If you’ve ever strolled through IKEA, you’ve probably gotten the sense that you were in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory — enjoying yourself well enough and fascinated by the sights, but clueless as to how to get the hell out of there.
The Daily Mail interviews a British professor who opines that the labyrinthine design is meant to give you the sense of feeling lost in order to get you to spend more time in the store, thus causing you to buy more stuff.
The professor says:
“You’re directed through their marketplace area where a staggering amount of purchases are impulse buys, things like lightbulbs or a cheap casserole that you weren’t planning on getting.“Here the trick is that because the lay-out is so confusing you know you won’t be able to go back and get it later, so you pop it in your trolley as you go past.”
If you manage to make it through IKEA without spending money, what do you do to win these Swedish mind games?
Why shoppers find it so hard to escape from Ikea: Flatpack furniture stores are ‘designed just like a maze’ [The Dauly Mail via Newsvine]
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I can get through Ikea just fine by asking myself if this cool such and such will turn into added clutter at home in a few weeks/months. It’s not hard to enjoy the novetly for what it is right there and move on.
there is a short cut that eliminates about 1/3 of the store. It is clearly marked in stores that I have visited.
Also there is an excellent book named: Great Ikea. I think it’s out of print but still available last time I looked around. The book explains about the store layout and short cut
IKEA doesn’t have stuff I want, generally, so it’s easy for me to get out without spending money.
Look up. See the sign to the checkouts? No? You’re an idiot, please go to Wal-Mart. NPFTS.
I avoid stores that sell furniture I have to put together when I get home.
My trick: 2 carts. I use 1 for all the stuff I know I will want and 1 for the impulse items. Before the register I look at the impulse cart and add the things I truly want to the other cart. I then leave the remaining cart and its content where it is. Hey, Ikea created the situation where I need 2 carts; let them deal with the unshopping.
They have enough shortcuts that I don’t think it’s designed to make you grab something out of fear of not being able to go back for it – but I do think it’s designed to force the new customers to look at *everything* the store has to offer and old customers to see if there is anything new. Which I suppose could be enjoyable if you are the sort of person who goes shopping for the sake of shopping.
The first couple of times I shopped there it was almost like an adventure. Then in quickly became a chore. Now I just don’t shop there unless I have to.
I never get this theories that a store’s setup will make you spend more (i believe there was an article about costco’s setup too). Generally I only go to a store to get something specific, then leave. If someone’s there to just browse and shop, then i think the store’s setup has little to do with their decision since more than likely they’ll end up finding something to buy regardless how the store’s set up. I’ve been to an ikea store a few times and never got any urge to spend more money.
Am I the only one who takes advantage of that handy-dandy shopping list function on their website? I pick out the things that I want from the comfort of my home and I can walk around the showrooms pretending to be Swedish in peace. There are some impulse purchases but after I take into account the things I hated when I saw them in person, it evens out.
The rat maze is obnoxious, though. I never realized how difficult it is to escape until my sister asked me to bring home some meatballs and I couldn’t get outside without going through the warehouse. Normally, my friends and I go to Ikea and make a day of it. You should go to Ikea in groups for defensive purposes. I’m always exhausted when I go by myself.
My husband gets overwhelmed and starts to fall apart halfway through Ikea’s maze. If I don’t plan a trip out just right- they lose a lot of our money.
Every time my wife and I venture into IKEA, I always marvel that we’re able to navigate the IKEA Trail without getting attacked by a wild animal or catching dysentery and dying.
For fun sometime, try going through the store backwards. It annoys the hipsters to no end!
Particle board propped up on metal poles and rugs with mod circles isn’t really my taste.
IKEA is my #1 store for Planning To Spend A Lot Of Money But Walking Out With Nothing Because I’m So Fucking Overwhelmed.
I got out without buying anything because it was ØVËRWHELMÃNG.
There is such a thing as “too many choices.” Unless I know exactly what I’m going in for and know they have it, shopping at IKEA is useless and frustrating.
How do you get lost in an IKEA? There are arrows on the floor.
This is precisely why I hate Ikea. I like their stuff, but I loathe the store. That’s why, every time I need something there, I find what I want online, go there, get it, and get out. I don’t look at anything else. I make a bee-line through the shortcuts.
This is true for the ‘old’ Ikea stores like in Schaumburg, but the new ones with the Marketplace like in Bolingbrook are wonderfully laid out and are not as maze-like as the old ones.
I always do a final check before paying and go through my whole cart. Usually, at least 1/3 of the contents go into the “go-backs” bin.
Still, love IKEA. Meatballs! Lingonberrysaft!
Come to think of it, I had a feeling Evil Otto was tailing me last time I was in there.
I feel much better knowing I wasn’t being paranoid about this.
First off, the layout is not *that* confusing. If you’ve never been to an IKEA before or are 3 feet tall, sue, I could see a bit of confusion, but there’s not much of an excuse if you’ve done the cattle drive before.
Second, it took a professor to tell us these things??
This is news? When I go to Ikea, I select what I want on the website first. Then I go in through the out door, thus taking me directly to the warehouse area where you actually get stuff. On the rare occasions that I need to browse and/or see the item in the flesh (how demanding IS a Billy book-case, really?) I go to the showroom, look at the map and find the shortcuts. They are labelled, but poorly.
Wow, what an insight! NOT!
The more time in the store, the more likely you buy something, anything. Grocery stores have been doing that for years. Staples in the back to make you walk through the store. Impulse items on the end caps. Impulse items at the checkout counters while you wait.
A little bit past the cafeteria, my shopping partner(s) and I always start snapping at each other and arguing over petty things, because we’re exhausted and overwhelmed. So we always rush through the entire part with the impulse buys, trying to get to the warehouse area and check out before we end up screaming at each other. Rat maze backfire.
painted lines on floor….follow them.
most of you sound like the infomercial actors who can’t crack an egg without tearing down a wall first.