History Of Ikea

Ingvar Theodore Kamprad, a gifted dyslexic boy, was born on March 30, 1926, on a farm in Sweden. His father, who owned the farm, had committed suicide due to his company's bankruptcy. His mother, who was a willpower and perseverance woman, saved the company after her husband's suicide. Ingvar's family lived in poverty, and he began working early in his life, starting at just five years old. He started selling matches and pencils, buying them in bulk and reselling them to classmates for profit.

At the age of 10, he began selling various items, including fish and Christmas decorations. His only business companions were his bicycle and his instinct for business. However, he had a learning disorder that made it difficult for him to do well in school. At 17, he saved up some money from his father's gift and used it to pay the registration fees of the business firm. IKEA was born, coined from the owner's initials, Ivar Camp Red, and his place of birth.

Ingvar entered the farm and ignored the name, but eventually found ways to get products to customers at cheaper prices. He found a high demand for pins, which he used as his first and last loan in his life. He offered free coffee and buns to customers, which attracted them in large numbers. However, he soon realized that selling pins didn't have a future as a business and decided to step out of the PIN trade.

The idea for opening a restaurant at IKEA stores stemmed from the way food attracted customers to his store. This idea has been profitable for IKEA, even today.

Ingvar's journey from a small shed to becoming the world's largest furniture retailer is a testament to his determination and determination. His business model, which includes selling products at lower prices, has helped shape the furniture industry and continues to thrive today.

Ingvar Kamprad, a dyslexic individual, started the furniture business as an experiment after deciding to invest his money from pins into something else. He saw an ad in an agricultural magazine from a competitor and decided to try his hand in the furniture business. This led to the success of IKEA, which now makes up most of its profits today.

Ingvar began selling replicas of his uncle's kitchen table and expanded his collection by adding more pieces for sale. Each piece was given a special name due to his dyslexia, which made it difficult for him to remember numeric names of items. IKEA began to distribute booklets among customers, which evolved into modern IKEA catalogs. When his furniture range debuted, Ivar told his customers that IKEA would offer more furniture options if they were interested.

However, things took an unfortunate turn in 1955 when Ingvar bought a small old sactuary in Sweden and began producing his own furniture at a much cheaper rate for sale at his store. Furniture manufacturers boycotted Ingvar and IKEA, protesting against his low prices and asking for increased prices. The Swedish Federation of Wood and Furniture Industry persuaded loggers to cease all business interactions with IKEA.

Ingvar opened the first IKEA showroom in 1953 in Elmhurst, and five years later, a 72,000 square foot store was opened. All attempts to shut him down proved futile. One innovation that changed the world of furniture retail was the cash and carry trade system, which allowed customers to pay in cash and carry goods away themselves. IKEA's parking lots were more spacious in anticipation of the car boom in Sweden, and the introduction of flat, packed furniture, which has since been adopted by furniture suppliers worldwide, reduced transportation and labor costs.

In 1963, IKEA began expanding beyond the borders of Sweden, opening its first overseas store in Oslo, Norway. Over the next 50 years, about 300 IKEA stores opened around the world. Now, about six decades later, IKEA has over 400 stores around the world, more than 200,000 employees, and generates billions of dollars in revenue every year.

Ingvar Kamprad's story teaches us that everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success through dedication. Taking advice from Ingvar Kamprad himself, the word "impossible" has been and must remain deleted from our dictionary.