13 Things To Know About IKEA Before You Ever Go Back For More Furniture

by N/A, 10 years ago | 2 min read

IKEA may be the Disney World of furniture stores, but there's plenty you don't know about it.

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1. IKEA is an acronym.

IKEA is an acronym for the founders name. His name is Ingvar Kamprad. "IK" are his initials. The "E" stands for Elmtaryd which is the name of the farm he grew up on. The "A" is for Agunnaryd which is the name of the town he grew up in.

2. The product names are a result of Kamprad's dyslexia.

Kamprad would get get product codes mixed up because of his dyslexia, so instead he gave them Swedish names to differentiate them.

3. IKEA does some interesting user testing.

There are company "anthropologists" who will visit the homes of frequent shoppers to see how they interact with their furniture.Â

4. You love your furniture so much because you put it together yourself.

A study conducted by Harvard Business School found that people who had to work to assemble a purchase viewed it as more valuable.

5. The manuals contains drawings instead of words.

This is because it's more expensive to print words and would make the manuals much longer.Â

6. They built an apartment that was also a rock climbing wall.

To celebrate the 30th store opening in France, IKEA created an outdoor apartment/ rock wall hybrid.Â

7. A soap opera was shot there.

A soap opera parody called IKEA Heights was filmed at an IKEA store in Burbank, California. Actors wore microphones and acted out dramatic situations in stores while catching customer reactions. However, the show was filmed without the permission of management.Â

8. IKEA meatballs were once made with horse meat.

IKEA once had a meatball recall because traces of horse DNA were found in a batch of meatballs in Europe.Â

9. IKEA Malaysia once held a contest for people who looked like inanimate objects.

To promote a store reopening, IKEA Malaysia held a content to have people pose as their favorite IKEA product in order to win gift cards to the store.Â

10. People in China love to use IKEA as a place for a quick rest.

It's very common for people in China to sit down and take naps on IKEA furniture. Employees are told to let them be, unless they're causing a disturbance.Â

11. It's been used for couple's therapy.

Therapists have had couples complete IKEA projects together when they're having problems communicating. It's surprisingly effective.

12. IKEA wasn't very successful when it first came to the U.S.

The first IKEA location in the U.S. opened in Pennsylvania, but a lot of people had problems pronouncing the names of the products.Â

13. Playing hide and seek isn't allowed.

IKEA banned hide and seek after 19,000 people showed up at an Amsterdam location to play.