How Not to Cheat Ikea’s Mind Games
Sometimes, walking through Ikea, you find yourself in a labyrinth, the walls of which are built from attractive organizational units. You both cannot and do not want to leave. This is no coincidence – Ikea deliberately lures you into a trap.
The megastore is designed to have a shopper wandering through its halls and filling their cart until they are tired enough to order a stack of meatballs for dinner. Vox.com has revealedall the ways that Ikea is manipulating you into buying things you didn’t plan or need in this helpful video.
Now that you know what Ikea is up to, how to deal with their sneaky tricks? Here are some ideas:
Have a plan
According to the researchers, roughly half of consumer spending is “unplanned,” and 80 percent of the decisions we make when shopping are based on emotion, not logic or need. This is something that Ikea understands well and they manipulate that with their layout. Make sure you have a list. It won’t necessarily stop you from choosing random things, but having a clear goal in mind and on paper will make you much more focused.
Understand the layout
There are three main styles of store design. The grid emphasizes speed because it is easy to find what you need. Consider a grocery store as an example. The free-form layout is perhaps more similar to what you see in a department store like Macy’s. It’s full of displays that don’t necessarily monitor your movement in space like a grid does, which allows people to explore (and buy more). The racetrack creates a loop that opens up a predefined product path for customers.
Ikea uses a fixed path through the maze of more product displays. Their strategy is to get you to stay in the store for as long as possible by offering you more and more items. Typically, shoppers only see about a third of the store, but Ikea has higher numbers. How long they stay, but anyone who has been to Ikea knows how easy it is to drag on for hours there. Know what they are trying to do and resist!
Go straight to your goal
You can do this by knowing exactly what you want and see if you can find out where it is on the store map before you go. The showroom is usually upstairs with all the distracting exhibits. There is another area of much less attractive boxed furniture that you can immediately turn to if you choose your item online or in a catalog ahead of time. You can also order online if you prefer shipping charges over random impulse purchases.
Avoid the showroom and marketplace completely
Ikea offers a bright yellow shopping bag at the entrance, next to a well-lit escalator that leads to a seductive showroom. Light is very important to Ikea’s design, highlighting the areas they want you to see the most; these constructs are not based on guesswork. They can measure customer journey through in-store data collection. Yes, they look at you and know what you like. They will use this information to customize their designs and get you to buy even more. And if you have to break through a terrible “market,” you need a strong sense of determination. When you find yourself grabbing a random bowl when walking in behind a shower curtain, ask yourself if I am falling into another Ikea trap?
Bring a buddy and have a snack
If you find yourself in the maze of the exhibition hall, you may be there much longer than you planned. It means that you will get tired and, let’s face it, you will get hungry. Bring something to eat, such as a fruit mix or an energy bar. Don’t let Ikea tire you! You will be less emotional and impulsive (as they want) if your physical needs are taken care of.
Finally, take a friend with you to help you stay on track. Yes, people joke about how Ikea ruins relationships. But with the right person, you will be able to control yourself and get in and out quickly. If any of you picks up something random for the sharpening cart, promise to ask why he needs it. Remind each other – we only came here for one. Only one …