A Deep Dive into Customer Preferences Satisfaction and Competitive Landscape

Market Research

IKEA’s primary customers belong to the age groups of 18 to 25 years and 24 to 34 years, with most customers being homemakers, working professionals and students. Focused on an urban target audience, an analysis of Ikea’s customers’ behaviours highlights a strong affinity with the brand, where most of them are categorised as ‘hard-core loyals’ and ‘soft-core loyals’ (Dudovskiy, 2023). The brand’s customers are looking for cost-effective options while ensuring the products purchased are functional and of the highest quality. Ikea’s brand position further highlights the social class of customers, which are the working class, middle class and lower class (Dudovskiy, 2023). According to research by Sin et al. (2021), customers prefer IKEA because of cheaper products, the variety offered, and the brand’s efforts towards sustainability. Customers also like the shopping environment offered at IKEA outlets for ease of shopping. Some customers dislike IKEA as it does not have expensive or premium furniture for sale, which makes it difficult for the brand to target a specific target market.

Customer Sentiment and Satisfaction

IKEA’s ability to offer a wide yet unique range of furniture is one of the most important reasons behind its high customer satisfaction levels. The brand also fosters diversity and inclusivity of different cultures in its outlets/stores as well as in its product offerings for customers. IKEA store design layouts are simple, making it convenient for shoppers to navigate through the furniture (Dudovskiy, 2023). They also like the fact that they can refer to the IKEA catalogue before purchasing anything from the store, which gives them an idea about the price and availability of the preferred furniture at the selected store. Customers have also claimed that despite having a bad experience or two at IKEA, they would still recommend the brand as no one compares to the price and quality of furniture that they offer (Sin et al., 2021). In general, IKEA customers are very satisfied with the stores and the products offered and tend to revisit the store (Mehra, 2023).

Competitive Analysis

As of November 2023, IKEA’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) was 24, which ranks the brand third among its competitors globally (National Retail Federation, 2023). IKEA’s major competitors are Amazon, Target and Wayfair. Amazon’s brand strategy positions the brand as a creator and innovator, where they are known to ‘create’ things and innovate with their line of products. Known for its customer-centric strategies, Amazon is the most preferred brand for furniture due to the wide selection/range of products, low prices (lowest as compared to its competitors) and convenience of offline and online stores (Hughes, 2023). Target is the second most preferred furniture dealer due to their comparatively low prices. Identical furniture at Target and IKEA is available at a lower price at Target, highlighting their discount pricing strategies (NRF, 2023). With fewer stores than Ikea, Target primarily focuses on customer service, price and brand value in their positioning strategies. Amazon has the highest market share with global retail sales of approximately $343 billion, while Target’s retail sales stand at approx. $107 billion. IKEA’s global retail sales is approximately $45 billion (NRF, 2023).

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