“Grab the big blue bag!”
Ikea Bag Case Study
You recognize it. You rely on it. You respect it. The iconic IKEA bag proves that designing for the customer is always the best bet.
Opportunity:
IKEA relies on successful in-store shopping experiences. They quickly understood they needed to equip shoppers with all the tools and instructions to make browsing, finding, carrying, and purchasing a seamless process.
Watch this video to get all emotional about the Ikea bag!
Aha Experience:
Shopping carts only helped shoppers on-premise; it left the customer helpless bringing the goods from the car into their home. Typical shopping bags were too small and weak for most of their customers’ loads, meaning frustrated shoppers and lower revenues for IKEA.
IKEA needed an alternative - a bag that had to be affordable, large enough, and durable enough to carry the many-sized products from the store to checkout to the car to the house. The result was the ultra-simple design of the blue IKEA bag (technically called the Frakta, which means “carry” in Swedish). The only aesthetic touch was making the material and handles in their brand colors.
The reasons IKEA and I both love the big blue bag:
Enables Impulse Purchasing
The size of the bag empowers (teases?) me to pick up anything that I pass in the store. I buy more than I can carry, and more than I want.
Seamless Customer Journey
The bag sticks with me from the moment I enter the store until the moment I unload my last lamp at home. I never have to fuss with loading and unloading again. This removes the decision making and frustration of deciding where to place things, will it fit, is it too heavy? No more!
Infinite Utility
The bag was built to be versatile enough to handle any IKEA item, and this made it useful for many other things too. I use the bag for laundry, Costco runs, moving, clothes donations, and storage. Not to mention the other internet-famous uses for the bags!
Marketing
Because we see people using the bright blue bag in so many daily situations, we are always reminded of IKEA. Not just as a brand, but as a helpful companion in day-to-day life. We even say the name - e.g. “grab the IKEA bag from the closet!” The best part - this viral ambassador marketing costs IKEA $0.
Brand Loyalty
IKEA solves my problem in their store, in my house, during my trip to Goodwill… I’m forever grateful to IKEA for helping me out in the most aggravating situations.
(For a hilarious story of Balenciaga selling knock offs of the Ikea bag, click here.)
Outcome:
IKEA’s handy in-store solution became a marketing icon of the ages. Symbolically, it reflects the relentless focus IKEA puts on customer experience, utility, and affordability. The bag that debuted in 1996 now is purchased over 3 million times annually in the United States alone and is the poster child of the world’s most beloved furniture (and swedish meatball) supplier.
Garrett’s Takeaways:
Stick to the basics. Did IKEA design this bag as a genius marketing hack? Nope. They kept their heads down and did what they do best - build an efficient product and customer experience. The lesson here is to focus on creating value for the customer, and the rest will come.
Solve your customer’s problems. Each problem is an opportunity for your company to be the hero.