IKEA is a multinational corporation that produces, supplies and sells items for home use. It engages a network of many suppliers of materials and sales to customers in diverse locations across Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Its product portfolio includes kitchen appliances, furniture, and home accessories. The company has succeeded by creating an elaborate logistics system intended to create value for the customer. The process mainly involves integrating offline and online services.
Vuculescu (2018) states that the offline workflow puts the stores as part of its customer experience, value proposition, and differentiation. IKEA creates an experience for customers to discover new possibilities by interacting with home interiors and helping them plan to make it a reality. Online workflow is enabled by technological tools, such as the Place mobile application, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality.
Benchmarking and Copying Them
Benchmarking the IKEA concept is a challenging process, given its interconnectedness. IKEA has created a system that combines design, production, supply, and retail processes to create value and ensure a seamless flow. It is hard to operationalize such a process that involves many players from diverse cultures and backgrounds without experiencing conflicts that can disturb the workflow (Vuculescu et al., 2018). IKEA has also created an elaborate online and offline system that requires substantial capital resources.
Moving Takeaways for Action to Others
The IKEA workflow can be actualized by integrating offline and online systems to create an ultimate experience and value for the customer. The approach can be enabled by encouraging interaction among suppliers to ensure that products are at customer’s disposal whenever he needs them, and no excess stock is kept such that it needs a large storage facility. Another takeaway is to be transparent throughout the design phase and production process by creating simple but high-quality items.
Reference
Vuculescu, O., Bergenholtz, C., & Beretta, M. (2018). The Ikea-Effect in collective problem solving. Academy of Management Proceedings. Web.