in their manufacture of future grills.

The threat that the Bgrill 2013 has is the copycat products that can arise from other grill manufacturers. Being a unique design, it can be easily copied. If the Bgrill is copied by other grill makers, there is the threat of losing profits. The loss of profit will come in the form of consumers buying fakes instead of the original Bgrill.

Market Mix

Market mix is another consumer analysis tool that can be used to determine how Bgrill 2013 can fair on in the market. Market mix is based on the 4 P’s. The 4 P’s are place, promotion, price and product. The place looks at where the Bgrill 2013 will be marketed, the promotion looks at how the Bgrill 2013 will be promoted to the targeted consumers. The price and product looks at how the price of the of the Bgrill 2013 will fair on with the current needs of the consumers and the product looks at the aspect of why the consumers should use Bgrill 2013 and not any other grill.

The promotion as mentioned before will be based majorly on advertisement. Therefore the market will be stores where the advertisements can be seen or other scenarios be heard. The advertisements will be also be on the media platforms such as TV, radio and print meaning that they will be accessible from literally everywhere be it homes, workplace or any other place. The place that the Bgrill will be promoted will be of course IKEA stores and the retail stores that work with IKEA.

I had mentioned that the Bgrill would get some audience if it is marketed from house to house since it is a home appliance. Home appliances have adequate when marketed at home (Moon & Harvard Business School, 2004).

The price of the Bgrill 2013 will be essential to attract potential customers. Being a new product with unique features the price will be slightly higher as compared to other grillers in the market. The feature of having a larger grilling space is another factor that will make it a more expensive compared to the rest of the grillers. However, it should be noted that the price range of the Bgrill 2013 will not be more than 50% of the actual market price of grillers (Lewis, 2008). The large grilling space of the Bgrill 2013 is what makes it unique. This will in turn attract consumers into buying it. In the current market, there is no griller that has the space that the Bgrill has, meaning that it has an eager group of potential customers.

References

Dahlvig, A. (2012). The IKEA edge: Building global growth and social good at the world’s most

iconic home store. New York: McGraw-Hill

Lewis, E. (2008). Great IKEA!: A brand for all the people. London: Marshall Cavendish

Business.

Moon, Y., & Harvard Business School. (2004). IKEA invades America. Boston, MA: Harvard

Business School.

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