Shadowing Practice: Inside IKEA: The Brilliant Trick That Makes You Buy More - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Welcome to IKEA, the world's largest furniture retailer.
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This is the place where you walk in for a simple bookshelf
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and leave with a cart full of kitchen utensils and a stomach full of meatballs.
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And on the surface, it might seem simple: unassembled furniture, low prices, cheap food.
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But behind this Swedish giant's famous maze -like showrooms
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and one dollar meatballs is a business model so dialed that it has revolutionized furniture retail since the 1950s.
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of how people actually shop for their homes, IKEA has managed to become a brand that people actually grow up with, from first college dorms to family homes and everything in between.
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So how did IKEA pull that off?
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And how did a company that makes you do the assembling earn so much customer loyalty in the process?
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Guess what?
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I dug into it.
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And in this video, we're unpacking the whole IKEA playbook.
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The maze of affordable dreams, how their products unlocked global scale, how they design for low prices,
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and whether IKEA can keep its edge in a world that increasingly demands convenience.
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So grab a lingonberry soda, we ride at dawn.
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- Ah!
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All right, do I look like I'm here to mess around?
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I didn't think so.
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Before diving into the business model, we gotta set the stage on this place.
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You enter the giant blue box on the city outskirts.
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and immediately this place feels uniquely Swedish.
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Ikea started in 1943 when the founder Ingvar Kamprad was just 17 years old,
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selling small household goods out of his rural region of Sweden called Småland
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which is apparently famous for "Do less with more energy." Even the name IKEA is peak founder.
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Ingvar Kamprad, forgive me on these pronunciations, from Elm Tarid Eln -Tarid.
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That's the family farm where he was born.
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Plus, Agunarid Sorry, Swedes.
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I'm trying my best.
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Which is his hometown in southern Sweden.
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Once you're inside, you are captive to the maze.
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The one -way arrowed path winds you through dozens of showrooms
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and not so subtly forces you to maximize the time you spend inside the blue box and to see the everything.
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Not surprisingly, this is a key part of IKEA's strategy.
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They make it famously easy to get distracted by a cute lamp or a $2 cushion somewhere along the maze,
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not to mention all the other cute irresistibly quirky and cheap items that drive more impulse buys.
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The result?
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Around 60 % of IKEA purchases are estimated to be unplanned.
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We are so impressionable.
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At some point it's like, am I shopping or am I in an escape room sponsored by Sweden?
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And the vibe?
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Cozy, fully furnished showrooms meets concrete warehouse for the additional inventory meets cafeteria -style food hall.
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But what is on display at every turn is IKEA's commitment to low prices.
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The price tags are everywhere.
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You haul the cart.
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The cafeteria is no frills.
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The flat pack boxes scream efficiency.
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The whole store environment is designed to reinforce value.
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At Costco's $1 .50 soda and hot dog combo, the ultra -cheap food at IKEA is a core part of the experience.
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The founder, Ingvar Kamprad, insisted on low food prices because he thought that, quote, Hungry customers buy less.
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King.
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But the scale here is pretty jaw -dropping.
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With over 700 million diners per year in IKEA cafeterias, that technically makes IKEA one of the world's largest restaurant chains.
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Around 30 % of shoppers come to IKEA primarily for the food, and then, you know, a lot of them end up looking around while they're here.
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I actually grew up coming to this very IKEA here in Burbank, Los Angeles, California.
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And what I looked most forward to were the meatballs.
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And who shops here?
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Who are these people around me who I, once again, am desperately trying to avoid to film this video?
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Well, this is an interesting part about this company, because you actually get a huge mix of people beyond the college student furnishing their first dorm room apartment stereotype.
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You also get budget -conscious homeowners of all ages, young families, city dwellers picking up small space solutions, and even elderly folks who are just here to enjoy the cafe.
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It just warms my little heart.
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So a wide range of people, but what do all of these shoppers have in common?
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They have come here trusting that they will get solid quality at a good price.
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That trust is something that IKEA has carefully built and it all starts with how the store itself operates.
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So from the maize to the meatballs, let's talk about how IKEA actually makes money on these low prices.
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IKEA's products are famously affordable, but they are so deliberately affordable in a way that I've never quite seen with other businesses that I've studied.
