The IKEA store has announced the end date for the sale of its products. After August 15, it will no longer be possible to order on the site. However, things have not been easy in the last month.
After the brand announced its final withdrawal from Russia and offered to order goods online on the site, the purchase of IKEA products turned from a habitual chore for residents of large Russian cities to a difficult pursuit experienced only by the most patient. You had to wait in a huge online queue, try to put something in the cart before the site crashed again, get over the frustration that it was still stuck or the product wasn’t available at the pickup point.
All this was not without emotional outbursts.
“When sales started at IKEA, work in my department stopped,” says Lyudmila, an accountant from Moscow. – All the girls sat on the site and squealed when they “closed”. A colleague has become such an IKEA fan that she literally put everything in her basket, from vegetable peelers to cutting boards to scented candles. “I’ll find you a vegetable peeler in Ozone,” I said to him, “No, it won’t!” she said.
Fans of the Swedish brand even admit that they feel something like madness.
“When IKEA announced it was leaving, it was like my favorite toy was taken away from me, so I sat down at the computer on the night of July 5, when online sales were to begin. I maintained the site for about a week before ordering anything. And then, as if in a fog, he ordered everything in a row until he lowered his entire salary. I ordered what I’m used to – bed linen, towels, plates. I was very upset when I couldn’t order a pillow – they had run out. But now I have two sharks, ”says Tatyana from Moscow.
How IKEA fascinated the Russians
Why is IKEA so steeped in the psyche of Russians? First of all, says Ekaterina Khvorostova, Marketing Director of Mr.Doors, because the Swedish company was one of the first in Russia to start selling not only individual goods for housing and home improvement, but a whole lifestyle philosophy.
“We saw beautiful catalogs with ready-made solutions and as before, we couldn’t think again of where to get the missing pieces of furniture and decor,” she recalls.
He adds that IKEA’s success in Russia was also influenced by the fact that the network came to our market at the time of the financial boom in the country.
“IKEA was in the right place at the right time. In the early 2000s, the Russians were able not only to buy the necessary things, but also to travel around the world, seeing how people live there: how they equip their homes, where they dress, where they spend their free time, ”says Khvorostova.
Another reason, according to him, is that IKEA has always focused strongly on the family: visiting the store has become a real weekend adventure with all the necessary options for customers – people can spend the whole day there and not get tired.
Natalya Shcherbakova, head of sales and marketing for the ANCOR staff group, confirms that IKEA’s success is directly related to the fact that the company invested a lot of effort and resources in its marketing strategy.
“IKEA gave people a sense of belonging when they let them come into the store and do everything themselves: choose an item, measure it, take it off the shelf, take it home and assemble it there. In addition, they did not sell products one by one, but worked solution-oriented. When you come to the store, you will see ready-made designs and you will be able to fully feel that it can be in your home.”
For him, the distance from the city center and the design of the market places are also the job of marketers who aim to turn a casual trip to the store into a pleasant pastime, including a cafe with a signature menu and meatballs.
“Furthermore, the company had a clear loyalty system built over many years and adapted to a particular country. But despite this, the main features of the brand remained: long-term return of goods and high-profile sales, ”she explains.
According to Yulia Lapshina, partner of the PR agency Talk Agency, in addition to those listed, another factor in the strong reaction of consumers to the departure of the company is the constant communication of the brand with the audience.
“In IKEA marketing, a large role has been given to systemic marketing and public relations communications. For this, the company used channels that are popular with Russians: from regular posts on social networks to special campaigns on billboards. At the same time, it was able to convey the brand values with different messages and maintain a tone that connects them with the necessary emotions and feelings in the minds of consumers: care, comfort, reliability, simplicity and trust that the company will always maintain. come to the rescue, ”explains Yulia Lapshina.
According to marketers, IKEA’s exit from the Russian market is “too dramatic”. Natalya Shcherbakova is confident that the niche will be filled and new players will come to replace it.
But they will need time to gain the trust and loyalty of Russian buyers,” he said.
What do psychologists say?
Psychologist Oksana Kozyreva says that the excitement among buyers about the departure of IKEA is due to several reasons. The final effect, in his opinion, was not the general wave of information – discussions, unrest and arguments on the network.
“All this seriously involves the process. A person has a desire for self-control: what does the departure of IKEA mean to me, what do I think about it, will it be a loss for me, ”says he.
