For a long time, the Ikea furniture store chain has enjoyed enormous popularity among the Czechs. Also in such a way that other furniture sellers had big problems competing with him and regularly finished well behind him in the sales and popularity charts.
Low prices have disappeared
For many people Ikea is simply synonymous with furniture sellers and when they need something for the home, they go and buy it here. Relatively low prices also played a part in this in the long run. People often didn’t want something complicated, but useful, and they found it here and paid a fair amount, nothing exaggerated.
However, this has started to change in the past few years. On the one hand, Ikea had problems with deliveries, and then they also started to raise their prices significantly. He justified this with the increase in costs, which are global.
But as it turns out, the prices aren’t the same everywhere. The disadvantage of the company is that its products are very comparable all over the world, because they are the same for all markets. According to the server Seznam Zprávy, it was discovered that in neighboring Poland the same products actually cost much less.
For example, one of the customers tried to assemble the wardrobe he needed in Ikea’s online configurator. He cost 38,000 crowns in a Czech e-shop, which is a lot for an industrially produced piece of furniture. People used to buy wardrobes in this department store much cheaper. And apparently it works. A similarly assembled wardrobe would cost only 16,000 crowns in Poland. The potential savings, if the customer were to go to Poland for the wardrobe, amounts to 22 thousand crowns. This is a salary.
They are testing what the Czechs can endure
Unfortunately, this is far from an exception. A simple look at department store e-shops in the Czech Republic and Poland showed that the prices differ considerably. The same products cost at least ten percent less in Poland. And it’s also about the little things. For example, the famous Fridfull flowerpot here costs 149 crowns, while in Poland you can have it for 82 crowns.
“Since our last visit last year, it has become incredibly expensive here. I am disappointed. We liked to come here, we always bought something. But not quite at these prices,”Says Mrs Lída, who was walking around Ikea in Černý most with her husband.
It is entirely possible that Ikea is looking to move the Czech market higher in its hierarchy. While before he tried to impress the price, now he can take advantage of it, because the Czechs are gradually getting used to higher prices. But the question is whether she exaggerated.
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