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So unlike many retailers which start with a product concept
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and then price it accordingly at the end to make some amount of profit, IKEA does the exact opposite.
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IKEA designers start with a target price, and then engineer the product backwards in order to meet that price.
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A fun example is the $1 IKEA light bulb.
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Years ago, IKEA designers thought it'd be really cool
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if we could make a $1 LED light bulb Might be hard to figure out how to make it that cheaply, but if we can, that a lot of people would buy it.
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So they reverse engineered that product to fit that price point and a lot of people bought it.
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This design for affordability approach is formalized in IKEA's democratic design principles, which are all about balancing form,
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function, quality, sustainability, and low prices in every product.
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The most famous outcome of this ethos is IKEA's flat pack design.
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In 1956, Gillis Lundgren, an IKEA designer and also their fourth employee, was trying to put a chair away in the trunk of his car.
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It wouldn't fit because of the legs.
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So he took the legs off in order to make it fit.
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This sparked a company -wide epiphany, because shipping furniture in pieces
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that can fit flat in a box like this dramatically cuts
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costs by taking up a lot less space in trucks and warehouses, which translates to lower shipping expenses and the ability to stock more inventory per store.
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For example, this storage solution is in this box.
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Flat packs became the cornerstone of IKEA's business model, allowing the company to price its products far below competitors.
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This innovation is one of the main reasons that you can buy a stylish dining chair at IKEA
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for a fraction the price of what a pre -assembled one would cost you elsewhere.
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This flat pack design also translates to one of the most famous parts about IKEA,
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which is that the labor assembly of this furniture is passed on to the customer.
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At IKEA, you're not just the customer.
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stuff your logistics, your assembly, You're the last mile delivery solution.
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You navigate the showroom, pull the heavy flat pack from the self -service warehouse, Thank you.
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- Transport it home and then you build it yourself with that little, little Allen wrench.
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That Allen wrench has destroyed relationships.
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By outsourcing all of these labor steps to shoppers, IKEA saves enormously on staffing and assembly costs which they then pass back to the customer as lower prices.
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It also helps speed up inventory turnover, since IKEA doesn't have to wait on as many deliverers or warehouse staff when customers do the picking themselves.
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So those are the unit economics, how IKEA makes one table cheap.
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Next.
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How did they make millions of tables cheap?
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everywhere, all at once.
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Despite how massive the blue box is, IKEA's product range is actually tightly curated at about 9 ,500 SKUs.
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That might sound like a lot, but for such a big box retailer like this, it's actually quite low.
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A Walmart supercenter by comparison carries between 120 ,000 to 140 ,000 SKUs.
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See, IKEA deliberately simplifies choice.
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For each need, there are a few really well -designed options rather than hundreds.
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of a spatula staring me down at 10 :00 p .m.
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This curated limited skew strategy is something that we've seen with Costco, Erewhon, and Trader Joe's.
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For one, it boosts efficiency.
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By selling higher volume per product, IKEA can achieve better economies of scale with suppliers and manufacturers.
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Now, we've brought up scale a number of times at this point, and it's basically IKEA's superpower.
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They source materials and products in bulk from over 1 ,800 suppliers in more than 50 countries, often forming very long -term relationships.
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In fact, on average, 11 -year -long relationships.
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And in some cases, IKEA vertically integrates, meaning they take control of every step of the process in really cool ways.
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My favorite way that they do it is by investing in forests.
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IKEA is, after all, the number one consumer of wood in the entire world.
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Quick other nerdy fun fact about IKEA's wood usage.
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I did a lot of research here, so I thought I'd tell you.
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The fibers in real wood expand and contract with humidity changes, meaning the wood can warp just a little bit.
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This isn't really an issue for custom -made pieces of furniture, but at IKEA's scale of mass production,
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those small warps would cause screw holes to not line up and pieces to not fit together.
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Understandably a nightmare for the customers who are assembling it is why IKEA uses so much particle board instead, which is made of sawdust and resin.
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It's predictable and it doesn't change its shape.
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So IKEA can mass produce the same exact piece of furniture time and time again with the particle board.
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The more you know.
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And once you build a supply chain that tightly controlled, you take the same exact playbook and scale it across the entire world.
