IKEA, which recently celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of its first U.S. store in Plymouth Meeting, PA, wants to get to know its American customers even better. Management is so serious about the effort that, beyond simply looking at past purchasing history, it plans to send representatives directly to customers' homes to see how they live.
The goal behind the program is to learn the needs of consumers in local markets so IKEA can offer products that more directly address their needs.
"It's about understanding how life is spent," Lars Petersson, president of IKEA U.S., told USA Today.
In-home visits are just part of IKEA's plan to further grow its business in the U.S., which now represents 12 percent of its total worldwide sales.
In a press release to mark its anniversary in the U.S., Mr. Petersson said, "We want to be accessible to more Americans in the future by opening new stores, improving existing stores, developing our service offer, and growing our e-commerce business."
![[Image: IKEA celebrates]](/public/images/discussions/18345/ikea-nyc-couple-still.jpg)
One of the keys to IKEA's success has been its ability to hold the line on prices. Today, the company actually charges less for some of the same items it sold when it first opened for business.
Another key has been the company's commitment to environmental issues. It was the first major U.S. retailer to discontinue the use of plastic bags (2008) and it will only sell LED lights beginning in the fall of 2016.