3- IKEA CATALOGUE
Are there any cultural differences?
www.ikea.com
The catalog serves as a pre-shopping advertisement, an in-store sales aid and an interior
decorating guide. Many consumers shop with the catalog in hand. Since the catalog is such an
important marketing tool, it is crucial for it to accurately reflect the colour and appearance of
IKEA products, also in local cultural circumstances.
The globalization strategy developed by IKEA is a home-based strategy built around a Swedish
concept calling for furniture that is clean, modern, efficient, functional, sustainable and
competitive pricing. The product is not adapted to local markets during the globalization
process. Nevertheless, geographic expansion has brought more flexibility to the initial stringent
rule concerning the standardization of products and marketing, in particular during the
establishment of stores, for example, in the United States and China (as we see it in this case).
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having the same product range shown in
all IKEA catalogues around the world?
- The catalogue is the most important element in IKEA’s global marketing planning.
Discuss if there could be some cultural differences in the effectiveness of the catalogue
as a marketing tool.
3- Explain some cultural differences which are illustrated by the two different
illustrations of the same product (from the Danish and Turkish IKEA catalogue).
