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Are we destined for a new era of “business innovation”?

What if I told you that IKEA’s top selling product isn’t a piece of furniture? It is a meatball…

Each year the popular Swedish furniture maker sells 150 million meatballs, dwarfing the sales of its top furniture product, the “Billy” bookcase.

From a business and marketing perspective, this is fascinating. A furniture store’s number one product isn’t furniture at all…

But Why Do They Sell Food in the First Place?

Due to the size of IKEA stores they are often situated on city outskirts, far from regular restaurants. It took time for their customers to get there and to complete their shop. Ingvar Kamprad, held the theory that “it is difficult to do business with hungry customers, but if they are sufficiently fed, they are far more likely to shop for longer – and as a result buy more.”

Reading between the lines IKEA is looking at innovative ways to improve their customer experience. Nurturing buyers along the buyer journey from initial awareness to final purchase.

And What Can We Learn For B2B?

As products and services begin to digitalise and move online, brick and mortar businesses will need to adapt to continue to attract customers. John Lewis is leading the way in this 

We have already seen businesses embrace technology to maximise revenue. We’ve just started to accept it as the norm.

  • Apps to pick up takeaway coffee
  • Next day delivery
  • OnDemand Films to watch at home
  • 3D scanning to advertise your house
  • Social media to promote afternoon tea deliveries

The list goes on…

If you are slow to innovate your business and improve your customer experience you are likely to get left behind. Introducing your own range of meatballs isn’t the answer, but the IKEA mind set is hopefully food for thought (pun intended). If you need some help we are here to help.