How does IKEA come up with names for its products?

Aug 19, 2026 01:11 AM - 1 hour ago 3

The merchandise names of IKEA whitethorn sound unusual moreover to america Swedish speakers. In different parts of the world, they are fundamentally incomprehensible, but fun! Here you will study the astir about really we sanction our products and the 2 rules that must ever beryllium followed – because location is simply a method successful the madness.

Ingvar Kamprad, laminitis of IKEA, had a difficult clip remembering numbers and numbers, truthful alternatively he decided to sanction his products. Naming products started arsenic a applicable solution, but complete clip it has go an important portion of our personality and look astatine IKEA.

Our naming method

To guarantee accordant usage of names

We activity purposefully to create a beardown and unsocial personality for IKEA. Everything we do – including naming our products – helps america build and fortify IKEA arsenic a brand. That's why we travel 2 elemental rules:

  1. We usage Swedish names for our products.

The merchandise names bespeak our Swedish identity, Småland's practice and our values. They make IKEA unsocial and lend to a consciousness of playfulness. The names are existent words and often inspired by Swedish places, nature, emotions aliases mundane expressions – and travel a clear categorization system. For instance:

Sofas → Swedish spot names

Bookshelves → men's names

Children's products → animals and nature

To beryllium utilized arsenic a merchandise name, it must:

  • be a existent word
  • contain betwixt 4 and 12 letters
  • preferably incorporate the letters Å, Ä aliases Ö
  • feels bully to say
  • Never beryllium trademarked aliases beryllium a surname

Every imaginable merchandise sanction is cautiously checked to debar undesirable meanings successful different languages, governmental aliases belief affiliations and fresh into our world profile.

  1. For everything else, we usage descriptive names successful the section connection of the state successful which we operate.

This applies, for example, to services, functions and communication, which must beryllium clear and easy to understand for each customers, sloppy of market.

An objection to these 2 rules are immoderate cautiously selected Swedish words (Hello, bye, welcome, invited backmost and coffee), they are utilized to definitive aspects of the civilization and traditions we person astatine IKEA.

Did you cognize that we sanction astir 2,000-3,000 caller products each year?

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