Ikea's appeal spreads to Asia
fairplay
By Jonathan Kent
BBC reporter, Malaysia
Last week the largest branch of the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea in
Asia opened in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Crowds poured in for the opening
For Jean Paul Sartre hell was other people.
For me it's Ikea.
It gives me the jitters.
Too many hours on too many weekends spent sitting in traffic jams on the
North Circular queuing to get into Ikea's Brent Park store back in London.
Once inside one simply swaps automotive gridlock for the human kind; a
bumbling, jostling, bemused mass of people ogling kitchen after sofa
after bathroom after bedroom ensemble.
I can only look at so much birch-veneered medium density fibreboard
before I want to scream.
Popular appeal
Malaysians on the other hand seem to be unable to get enough of the stuff.
The Swedish furniture giant recently staged a massive clear-out of its
old Kuala Lumpur store before moving to new premises.
The sale was supposed to last a month, but after two weeks the event was
over, the store had been picked clean - there was nothing left to sell.
Now Ikea has opened its new Kuala Lumpur store, and at almost 36,000
square meters it is the largest in Asia and four times the size of the
old one.
Chaos
To be on the safe side, I drove over an hour ahead of its opening to the
public.
The queue at the checkout was long
My sense of déją vu was compounded not just by the inevitable traffic
jams - people had even parked on the inside lane of the nearby highway -
but by the sight that greeted me when I arrived.
Malaysia's new Ikea is right next to an aircraft-hanger sized branch of
the British supermarket chain Tesco, just as it is in Brent Park in London.
It's as if a little piece of Wembley landed right here in the tropics.
It took the crowds gathered outside almost an hour to filter through the
whole store and start to arrive at the 26 checkouts.
It is a two-and-a-half kilometre stroll past 7,000 items.
It contains four complete home layouts and 54 room sets. By the time I
left, the store was full.
Profitable
No wonder Joseph Lau, General Manager and franchise shareholder, is
excited.
He expects this one outlet to be turning over more than US$130m a year
by 2008.
So there's a big future here. That's why we need a big store to make
sure we touch all Malaysians' lives
Hans-Göran Stennert
Ikea chairman
"It's a big population, four million here in the Klang Valley [the
greater Kuala Lumpur area], we have only touched a small part of KL," he
says.
"So there's a big future here. That's why we need a big store to make
sure we touch all Malaysians' lives."
The potential of the Asian market is clearly not lost on Ikea's
international chairman Hans-Göran Stennert.
"Asia obviously has very fast developing economies and we want to be on
board to strengthen and build up our third leg to stand on," he tells
me, sounding like a man about to design a new kitchen stool.
"We're well established in Europe, we have quite a number of stores in
North America but we also want to expand our business in the growing
economies of Asia."
New tastes
I'm intrigued to know why Malaysians have been apparently so easily won
over by Swedish furniture.
After all, in Europe Ikea sells first and foremost on price, the
deciding factor being that Ikea tries to bring good design principles to
budget products.
I like the design. It's modern. It says something different from what
were used to
K Subramaniam
shopper
Here in Malaysia its products undercut other Western imports, but aren't
particularly cheap when compared to local furniture.
I tend to think that the perception that Western design is more
sophisticated than local styles has rather more to do with Ikea's
ability to attract Malaysians.
Indeed young people are here in droves, or more particularly in couples,
or with young children.
They're all loading up their trolleys. "It's very modern and colourful
and beautiful," reckons Mohamad Ishak of the furniture.
He's in his twenties and is here with his partner.
"We can equip our whole house with it," he says.
"And be very proud," adds his other half.
"I like the design. It's modern. It says something different from what
were used to," says K Subramaniam, another young professional, also
here with his wife.
Compulsive
Indeed, when I get home - and saw what I have spent - I remember why
Ikea really gives me fear.
I reckon it's impossible to get out of the place without parting with at
least US$40.
No wonder Joseph Lau is so excited about Ikea's future in this part of
the world.
There are almost 25 million Malaysians and a good proportion of them are
going to be as happily parted from their cash as I appear to have been.
adchin
Shitty Quality Products Can Sell, as long as the Design is Great !!
ck_in_sf1
> Proton should take lessons from Ikea, which I have oft repeated to friends,
> Shitty Quality Products Can Sell, as long as the Design is Great !!
Never presuppose quality in furniture is an equivalent concept to that
of quality in cars.