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IKEA isn't just an American college dorm phenomenon.
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It's not just Swedish either.
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They 63 countries.
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And what's impressive is they keep the core model recognizable everywhere while still adapting to how people live locally.
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Japan is a great example.
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IKEA actually trimmed the range to better fit smaller homes.
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They lowered the height of specific storage pieces and even developed smaller Japan -specific versions of popular items.
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Same IKEA DNA, just tuned to the realities of Tokyo apartments.
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And that consistency with flexibility is exactly what allows IKEA to move With such intentionally affordable products and thin profit margins,
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IKEA obviously relies on high volume sales.
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The Billy Bookcase, for example, IKEA's most popular piece of furniture.
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I've bought a few of these myself.
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It has thin profit margins, but when you stop to think about the fact that IKEA sells one every five seconds worldwide, picture changes a little bit.
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Now, that sounds impressive just on its own, but it's hard to comprehend just how much volume IKEA actually sells.
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Last year, they had 900 million store visits,
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billion visits to their website and 45 billion euros in annual revenue.
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Interestingly, despite viral products like the Billy Bookcase, the Calix Shelf, the Mom Dresser, and so on, no single item is making IKEA rich.
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Rather, it's the aggregate of affordable products in millions of homes.
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This strategy is quite the opposite to high -end furniture retailers who sell pricey products at a huge markup, but in very low quantities.
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A fun contrast is that while Costco relies on membership fees to
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IKEA relies on you filling your cart with things like $1 utensils and $5 throw pillows.
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Remember, 60 % of IKEA purchases are unplanned, so these small add -ons matter.
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Now, IKEA's frugal strategy has been ingrained since the beginning.
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It all stems from Comproud, who was known to reuse old teabags fly economy class and drive an old Volvo.
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The way he put it was, "A waste of resources is a mortal sin at IKEA." This
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kind of explains everything from the self -service warehouse to why their instructional leaflets have minimal text.
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It's less ink to print and to distribute worldwide.
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Outcome is a company with prices that are nearly impossible for competitors to match, while still turning a profit through operational excellence.
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So we've covered how IKEA wins on prices in scale, but affordability doesn't automatically mean loved.
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If it did, we would all be emotionally attached to folding plastic chairs.
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So how did IKEA turn cheap furniture into loyal customers who keep coming back?
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Let's talk about the whole IKEA system.
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many different brands, Ikea is a private label champion.
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They design and largely control their whole entire system.
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The look, function, packaging, instructions, the showroom vignettes, the names that sound like someone sneezed in Swedish.
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And what's funny is one thing they never sand down for global markets are the notoriously hard to pronounce names, unless they're Scandinavian.
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IKEA keeps the Swedish naming system on purpose.
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It's a brand signature.
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It actually started as a practical solution for our buddy Ingvar.
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He was dyslexic and struggled with product number codes, so names were easier.
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And it kind of accidentally became one of the most recognizable brand assets in retail.
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That consistency matters because when everything looks feels, and even sounds like IKEA, it helps reinforce one single reliable standard.
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Customers learn the mental shortcut.
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If it's from IKEA, it looks nice, it's good enough quality, and it will not financially ruin me.
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And that's why IKEA becomes the first default option for a lot of people who need to furnish literally anything.
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And the real unlock is not just the strong brand image, it's that you participate in the brand image with your own two hands.
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In a famous Harvard Business School study titled, "The Ikea Effect: When Labor Leads to Love," the researchers found
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that when people build something themselves or have a hand in it, they value the thing more.
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Another fun example of this that I read in the research paper is
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when instant cake mixes came out for the first time in the 1950s, People were pretty disinterested because it made cooking too easy.
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It made their labor and skills feel undervalued.
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But when a later iteration of those instant cake mixes required you to add a fresh egg, the adoption rate went up because just adding
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that fresh egg made the people feel like they had a bigger hand in the cooking process.
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So they valued it more.
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Ikea basically industrialized this psychology at scale, leading the researchers to dub it the IKEA effect, advantageous for IKEA's marketing.
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I made this, I am emotionally attached to it now.
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I will take a bullet for this nightstand.
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And once you're emotionally invested, IKEA doesn't necessarily have to sell you more stuff.
