Ikea shelves its iconic catalogue

Ikea will be releasing a book next year to celebrate the history of its catalogue. — IKEA

IKEA is retiring its iconic catalogue after 70 years, as the company is transforming to become more digital and accessible.

“For both customers and co-workers, the Ikea Catalogue is a publication that brings a lot of emotions, memories and joy.

“Turning the page with our beloved catalogue is emotional but rational. Media consumption and customer behaviors have changed,” said Inter IKEA Systems B.V. managing director Konrad Grüss.

In a statement, the company said its customers are increasingly going digital – last year its online sales increased by 45% worldwide, while its website received more than four billion visits.

Grüss acknowledged that there was still a demand for the catalogues, saying the company will provide new tools and apps to help customers fulfil their furnishing needs.

To celebrate the history of the catalogue, Ikea will be releasing a book "filled with great home furnishing inspiration and knowledge" in the autumn of 2021.

It also furnished five facts about the Ikea catalogue:

1. 1951: Ingvar Kamprad himself put together the first Ikea Catalogue, and the very first catalogue cover featured the MK wing chair in brown upholstery. Printed and distributed in 285,000 copies in the southern part of Sweden. The catalogue, in Swedish, had, 68 pages.
2. 1998: First catalogue "Ikea at office" available on the Internet, which was a special edition only showing furniture for business/offices. The ambition this year was to present the whole catalogue online, but due to the complexity with IT-systems the launch was postponed.
3. 2000: Launch of both a printed and digital version of the Ikea Catalogue.
4. 2001: E-commerce is launched for the first time in Ikea history, in Sweden and Denmark.
5. 2016: At its peak year, the Ikea Catalogue was distributed in 200 million copies, in 69 different versions, 32 languages and to more than 50 markets.