IKEA's Global Marketing Strategy

Kamprad started his business by buying pens, Christmas cards, matches, cigarette lighters, nylon stockings and other items in bulk. He sold these items to the residents of Smaland at a reasonable price, but still made healthy profits. To save more money, Kamprad would piggyback his packages on the trucks that delivered milk. IKEA soon started making money. In 1945, Kamprad started promoting business through mail order catalogues as conducting individual sales calls became impossible. Furniture was introduced in IKEA's product portfolio in the year 1947. By 1951, the furniture sales had increased so much that Kamprad decided to discontinue all other products and concentrate solely on selling furniture that was classy and low priced at the same time.

By visiting the showroom, customers could review three dimensions of its products - function, quality and low price - before making their purchases. In 1956, IKEA launched its most successful product - Flat pack furniture. It was invented by accident when an IKEA employee Gillis Lundgren (Lundgren) realized that a bulky wooden table could fit into a car only when its legs were removed. He put this observation to work and thus was born furniture that could be easily dismantled and rearranged with the aid of accessories such as nails and screws. Lundgren subsequently went on to establish the design team at IKEA that created a bookshelf named Billy, and a sofa called Klippan, the two globally best-selling furniture pieces from IKEA.