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It just has to offer you the rest of the room.
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Because at IKEA, it's never just a chair.
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It's a chair and a rug and a glass and a plate and lamps.
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And of course, big old pot.
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And a refrigerator!
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They make it exceptionally easy for you to furnish a whole entire room
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or apartment in one fell swoop with their store funnel.
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The maze.
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And right as you're about to leave, IKEA does the darndest thing they feed you.
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So yes, we already saw the meatballs, but here's why they matter.
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Ikea deliberately uses their iconic restaurant with prices so low that it's almost hard to believe as a momentum management tool.
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Because the two things that often cut shopping trips short are time pressure and hunger.
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So if you start here before you begin your shopping, you're fueled up and ready to go.
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That's what I do.
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If you come here mid shopping trip, it helps to break decision fatigue, it resets your mood, and it keeps you in the Ikea universe for just a bit longer.
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And of course, if you finish your trip here like many of these people do, you leave IKEA with a good taste in your mouth.
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Literally.
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It is a brilliant retention strategy.
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Finally, there's the post -purchase layer of IKEA's business.
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Another reason why IKEA stays sticky is because it both invites remixing of its furniture and it offers you an escape hatch.
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So on one side, you have the IKEA hacking community where people take basic IKEA pieces
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and turn it into custom looking furniture.
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You think I'm joking?
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Exhibit A, this is my parents' house.
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That's a painting of me and my brother.
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This is an old Ikea bookshelf that my mom cut in half, added her own doors to, and then put a nice stone top.
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Oh my god, there's Willy.
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Nifty and affordable. And biscuit!
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And we have like, 10 more things like this in our house.
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Okay, back to IKEA.
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IKEA hackers are a bigger community than I'd realize.
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There's a whole website for it, tons of YouTube videos.
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This is amazing free marketing, free ideas, and infinite "look what I made" marketing for IKEA.
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And on the other side, IKEA eventually acknowledged the universal truth that sometimes, You want the low prices, but you don't want to put the thing together yourself.
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That's why IKEA acquiring TaskRabbit in 2017 is such a clean strategic move.
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It adds an on -demand convenience layer for those who don't want to assemble it without changing the core model.
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It's not free, but it's an option.
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So to connect the dots, because I know I just threw a lot at you.
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IKEA's advantage is not just low prices.
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It's how they turn low prices into trust, trust into repeat trips and repeat trips into full home furnishing,
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people feel confident choosing time and time again.
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So with that business system running, as we look into IKEA's future, the question becomes: Can IKEA add more convenience and a second life to their furniture,
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while still keeping low prices for the many possible?
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And with IKEA's revenue actually declining last year, for only the second time in the last two decades, The other time being 2020, so I think we can call that one a wash.
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Is this actually a sign of tough times to come for IKEA, or is it just a blip that can be corrected?
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Let's take a look.
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The biggest challenge I foresee for IKEA relates to convenience.
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Can they stack a high level of convenience on top of the low prices
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that they already have without killing their business model?
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I'm actually of two minds here.
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So for big pieces of furniture, like kitchen tables, sofas, beds, I'm not sure people even want Amazon -level convenience.
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Purchases people want to actually sit on the chair feel the fabric
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and see if the scale will fit in their homes before actually committing to the item
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So I actually don't think Ikea needs to win on next day shipping
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when it comes to the big stuff where convenience does matter
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is the small stuff things like silverware plates Organizers hangers items
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that are not very differentiated
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and don't require a sit test There's not much stopping someone from ordering
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that on Amazon at only a little bit of a higher
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price with free next day shipping without ever having to leave their couch
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And that matters because those smaller items are not usually the reason someone would come to IKEA.
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They're add -ons, things that you just toss into your cart because you're already there, not because you made a dedicated trip to IKEA for a $3 utensil tray.
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As we know, IKEA's model does rely on that behavior.
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They come for a couch and then leave with $120 of "because I'm already here" purchases.
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If those smaller, impulsive items get pulled off of the shelf in this IKEA journey and shifted online elsewhere, maybe it doesn't collapse the whole business model,
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but it of IKEA's main profit lovers.
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So I don't think the real challenge for IKEA is if they can ship sofas faster.
