Make customers work a little, and they will value the product more
IKEA turned assembly into attachment, because effort that is real but finishable makes people value what they made.
Think School · IKEA Business Case Study: How to Earn 40 Billion$ Every Year by Selling Furniture? (IKEA Effect)IKEA, the furniture retailer behind a $40 billion business, does something most furniture companies do not. Where a conventional company ships a sofa or a table fully assembled from the factory to a warehouse to a home in a large truck, IKEA packs its furniture unassembled in flat boxes that can literally fit in a car.
The customer hauls the box home and assembles the pieces there. That do it yourself job is the point. Customers who build the furniture themselves develop an attachment to it, prizing a table or a shelf more because they made it stand up.
The idea traces to psychologists working for General Mills, the food company behind cake mix. They concluded that no matter how inefficient, tedious, or mediocre the process, if a person puts in effort to produce an output, that person will value it extraordinarily. Others may see an ordinary product. To the maker, it feels special. Their shorthand was labor leads to love.
For any business that wants to borrow the trick, there are three things to keep in mind. First, the task for customers should not be too easy. Second, it should require a real degree of effort. Third, and most importantly, it must be designed so customers can successfully complete it.
That is why flat pack works. The assembly is real work, with pieces, tools, and instructions, yet an ordinary buyer can finish it in an afternoon and keep a shelf they assembled themselves. The lesson is that the more customers engage, the more they value the product, and that engagement can separate an ordinary company from an extraordinary one.
Questions people ask
What happens if the task is too hard?
Then the effect reverses. People feel frustrated rather than proud, and they blame the brand. That is why the completable part matters most: test the task with beginners, provide clear instructions and parts that only fit one way, and offer help before they quit.
Did making customers assemble furniture actually save IKEA money?
Flat boxes stack tightly, so trucks and warehouses hold more sofas per load. Because boxes fit in a car, customers also do the last delivery trip themselves. Those savings let IKEA sell stylish furniture at low prices while customers still feel attached to it.