IKEA is a Swedish based furniture and furnishings company that sells “everything from cutlery to kitchens” (Jones, G 2007). The business revolves around the philosophy of “We do our bit, you do your bit and together we save money”. The company’s success is based on its ability to adapt to change, sensitivity to customers and acting sensibly with suppliers. In 2006, IKEA made plans to expand their e-commerce strategy to allow people from the United Kingdom to purchase goods online (Kemp, E 2006). However, e-commerce has had advantages such as increased accessibility and disadvantages such as increased costs, and by late 2007, IKEA’s Chief Executive Officer and President, Anders Dahlvig announced that there would be no further investment in …show more content…

There are special offers advertised on the main page (http://www.ikea.com/gb/en), customers are able to register and login, there is an easy to use search function, so that customers are able to find and purchase products, as well as a complete “Product A-Z” list. Navigation is simple, even for first time users, as there is no clutter, and labels are clear. The site provides a concise, step-by-step page that describes how to make a purchase online, this is very useful for new customers, but is not irritating to experienced buyers. IKEA also provides the opportunity for consumers to register to receive a newsletter, a one-to-many communication device becoming more prevalent in e-businesses.

Difficulties implementing the e-strategy
Electronic commerce involves high costs that compromised IKEA’s ability to offer customers the best and lowest price, a value at the company’s core (Carroll, B 2007). Additionally, spokesperson Mona Liss acknowledged that there had been some difficulties for customers to complete the process of placing an order online. From the start, IKEA treated furniture purchasing as a journey and built the shopping experience around that idea (Novosedlik, W 2005), IKEA’s online manager, Allan Lidforsen said it is difficult to translate IKEA’s “brand values and visual identity to the internet” (Carroll, B 2007), so the physical shopping experience is partially lost by online shoppers.

These issues resulted in Anders Dahlvig’s