Interview with Ikea: How to keep prices low and when it will be in Košice
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David McCabe has traveled halfway around the world. For now, he has launched anchors in Prague and is in charge of managing the Ikea retail store for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. He is clear that, according to him, the furniture trade is a love brand and the Central European region has a great perspective.
We found out whether Ikea furniture has different quality in different regions, how they make sure that their transport is as ecological as possible and whether their store in the USA is different from that in Bratislava.
On the economic sub-page of Refresher Disrupter, we regularly open doors to interesting Slovak companies. If you like our work, you can keep it by joining the club Refresher+. You also get access to all exclusive articles.
You worked for Ikea in Great Britain, Canada, the United States and Central Europe…
And let’s not forget Sweden. When you work in Ike long enough, you also have to defend yourself in Scandinavia, you can’t do without it. I even commuted between North America and Sweden twice. Those were the times when my family and I traveled a lot.
Was there any fundamental difference between these business?
Surprisingly, I found out earlier that we have a lot in common. Customers in different countries may have different views on aesthetics, but their needs are the same. We noticed that the pandemic only accentuated them. People all over the world were suddenly looking for home office equipment and furniture to create a children’s play area.
So if I visited an Ikea store in the United States, would I see something similar to the one in Bratislava?
Basically yes. We have slightly different products there, for example the seats are bigger. But the shopping experience would probably be very similar.
Is the Slovak customer special in any way?
You really liked the meatballs from the restaurant and the little sofas that you can fold into a bed.
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What will you learn after you leave?
- How the company copes with inflation.
- What ratio of particleboard and solid wood is used in production.
- Why does it take so long to push to the east of Slovakia?
- Do they expect this year’s lockdowns in China to work.
If you are missing something in the article or have comments, let us know.