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It's how do they keep those small add -on items part of the IKEA ecosystem, whether that's through smarter bundles,
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better online curation, or free shipping regardless of the basket size.
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And more broadly, can IKEA make sure that whether you're shopping in person or online, it feels like one connected experience rather than a bunch of separate trips?
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Let's take a look.
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Ikea is one of the few big box retailers
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that I can think of that actually do a good job at the online game.
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Last year, 26 % of Ikea's sales were online, which I thought was kind of surprising given how quintessential the in -store experience is for Ikea.
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So I don't think the opportunity here is for Ikea to add more sales channels, but to stitch them together in a way that makes the journey feel seamless.
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Browsing inspiration online at home, planning the room, checking stock online or in person, choosing the delivery of the online sales delivery and assembly option.
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So you still think to choose IKEA whether
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or not you have the time to wander the maze in person for 90 minutes.
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Something IKEA is doing here is experimenting with new formats.
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In their 2024 fiscal year update, they highlighted opening dozens of new customer meeting points, including smaller format stores in cities and plan
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and order points where IKEA essentially meets you where you live or where you don't have a car.
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You plan with their team what you want for your home and then they ship it to you afterwards.
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So the big blue box is still king.
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But IKEA is evolving by figuring out how these smaller format experiences can be accessories to the big guy.
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Another thing becoming a big part of IKEA's business model is circularity, meaning giving their furniture another life.
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IKEA publicly framed a 2030 ambition as being 100 % circular, and being climate positive in its own operations.
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This is a pretty big statement for the company that's the number one consumer of wood in the world.
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But I think it's a smart commitment because if IKEA can figure out how to better resell, repair, refurbish, and rehome their own furniture.
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They don't just sell you a dresser once, they stay in the relationship for as long as that dresser lives.
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Personally, I also think that a strong commitment to refurbishing does a lot for long -term customer loyalty.
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I think about how Patagonia essentially rewards you for hanging onto their items for
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so long when they refurbish it at the end of its life
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or they give you a brand new one and recycle the old one.
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That type of lifetime guarantee has absolutely played a role in my being a repeat customer of Patagonia.
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revenue decline last year.
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When I look deeper into it, what I found was just So classic IKEA.
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That drop was primarily driven by a deliberate choice to lower prices for customers during a time of high inflation.
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This revenue drop occurred despite increased volume in store visits.
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In other words, people weren't leaving IKEA.
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They were showing up even more.
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They were just paying less per item because IKEA chose to protect affordability rather than margins.
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Add to that a weaker global economy, a shrinking home furnishings market, and higher logistics costs, less dramatic.
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If anything, the metric that I care more about here is foot traffic and demand, not top line revenue in a single year.
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And on that front, IKEA is still winning.
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And this is why I'm not concerned about IKEA's future.
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I think their core business model is incredibly strong and it's proving to be adaptable as well.
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They're showing that they're willing to evolve the edges of the business, whether it's store formats, convenience, or services, but without breaking the core promise
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lowering prices during a period of high inflation to once again prioritize long -term customer loyalty over short -term optimization.
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And that is one of the many reasons why, despite real challenges, I am confident that IKEA will continue to figure it out.
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So yeah, on paper, the IKEA formula might look simple.
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Unassembled furniture in a warehouse, low prices, meatballs.
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But underneath it is a very intentional strategy that reshaped retail and earned extraordinary customer trust.
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They took by doing everything pretty much opposite of what high -end furniture retailers do, and they turned it into a strength.
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They have mastered the art of understanding what people actually need in their everyday lives, and delivering it all at a quality and a price that feels fair.
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And that's why people come back through every stage of life, from first apartments to forever homes.
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Question for you, what is your favorite part about IKEA or the one product that you swear by?
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Let me know in the comments.
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I read every single one.
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And if you enjoyed this deep dive, please remember to give it a thumbs up, subscribe for more.
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These take a long time to research, but I really enjoy it.
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So thanks for watching.
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Until next time.
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Turtle?
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Out.
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Oh, okay, yeah, yeah.
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Thanks.
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Love the creative direction.
309
Did you like my flip?
310
In 1956, Oh. In 1950...
