Why do we spend so much money at IKEA?

I am not a fan of the malls or anything retail but I have been an admirer of IKEA stores for how they make me feel.

IKEA coming to NZ has been in the talks for the past decade or so. Here are some observations on why I spend money when at an IKEA store overseas.

A study by Harvard Business School says that customers are more inclined to value an item you built yourself. They called it the IKEA effect. IKEA focusses on customers building their own furniture giving them an internal locus of control that leads to increased ownership building a bond between the customers and 'their' products.

However, in 2017 IKEA acquired TaskRabbit who will deliver and assemble your furniture for a small fee.

The store allows you the pleasure of discovery, comfort, familiarity making retail into retail therapy.

Winding maze makes the customers stop, experience/discover and shop.

The brain is entranced with tastefully placed mirrors for they show the most gorgeous looking human being back at you. IKEA plays to the narcissist in each of us.

IKEA uses white everywhere through their store creating a perception of being minimal, clutter-free, transparent without saying any of these things.

Their products are sleek, minimal and affordable. Crisp clean aesthetic sells to a broader audience.

IKEA store is a really a giant storage facility for furniture parts.

Retail is the most tiring environment for the human brain—it demands constant processing. IKEA recognises that customers need sustenance by placing a cafeteria right in the centre of most stores.

The Besta cabinets are highly versatile—you can hang them on a wall, stack them on top of each other on the floor. You can use them with shutters or without.

They act like building blocks providing support top the structure while not compromising on the function for the form.

There are so many UX lessons in a case study like IKEA.

An example of the Besta cabinets.