The establishment of Ingvar Kamprad company

2001April 19, a 74-year-old Swedish man came to Beijing. Sitting in economy class, he looks full of energy, carrying an inconspicuous cloth bag and walking very fast without anyone accompanying him. This seemingly insignificant person is Ingvar Kamprad, the billionaire who founded IKEA. The retired richest man in Sweden likes to visit IKEA stores all over the world by himself. This is his first visit to China.

Looking back199965438+1October 13, Beijing's "IKEA" opened with unprecedented pomp. People still remember the scene at that time: "How far is it from IKEA? Santana and Fukang are all over the street. Surprised customers crowd in front of each product and think carefully about how to spend their RMB." Within two weeks, enthusiastic Beijingers snapped up all the goods on IKEA shelves, and some people went there six times in seven days. A foreign magazine said that this was a collective mobilization of the "Beijing middle class". It can be said that it caused a great sensation. Until today, IKEA is still the first choice for furniture for many young people and middle-aged people. Of course, this situation is not limited to China. In fact, thanks to kamprad's efforts, today's IKEA has become the largest furniture retail company in the world. 1926, Ingvar was born in Emcht, a small village in southern Stockholm, Sweden. His ancestors were Germans, and later he immigrated to Sweden. His grandfather was a farmer and shot himself because of poor management. Father doesn't know how to run it either. But Ingvar has a gift for doing business since he was a child.

At the age of five, Yingwa once sold a batch of matches on behalf of others and earned a little money. For a long time, he sold matches to his neighbors by bike. He found that buying matches in bulk from Stockholm can get very cheap prices, and then retailing at very low prices, and he can still make a lot of profits from it.

Later, his business scope continued to expand. He sells Christmas cards, and he sells the fish he catches everywhere by bike. 1 1 years old, he made a big deal and sold a batch of flower seeds. He used the money he earned to buy racing cars and typewriters, and then he simply indulged in sales. He used his father's money and bank draft to buy goods and sold 500 Paris pens. When he was in high school, there was a cardboard box under his bed, which contained his "goods": belt, wallet, watch and pen. ...

1943, Yingwa 17 years old. The father knew his son well and decided to give him a special graduation gift, which was to help him start his own company. Thus, IKEA was born. I stands for ingvar, K stands for kamprad, E stands for Emhurt, and A is the name of the village where I live-Gunnard.

At first, IKEA sold pens, wallets, photo frames, decorative tablecloths, watches, jewelry and nylon stockings. As long as Ingvar can think of low-priced products, he will run them. No one cared about this company run by 17-year-old children, only regarded it as children's toys, but to everyone's surprise, IKEA later became a world-famous enterprise.

Although the company was established, Ingvar realized his lack of experience in practice and decided to go to business school for further study. From then on, he understood that to be an excellent businessman, we must first deliver the goods to our customers in the simplest and cheapest way. This has become his most basic marketing concept. To this day, kamprad still has a habit that annoys his wife deeply. "I am used to asking when the other party wants to get up and leave: Can it be cheaper?"

Ingwa, who is studying, is not idle. He went to the college library to read commercial newspapers with import and export advertisements, chose an object, and wrote letters to foreign manufacturers in broken English. As a result, he became the general agent of that pen in Sweden. In order to realize his original simple and cheap idea, he decided to import directly, because only in this way can he get the lowest price.

But for Ingvar, these are just a small test. What he wants to do is a bigger career. This time, Ingvar turned his attention to the furniture industry. Because Sweden was in a period of rapid economic development, the rural population was rapidly decreasing, while the cities were constantly increasing and expanding, and radiating to the suburbs. Young people urgently need to find a place to live, and people need to decorate their new houses as cheaply as possible. At that time, the Swedish government's suggestion for people to use furniture was: it is convenient for life and beneficial to health. Ingvar's "IKEA" came into being.