Ikea: lower prices, higher sales.In

Ikea: lower prices, higher sales.

Ingvar kamprad started ikea in his small farming village in sweden over 60 years ago. he was only 17 years old and sold his products from his bicycle. when his business grew, he distributed them from a milk van. he first introduced furniture into the ikea product range in 1947. demand for his furniture increased rapdly, so he decided to specialise in this line.in the mid 1950s, ikea began designing its own furniture. it wanted to make innovative, stylish products and to keep prices down. this made it possible for a large number of customers to buy ikea home furnishings. ikea opened its first store in sweden in 1958. in the next 40 years, the number of stores went up to over 150 in 29 countries. in 2005, there were a record 18 new stores - 15 in europe and three in north america, and then ikea enteres the japanese market with two stores in 2006. that year in february, it also opended a new store in london. six thousand customers arrives for the midnight opening. there were not enough security staff and police to manage the crow, and some people hurt themselves in the rush to get inot the store. sales for the ikea group rose steadily, year after year. at the end of the financial year 2002, sales were at 11 billion euros. at the end of 2006, they totalled 17.3 billions euros. the success story continues, and the group expects to add more stores to its existing network.