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Nov 20, 2024
By: Lekhya Kantheti
IKEA is more than just a store — it’s an experience. Living near an IKEA back home, it naturally became a regular hangout spot for my friends and me. We’d roam the store three times over, exploring everything from the aesthetically designed bedroom sets to the elaborate marketplace where every rack, with big furniture arranged in order, looks like a shot from an indie film.
Courtesy of my iPhone
You might walk into IKEA for a simple goal — or no goal at all if you’re like me — and leave three hours later with a cart filled with candles, a small alarm clock, a soft throw blanket for a chair you don’t use, and a mustard yellow lamp for your desk.
Credit goes to the IKEA maze — a carefully constructed one-way layout that guides shoppers through a winding path of staged rooms and curated displays, showcasing everything from household knick-knacks to built sets of living rooms. Far from chaotic and annoying, it’s a deliberate strategy that immerses shoppers, subtly encourages them to buy more, and blurs the line between retail and experience. It’s a trap we knowingly fall into and would hate to see disappear.
The maze layout
Most retail stores follow a simple layout, making it extremely easy for shoppers to go in, sift through the racks for what they want, and leave — very consumer-centric. IKEA, however, takes a different approach.
IKEA’s one-way path is not about efficiency, it’s about an adventure. Unlike traditional retail layouts like the grid, racetrack, freeform, or spine, which prioritize easy navigation and direct access to items in stores, IKEA takes its customers on a curated journey. Every section is like a story, with carefully arranged furniture and arrows guiding customers in the ‘right’ direction.
In a grid layout, as one might observe in grocery stores, shoppers can head straight to the aisle they need with minimal detours. Racetrack layouts guide customers along a circular path which still allows free movement and shortcuts to specific areas. Freeform layouts, common in floral stores, offer flexibility with open, unstructured spaces. Spine designs combine a central aisle with branching departments for easy access.
Courtesy of The Hustle
In contrast, IKEA’s layout forces shoppers to follow a fixed path through a series of interconnected showrooms where every turn is planned to ensure maximum exposure to their products. Starting with the ‘Showroom’ section, shoppers are led through bedrooms, kitchens, and living rooms complete with furniture and decorations. This is followed by the food court (yes, a food court), and then the ‘Marketplace’, where products are organized in racks for picking up independently.
IKEA is designed to make you pause and look around, the way it wants you to.
Courtesy of BBC Worklife
This immersive design acts as a powerful marketing tool because the store markets itself. The layout encourages shoppers to pause and imagine these products in their homes, creating needs and adding items to the cart along the way. By guiding you through its entire inventory, IKEA ensures you see everything it offers, from large furniture pieces to small, affordable items. For instance, to get to my lamp, I had to pass through everything from utensils to toiletries. A few extra forks never hurt anyone, right? These seemingly small decisions quickly add up, turning into a cart full of unexpected finds.
Researchers say 50% of purchases are not planned, and IKEA is very cleverly exploiting this behavior with its layout.
The Gruen effect
The Gruen effect, named after the architect Victor Gruen, describes the phenomenon where strategically designed spaces attract potential customers and lead them to make unplanned purchases.
IKEA’s layout does exactly this.
From the moment shoppers step into the store, they are ambushed with sets of furniture. There are arrangements of beds — with desks and comforters and everything that could possibly make it feel like it was your own room, or how you wanted your room to look. By showcasing everything from dorm rooms to children’s bedrooms, IKEA creates displays that immerse shoppers in a vision of how their home could look. Small details, like a diary on the desk or a to-do list on the fridge, make these setups feel authentic, sparking shoppers' imagination to envision these spaces as a part of their lives.
The store further enhances customer engagement by encouraging interaction. The comfortable sofas and pillows call you to sit down and take a moment to relax. As you settle in, your gaze shifts to small potted plants or a peg board with stationary stands you never thought they needed, but now feel are necessary because they fit so perfectly into the space you are experiencing.
Mirrors, which are strategically placed throughout the store, also play an important role in IKEA’s strategy. They allow customers to see themselves interacting with the furniture and props, making imagining extremely convenient.