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Oh, I'll get on a bunk bed.
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Get a close -up on this bad boy.
313
See that?
314
That's particle board.
315
That's what Ikea is famous for.
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Let me tell you a little bit about it.
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Hi.
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Sorry, taking a clip in here.
319
Come on in.
320
Cool.
321
How'd that one look?
322
Nice.
323
Cut.
324
Boop!
325
Now in Spanish.
326
I'm gonna get horse meat comments.
327
Getting in a flow.
328
Thank you.
329
Yeah.
330
Easy.
331
Oh, particle board.
332
Why they use particle board?
333
You want to know?
334
Or do you want to wait till the video comes out?
335
Wait for bed.
336
Okay.
337
Wow, it looks like you're underwater.
338
Now it just feels naughty.
339
Get away.
340
- Yeah.
341
Cut.
342
Thank you.
343
It takes talent what I just did.
344
Hell yeah.
345
Cut.
346
Cool.
347
Should I do another kickflip?
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- If you know you know.
349
Let's eat some meatballs.
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Hey, if you like this video, I bet my meatballs he will also like this video.
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Check it out.
352
Thank you.
353
Thank you.
354
Alright, over and out.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Inside IKEA: The Brilliant Trick That Makes You Buy More”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Ikea, price, furniture. This video has 354 sentences and 4330 words to shadow. The speech runs for 24:59. The speaker talks at a natural 173 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| meatball noun | A ball of minced or ground meat, seasoned and cooked. | |
| convenience noun | /kənˈvinjəns/ | The quality of being convenient. |
| maze noun | /ˈmeɪz/ | A labyrinth; a puzzle consisting of a complicated network of paths or passages, the aim of which is to find one's way through. |
| retailer noun | /ˈɹiteɪlɚ/ | A retail sales company or salesman. |
| showroom noun | /ˈʃoʊˌɹum/ | A room in a business set aside for the display of the company's products. |
| particle noun | /ˈpɑɹtək(ə)l/ | A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something. |
| warehouse noun | /ˈwɛə(ɹ)haʊs/ | A facility for storing large amounts of merchandise or products. |
| furnish verb | /ˈfɝnɪʃ/ | To provide a place with furniture, or other equipment. |
| cart noun | /kɑɹt/ | A small, open, wheeled vehicle, drawn or pushed by a person or animal, often with two wheels on one axle, more often used for transporting goods than… |
| affordability noun | The extent or degree to which something is affordable, as measured by its cost relative to the amount that the purchaser is able to pay. | |
| dresser noun | /ˈdɹɛsə/ | An item of kitchen furniture, like a cabinet with shelves, for storing crockery or utensils. |
| shopper noun | /ˈʃɑ.pɚ/ | A person who shops. |
| deliberately adverb | /dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət.li/ | Intentionally, or after deliberation; not accidentally. |
| emotionally adverb | /ɪˈməʊʃənəli/ | In an emotional manner; displaying emotion. |
| inventory noun | /ˈɪn.vən.tɹi/ | The stock of an item on hand at a particular location or business. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| come back verb | To return to a place. | |
| bring up verb | To mention. | |
| come on in verb | Synonym of come in (“to enter”). | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| fit together verb | To put the appropriate parts of (something) into a whole; to combine pieces that go together to create a finished object. | |
| get away verb | To move away (from). |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- All right, do I look like I'm here to mess around?
- Once you're inside, you are captive to the maze.
- You think I'm joking?
- Did you like my flip?
- Should I do another kickflip?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If it did, we would all |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has revolutionized · has managed · have come |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was born · are estimated · is designed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | principles, which are · instead, which is · people who need |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 54 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: showroom /ˈʃoʊˌɹum/, furnish /ˈfɝnɪʃ/, shopper /ˈʃɑ.pɚ/, emotionally /ɪˈməʊʃənəli/, bookshelf /ˈbʊkˌʃɛlf/
- Long words — get the stress right: deliberately /dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət.li/, emotionally /ɪˈməʊʃənəli/, cafeteria /ˌkæ.fə.ˈtɪ(ə).ɹi.ə/, dormitory /ˈdɔɹ.mɪˌtɔɹ.i/, competitor /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like meatball, convenience, maze.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.