The main reason for many to give up copying is that Ikea has cut its prices.
It was not long before Ikea came to realize that lowering prices was the only
way to get Chinese people, who are used to endurable furniture, yet at the same
time, so price-conscious, into purchasing their products.
The Swedish retailer started to slash prices mainly by localizing most of its
production. According to Ian Duffy, Ikea's president for Asia Pacific division,
some 80 per cent of Ikea's goods sold in China are made in China, which has
allowed the company to cut prices by about 50 per cent in recent years. He said
that both attracts customers and fights product piracy by making it unprofitable
to copy Ikea designs.
Why not Ikea?
Over the years, Ikea has become increasingly popular. However, at the same
time, complaints have also increased.
In Shanghai, Wang Jianshuo runs a weblog, which among other things delves
into his likes and dislikes of Ikea. "With the drop in prices, unfortunately, is
the drop in quality," wrote Wang on his blog last year. "Before, I never worried
about taking a bad product home. Now I have to carefully examine anything I put
into my shopping cart. There have been experiences when I cannot install a
curtain pole because the hole is a little bit smaller than required. And my
newly bought Glant table has two obvious areas of colour difference."
The main reason shared by many more who keep a distance from Ikea is a kind
of irony to the Swedish furniture retailers: it has become so popular that there
is a belief it has lost its individualistic appeal.
Zhan Yan, a fashion designer in her early 30s, said, like most of her peers
for similar reasons, she liked Ikea at first sight. But when it came to the
furnishing of her own house at the end of last year, Zhan gave up Ikea because,
in her words, "with so many Ikea homes in town, I don't want mine being just
another."
Although the DIY concept cited by many as one of the reasons for them to like
Ikea, Zhan said self-assembly is too limited a DIY concept to have much
self-creation involved.
"The self-assembly concept is just one of the excuses for Ikea to save on
shipment costs, and an illusion created to get the customers to believe that
they're furnishing their home with their own creativity," said the fashion
designer. "In fact, they're more than copying from Ikea's room settings."
Tired of all those "copying," Zhan designed her own and had her units in her
home made by a carpenter.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)