Courtesy of IKEA
Browsers to Buyers
While we’re all taking this scenic route to the cash register, IKEA is following us with its strategic placements every step of the way. Products are thoughtfully arranged to encourage additional purchases. For instance, the bedsheet section is placed right after the curtains, which might prompt you to buy a matching set — even if you didn’t plan to.
IKEA also ensures you are prepared to shop impulsively. At every section of the store, there are bags and carts ready to be filled with small, affordable items. These purchases may feel minor in the moment but quickly add up. By the time you’re waiting in line at the register, it often seems easier to keep everything rather than second-guess your choices.
While there are shortcuts available for customers in a rush, most people are hesitant to use them because skipping sections can feel incomplete—like missing out on part of the experience. As for the bins near the register to discard unwanted items, by the time shoppers reach them, many have already justified their purchases, convincing themselves they’ll find a use for those extra forks or decorative cushions. Even with these options for autonomy, IKEA reports that its layout contributes to a 20% increase in cart value, highlighting the design’s effectiveness.
Why is there a food court in the middle??
Shopping can be exhausting. Halfway through IKEA’s carefully crafted journey is a well-timed break in the food court, offering shoppers a chance to recharge before continuing. Shopping can be exhausting, and as founder Ingvar Kamprad himself said, “It’s difficult to do business with someone on an empty stomach.” This idea is supported by a study conducted in Italy, which found that people who eat in food courts are likely to spend more on average than those who don’t. By offering this break, IKEA increases customers’ engagement and ensures they have the energy to make their experience more a worthwhile one — leading to more purchases. The longer you stay, the more likely you are to buy something.
Courtesy of Eater LA
This food court is known for its affordability — $5 Swedish meatballs, $2 cinnamon rolls, and even $1 ice cream cones. Despite these low prices, the food itself may not bring significant profits to the store. Instead, it enhances IKEA’s customer experience as a whole.
Strategically placed in the middle of the store, the food court ensures that even those who come in just for a cheap meal are exposed to IKEA’s offerings along the path. To get to those meatballs, you navigate through sections showcasing thoughtfully arranged furniture and decor, which often spark ideas or tempt you to pick up items you hadn’t planned on buying. It’s a clever way to attract customers, create a memorable shopping experience, and keep people spending.
But do we like the maze?
Despite all the excitement surrounding the maze, it might seem extremely inconvenient from an external perspective. IKEA experimented with different store layouts, specifically while opening stores in busy cities. They tried a design that was much quicker to get through, considering the fact that customers here would want to make their purchases quickly and conveniently.
However, according to the Wall Street Journal, customers wanted the maze. Interviews and surveys with customers revealed that they preferred IKEA’s traditional design over more flexible layouts because of its guidance and immersive atmosphere.
Courtesy of Quartz
There are, however, customers who are busy and don’t have the time to stroll around the store. To strike a good balance between them, IKEA includes small shortcuts between a few sections in the showroom area that allow shoppers to skip sections if they are in a hurry. These customers can also go directly to the marketplace, pick up what they need, and make their way to the register. This ensures that the one-way path does not feel too restrictive and makes it suitable for any customer.
See you in a month, IKEA.
IKEA’s maze-like layout is more than just the way the store is built — it’s a carefully crafted marketing strategy that transforms shopping into an experience. Unlike other retailers, IKEA doesn’t rely heavily on elaborate advertisements or huge campaigns. Instead, the store itself, with its unique layout and thoughtful design, does the marketing.
Courtesy of CNBC
Although I have cut down my expenditure at IKEA since it opened its first store in my city, I can’t say I won’t be going back just to have long conversations on its very comfortable couches or get a cheap soft serve after strolling around and looking at the variety of stationary and flowers — and maybe buying some.
Whether you’re there to pick up a lamp, redesign your living room, or even for a meeting, IKEA has become an expert in turning retail into something more memorable. Its versatility, while staying true to what it actually is, and aims to be, makes IKEA a fascinating masterpiece of retail business.
Lekhya Kantheti is a sophomore at NYU Stern studying Marketing and Psychology. She is passionate about behavioral economics and design and loves reading and learning random facts.
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