One of the world's top furniture retailers, IKEA sells Scandinavian-style home furnishings and other housewares in about 300 stores in more than 35 countries.
To cut transportation costs, IKEA uses flat packaging; customers assemble the products at home. The company designs its own furniture, which is made by about 1,220 suppliers in some 55 countries. IKEA's stores feature playrooms for children and Swedish cuisine restaurants. It also sells by mail order and online.
An acronym for founder Ingvar Kamprad and his boyhood home, Elmtaryd, Agunnaryd, IKEA began operating in Sweden in 1943. It is owned by Kamprad's Netherlands-based charitable foundation, Stichting Ingka.
All new stores include a Food retails section (normally swedish seafood) and a fast food restaurant with seafood dishes at very afordable prices.