THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL GLOBAL RETAILER, interms of profitability, is not Walmart or the French grocery chain Carrefour, but IKEA—a privately owned home-furnishings company with origins in Sweden. In 2012, IKEA had more than 330 stores worldwide in 38 countries, employed some 140,000 people, and earned revenues of 33 billion euros. IKEA’s revenues by geographic region are 70 percent from Europe, with the rest from North America (16percent), Asia and Australia (8 percent), and Russia (6 percent) (Exhibit MC5.1). Although IKEA’s largest market is in Germany (14 percent of total sales), its fastest-growing markets are the United States, China, and Russia. Exhibit MC5.2 shows IKEA’s growth in
the number of stores and revenues worldwide since 1974. Known today for its iconic blue-and-yellow bigbox retail stores, focusing on flat-pack furniture boxesvcombined with a large DIY component, IKEA started as a small retail outlet in 1943 by then-17-year-oldIngvar Kamprad.