CKSF
intruder
wrote:
No, never??? Now you are marketing and automobile expert. How would
you know anything about marketing, as a so-called public health
scientist.
Intruder
--One man tells a lie, dozens repeat it as the truth--
blorg2k3
> Shitty Quality Products Can Sell, as long as the Design is Great !!
Actually, I think they have a money-back guarantee if you're not
satisfied, which is why it sells IMHO. But any rate, any store that
employs that many people can't be bad :)
adchin
Kapablanca
ck_in_sf1
> The food's good.
Easily pleased, I see.
CKSF
blorg2k3
> Perwaja Steel comes to mind
That wasn't a store.
ck_in_sf1
> "adchin" <bmc...@tm.net.my> wrote in message news:<3f459...@news.tm.net.my>...
> > Perwaja Steel comes to mind
>
> That wasn't a store.
For many a cronies, it was one!
CKSF
Capablanca
"ck_in_sf1" <ck_i...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:89ef427.03082...@posting.google.com...
ck_in_sf1
> You should have married me.
But are you worthy?
CKSF
Capablanca
JERSEY GIRL
Are you handsome?
intruder
<Capab...@qemail.com> wrote:
>r u pretty?
pssst, ckfs is a she-male. interested??
ck_in_sf1
> r u pretty?
I guess only if you are blind. I can help make you blind.
CKSF
Ahmad Sayuthi
> pssst, ckfs is a she-male. interested??
pssst, Intruder is a homosexual (of the American football `receiver' kind).
Interested??
--
www.alphaque.com 17500 Tanah Merah, Kelantan
intruder
wrote:
>intruder <mark_i...@hotmail.com> wrote Tue 26 Aug 2003 03:12:32a:
>
>> pssst, ckfs is a she-male. interested??
>
>pssst, Intruder is a homosexual (of the American football `receiver' kind).
>Interested??
R u asking me?
Thanks for responding anyway, seems u are touched.
Better make your daily prayers instead of vomitting here.
Cheers.
Ahmad Sayuthi
> R u asking me?
Some homosexual Nigerian is looking for you.
> Thanks for responding anyway, seems u are touched.
You are welcome.
> Better make your daily prayers instead of vomitting here.
Oh, it's my hobby to kick around mentally-inferior posters like you.
Getting scared?:))
JERSEY GIRL
ROTFLMAO so you're saying you're UGLY? ;-))))))))))))))
intruder
wrote:
>intruder <mark_i...@hotmail.com> wrote Wed 27 Aug 2003 03:25:46a:
>
>> R u asking me?
>
>Some homosexual Nigerian is looking for you.
So Kelantan boy, what is wrong if a homosexual Nigerian or you as a
homosexual is looking for me?
he, he some people here in Germany are laughing at your response.
(made in Kelantan)
Poor Kelantan boy, now you are even a racist (besides homophobe) and
this exhibits your backwardness even more..
What is with you poeple in Malaysia treating (Muslim) Nigerians so
badly. Must be their color????
What does CKFS say about you affection to homosexuals. Like she/he
said before, she/has a lot of gay friends and u r one of them.
But shhhh, I know it is a crime in Kelantan and your ISP is reading
them.......
>
>> Thanks for responding anyway, seems u are touched.
>
>You are welcome.
I am? then why the phone address?
>
>> Better make your daily prayers instead of vomitting here.
>
>Oh, it's my hobby to kick around mentally-inferior posters like you.
>Getting scared?:))
He, he that being said by a boy from Kelantan. But to be honest, I am
afraid, since I know what your narrow scope is driving you to do...
bombs??
Please do your daily prayers, read the Quran, and you will see that
violence and filthy mouth is not appropiate.
Have a nice time in your dream castle the tanah merah....
intruder
what is could ever be of beauty of a she male??????
PeeWee
"JERSEY GIRL" <Vibran...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:1500-3F4...@storefull-2236.public.lawson.webtv.net...
> CKSF
>
> ROTFLMAO so you're saying you're UGLY? ;-))))))))))))))
>
She's pretty as a pussy!@!!!!
A pussy that looks like a hyena!!!
A hyena that can really eat you up!!!
So don't paly play with her lar!!!!
JERSEY GIRL
I believe that CKSF is a Man.
ck_in_sf1
CKSF
JERSEY GIRL
Well... aren't you a man?
intruder
Well, that is exactly why I called it a she-male.
She/he/it only has a dick left.