MOST INNOVATIVE
COMPANIES 2015
40.
Ikea
FOR DELIGHTING CUSTOMERS AT EACH AND
EVERY TURN.
If
you’re knee-deep in the train wreck that is furniture assembly and the kids are
driving you mad, don’t give up and go binge on frozen yogurt. Instead, get thee
to Ikea. At a time when shoppers are flocking online, the Swedish retail giant
drew 821 million visitors to its 361 worldwide stores in 2014. The company
continues to make the furniture-buying experience enjoyable, and that can begin
before the customer heads to a store: By downloading the catalogue app,
consumers can select a piece of furniture, point the device at the intended
room, and get a 3-D image of the furniture in that space, on their screen. That
way they know what will work prior to perusing.
At the
retail locations, parents can use their free Ikea Family card to score product
discounts, procure an extra half hour of complimentary babysitting at the
supervised play center (for 90 minutes total), and, finally, sit down to a
buy-one-get-one-free frozen yogurt. Over the past year, thanks to
family-friendly offerings like this, IKEA’s family memberships have jumped from
4.3 million to 6.9 million.
For the
less handy among us, Ikea’s new Regissör series cuts the degree of assembly
difficulty down to screwing in as few as four screws for a coffee table,
bookshelf, or cabinet. Ikea isn’t just practical; it’s also hip to
standing-desk style, carrying models for $79 and up.
In
2014, Ikea’s U.S. arm invested in another part of the in-store experience—its
people. It now uses the MIT Living Wage Calculator, not local requirements, to
determine the hourly rate for each particular market. As a result, 33 of the 40
U.S. stores increased their wages on January 1 (five stores already offered pay
above the living wage) and 50% of its U.S. retail workforce will see a pay bump
in 2015. Happier employees mean happier customers—though a sweet fro-yo deal
doesn’t hurt.
BY MATT MCCUE
http://www.fastcompany.com/3039614/most-innovative-companies-2015/
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