Canadian Retailer - Store 2013 - 41

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

EDUCATING TO MARKET

Retailer teaches customers how
to shop in its stores
A COUPLE years ago, a group of Winnipeg-

gers started a Facebook group to bring IKEA
to their city. Jonelle Ricketts, an advertising
specialist at IKEA Canada, says the demand
was real. Winnipeg wanted an IKEA. And they
wanted it badly.
“They were shouting from the rooftops for us
to bring IKEA to Winnipeg.”
When the market conditions were right,
IKEA finally committed to opening a store in
the Peg. But with the closest IKEA store more
than 2,000 kilometers away, and with most
Winnipeggers unfamiliar with the IKEA way
of shopping, the retailer had a big challenge
on its hands. How does it stage a successful
launch if only the diehards know the IKEA
brand and its unique approach to shopping?

“We really wanted to help people understand what the IKEA
concept is all about,” says Ricketts. This meant building the
campaign around three pillars.
The first pillar was style. The retailer needed to dispel notions that IKEA only sells modern European furniture, and that
it sells styles to suit every taste
The second pillar was quality. “We wanted people to know
that low prices don’t mean low quality,” says Ricketts.
The third pillar was choice. The retailer needed Winnipeggers to
know about the range of choice in IKEA’s 9,500 product catalogue.
Along with the powerful “LEARN IKEA” media campaign, the
retailer created a booklet to teach customers about the store’s
history, product, styles and approach to shopping. Ricketts says
the company worked hard to make the campaign speak to the
experiences of Winnipeggers. “A lot of people felt that we really
understood them,” says Ricketts. “We spoke to things specific
to Winnipeg.”
Surpassing expectations

The “LEARN IKEA” consumer education campaign surpassed expectations. IKEA
has settled into the new community as easily as if it had
been there for twenty years.
The retailer broke its goals
for opening week, even in the
restaurant—a part of the business that Ricketts says could
have easily been passed over
by shoppers. “A lot of people
weren’t really familiar with
Marketing campaign focused on would-be Ikea shoppers.
the IKEA restaurant, it’s a bit
Educating on a concept
of a novelty, but we ended up selling 47 per cent above the goal
Prior to the store opening, IKEA put togeth- that we had for opening day alone,” says Ricketts.
er a multimedia campaign to educate WinOne of the key measures was average ticket price per cusnipeggers about the IKEA way of shopping. tomer. For opening week, the new Winnipeg store was 22 per
The campaign had ambitious goals: to build cent above objectives.
the brand, hit sales targets for opening week,
“That was a huge win for us,” says Ricketts. “When you go
attract more than 1,000 people to the grand into a new market, you will probably have a lot of curious people
opening ceremony and generate more than 50 show up to look around. But will they buy anything? At the end
million media impressions. And, most import- of the day, because they were educated about the self-serve
antly, teach residents about the IKEA shop- areas and knew what they needed to do, they came and they
ping experience.
shopped—and shopped more than we expected.”

www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer | store 2013 | canadian retailer |

http://www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer

Canadian Retailer - Store 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Retailer - Store 2013