IKEA IDEAS: How a retail giant listened to their customers

Image: Ikea

The world's largest furniture retailer Ikea must be doing all the right things to get this big. However, it must be hard for a retail giant to manage and connect with their fan base and customers. In fact, the Swedish giant was having a hard time with a segment of their fan base not too long ago.

In 2006, Ikea grappled with customers putting up content on a popular blog called Ikea hackers.net, owned by Jules Yap (not her real name). Ikea was not happy with their name being used in the website and they handed Jules a cease and desist letter. However this did not sit well with a lot of the blog’s fans (who happened to be Ikea customers too) There was a backlash from the Ikea hacker community and Ikea stopped attempting to close down the site.

Ikea felt that they were not in control of their brand and the way it was being communicated. What should a brand do in this situation?

Ikea has realized that they handled the situation wrongly. With the advent of social media, brands are not always in control of the conversation. It is important to listen to what the community is saying and find angles to market your product. Ikea found that there is value in the hacker community and that they should embrace it. After all, they are also Ikea’s customers and fans. So they invited Jules to have a conversation with them and allowed ikeahackers.net to continue. But they didn't stop there. And this is why I am writing this post: how Ikea tuned in to what was going on and found an opportunity to market their products.

Ikea launched Ikea Ideas. In tune with what's going on with the social media environment, Ikea Ideas showcases ideas on how their products can “come alive” in real homes and different situations. The look and feel of Ikea Ideas seems very Pinterest in nature. And the curated content includes ideas from design stylists and features visits to homes to see how they’ve used Ikea’s products in inventive ways. They have cleverly used the retail calendar to fine tune their content giving timely ideas for Halloween, thanksgiving, etc. making their content relevant to the audience.     

Photo Credit: Ikea

Key Take-aways:

• You can’t control the conversation but you can listen to your customer and find opportunities and angles to market your product
• Always remember to use the calendar of events to relate it to your product. For example, if it’s spring, Ikea showcases spring trends for their furniture interior design.  

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