Moreover, according to him, instincts come into play: when a person knows that soon he will not have the usual opportunity to go to IKEA and buy something, an instinctive desire arises to “be on time and get it”. “In the context of the going and noise of brands, their product is immediately super valued in a person’s mind. Owning something from IKEA is now a sure sign: You have something rare that you can’t get so easily,” he explains.
Psychologist Lana Volokhova agrees with this. According to him, the hype in the IKEA online sale is a person’s reaction to a situation where “something was taken from him.”
“Call something disappearing, last, last – you get the buzz and effect of “I need it urgently”. In addition, the one that has been with us for a long time and has been steadily disappearing – again, there is a need to complete, touch, finally touch this stability. Actually , this is love on the ladder of an airplane, ”explains the psychologist.
Oksana Kozyreva agrees: Just because IKEA is leaving for fans of the brand doesn’t just mean they’ll have other rugs or cutlery now. “For many, leaving their favorite brands is the loss of a part of life, the realization that everything has changed and will never be the same again,” says the psychologist.
Brand loyalty can also mean seeking outer pillars, islands of stability, security and comfort. “Over the years, the IKEA brand has definitely become a symbol of affordable comfort, the opportunity to live in a different environment, even in small things,” he says.
The psychologist explains that people with an anxious personality type, who tend to be addicted, like to seek such external support. According to her, their favorite brand can be such a big object that they want a hug when they’re restless.
According to Lana Volokhova, many “sitting in line” on the IKEA website still have the Soviet ancestral fear of famine, as they recall the empty shelves of Soviet stores. “And if they don’t remember, the grown-ups will tell them. And in this place anxiety jumps, because stability is lost. At the same time, there is a fear that is not at all atavistic, but very real: I had the usual, comfortable, but now it’s gone, where can I find a new one? And until I come up with an idea, the brain will keep me on my feet, because this is a direct threat to its survival, ”adds the psychologist.
There is another view: the “IKEA hunt” is part of the game of chance.
People sit on the site for days, then talk about how they managed to order a mattress, mirror or shark. According to Volokhova, these “lucky ones” can only be envied. “Those who can conditionally gamble, channel anxiety into play, and explore, against the background of general stress, are great friends. Maybe it’s the ultimate in self-organization, or it’s just a habit of draining such anxiety or an adrenaline rush,” he believes.
Oksana Kozyreva, if looking for something from IKEA is a form of gambling for a person, it is worth considering what kind of need it satisfies. “What emotions am I avoiding and what do I want to experience over and over again? Perhaps this is an escape from boredom or a quick pursuit of pleasure, because there is no real pleasure in life, ”says she.
Will the designers get bored?
According to architect Yevgeny Koblov, most designers have always been quite skeptical about IKEA products. But he acknowledges that the Swedes have revolutionized a kind of furniture by creating universal shapes and designs. “But they didn’t discover America, because we’ve all used this geometry and volumes before, only other people got the products. IKEA has transformed these space design techniques into a high-quality and beautifully packaged mass market and has reached a wide audience.”
According to the architect, the Swedish giant’s furniture has always had a significant drawback – it limited the flight of imagination and provided only systemic solutions: quite simple and not what could be called design in the literal sense of the word. “Nevertheless, designers create something unique and the Swedish brand offers standard and universal solutions,” he says.
The same position is held by the head of the design studio PV Design Studio, designer Victoria Pashinskaya. According to him, it was a pleasure to work with IKEA if the demand is for a Scandinavian-style interior or if it is necessary to equip a rental apartment on a budget. “But I can say that furniture and items at IKEA have never been this cheap. The price range is average for the market. But the quality is really good,” she says.
However, he notes that a big advantage of IKEA is that almost everyone can afford the goods of the Swedish manufacturer.
“Every Russian today has something from IKEA. They had a great advantage – any product could be bought in installments. And this is very convenient for both individuals and businesses,” explains Pashinskaya.
Pashinskaya adds that designers working on Intermediate+ or higher projects do not use IKEA products much because they do not fit individual concepts. “Personally, the departure of IKEA will not affect me in any way because I have rarely used it indoors. But I will say that I really like the way his team works. When you come to the showroom, you can immediately see that the designers thought of everything down to the last detail and put a lot of effort into it,” he says.
At the same time, the designers assure that “a holy place is never empty” and that the departed Swedish manufacturer will be replaced by new, perhaps even Russian, brands.