Business & Money | Monday 30 January, 2017 4:17 am |

Very few brands have achieved the iconic status or the remarkably high level of customer loyalty that IKEA enjoys around the world. Dating back to its year of establishment in 1943, the world’s largest furniture retailer has to come to be much loved, and synonymous with clever design, massive range, friendly stores, and low prices in all the countries where it has a presence.  

 

In Saudi Arabia, the company quickly catapulted itself to leadership position after the first store opened in 1983.  Unsurprisingly, millions of residents in the Kingdom can now vouch for the value, functionality, and eco-friendliness of their products. But the chief factor that drives popularity – and loyalty – is perhaps the omnipresence of the brand. IKEA is accessible and available to everyone, and at different touch points.     

 

Enhancing the shopping experience

The three stores in the Kingdom, in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran, follow the popular self-serve, self-assembly concept that has been established around the world, and similarly, welcome a wide variety of shoppers ranging from individuals and couples, to large families with small children in tow.

 

The IKEA store is as family friendly as it can get. While little kids are allowed to test all the toys in the children's department, adults can often be seen indulging in childish fantasies – bouncing on chairs, lying on beds, and trying out everything they would like to. The in-store restaurants serve up both snacks-on-the go and long-drawn meals, while discreet members of staff are quick to provide help with searches and solutions whenever needed.

 

Everything is about comfort and convenience: the store provides tape measures, pencils and notepads, and the famous yellow bag. At the cash counters, the acceptance of cash, credit or debit cards, and IKEA gift cards are perceived as high flexibility, and after sales and customer service are other areas ranked high on the popularity charts.  In summation, a trip to the store is seen as a special outing, be it with the specific intent of buying items on a list, or simply browsing through the display rooms to get inspired. 

 

Bridging geographical boundaries

In line with making itself more accessible and available to customers, Ghassan Ahmed Al Sulaiman Furniture Trading Co. Ltd, IKEA Saudi Arabia, has announced plans to open the first Order and Collection Points (OCP) in the Kingdom, at Kharj and Qaseem. A smaller version of the store, OCP relies on technology to allow customers to view products or , make their choices, pay and pick it up, or have it delivered to their homes. Once the products are ordered from these points, customers will receive a notification to either collect the items from the Order and Collection Points or have them delivered to their doorsteps for a reasonable fee.

 

The aim is to provide IKEA shopping experiences to customers who cannot make long trips to the larger stores, by bringing it closer to them.  

 

Multiple outside channels

IKEA uses several channels outside its store to achieve this, and the best known of these is the annual catalogue, which is distributed in across 48 countries in 32 languages, but localised for every market. Earlier this year, an Arabic version of the 65th edition was distributed door-to-door in Jeddah, Makkah, Riyadh, and the Eastern Province, to unprecedented response. The catalogues are among the most popular publications in the world: they are heavily borrowed, circulated, and filed away for later use.   

 

On the IKEA website, apart from information on products, their companion pieces and ideal for usage, an entire section is dedicated to inspirational ideas on every aspect of everyday life.

 

In September, Ghassan Ahmed Al Sulaiman Furniture Trading Co. Ltd launched yet another online interface that allows customers in the Kingdom to shop directly from IKEA Saudi Arabia’s website. Using the new e-commerce service on the website, customers can now choose and purchase select products, and have them delivered to their doorsteps, with the added bonus of being able to choose a delivery date of convenience. The service which is currently available in select cities is scheduled to later cover the entire Kingdom.  

 

And finally, even a phone call is meant to make a difference. The IKEA Call Centre is built on the premise that customers who make a phone call must experience the same welcome they get when they visit a store in person. This is down to frontline staff who follow step-by-step processes and use technology and tools to provide callers with the desired experience.

 

Physical presence is just one of many customer interface points. “Whether you’re looking for answers, or products, or an inspiration in home furnishing, or whether you would like us to solve a problem, or just give us feedback, there are so many ways to contact us,” explains Faisal Al-Gain, Country Marketing Manager at IKEA Saudi Arabia.

 

Al-Gain sums it up succinctly, when he says, “Our immediate mission is always to help customers quickly, and make it as easy as possible for them to find ideal solutions to their particular situation. On other hand, our overall task is to continue to build the IKEA brand, and this we do by communicating with people and making ourselves available to them - wherever they are, and in whichever format they choose or prefer.”