Category — IKEA

IKEA’s new foray into the technology zone has produced an affordable console that houses a HDTV, Blu-Ray/DVD player and a 2.1 surround sound system for around USD950 (plus a 5 year guarantee reportedly). Teaming up with HCL Corporation of China, IKEA is now able to retail an all-in-one entertainment console less the wire clutter. The Uppleva features Wi-Fi connectivity, capability to play DivX files as well as multiple USB and HDMI ports for added peripheral connectivity.

The UPPLEVA is due out in autumn and I’m sure will be a hit amongst folks with small living spaces. Those who are often irked by cable clutter will find the UPPLEVA quite appealing too. I sure am hoping IKEA Malaysia carries this product when it’s available.

In our last adventure at IKEA, we had planned to get the Trofast shelving unit at a discounted price of RM99 but that was sold out. It’s been over a month now the children’s toy collection continues to grow at an alarming rate (thanks to the wonders of online shopping) and I don’t think the single shelf TROFAST unit would be sufficient to reduce toys clutter in the playroom anymore.

We therefore decided to get 3 shelf cascading TROFAST unit at RM239. We also got several TROFAST storage boxes of various sizes and colours to slot into the shelf and house the toys.

I chose the cascading shelf because it allows me now to be able to place certain toys out of Lauren’s reach, whilst allowing Ryan to be able to access them without difficulty. The children are happy with the shelf and are learning to clean up after they’re done playing. It’s my guess that the colourful storage boxes make a difference to children’s perception – they now find packing up more ‘fun’ to do.

I personally liked the pine frame TROFAST shelf but the cost of RM399 over RM239 for a shelf that is similar in functionality put me off. For a touch of class, the pine frame wins hands down. For us, it made sense to go with the white frame TROFAST because it fits in well with the children’s white BILLY bookcase (which to me was a steal at RM169).

If you’re an IKEA friend, you’d probably have gotten it too. IKEA’s having a SALE from March 8-25 and they’re having a 2 hour preview window from 730am-930am specially for IKEA friends to get in an grab these lucrative deals before the general public storms in.

And get this – IKEA friends are allowed to bring 2 guests along. To sweeten the experience, IKEA is serving free breakfast from 7am-9am! Also, if you’ve got IKEA friends points, it’s a great day to redeem them for RM10 vouchers at 1,500 points each (normal days, 2,000 points)

From the deals on display, here are a few that I rate:

BJURSTA dining table. Normal price: RM625. SALE PRICE: RM499

Great for small sized apartments. Touch of class with lacquered oak veneer. Throw in a 4 SNILLE visitor chairs (RM34) for colour and you’ll be able to get a pretty decent dining setup for under RM700

GRUNDTAL door hangers. Normal price: RM29.90. SALE PRICE: RM15.90

At this price, get one for every bedroom and bathroom door! They are JUST SO convenient!

BRIMNES chest of 3 drawers. Normal price: RM399. SALE PRICE: RM219

Great for storing children’s clothes. At their age, I really don’t need a full sized wardrobe. At almost 50% off, this represents a gigantic deal.

I just love the way IKEA presents their brochures and catalogues. The images pop and the deals just make you want to head over to grab something – even if you don’t need it. If you’re looking to add to your household, you might as well head over during the sale period. Be there early if you’re an IKEA friend. In Malaysia, you can be sure there’ll be someone ahead of you in line.

That’s exactly what I bought at Ikea recently – 5 flower pots, 1 lazy susan, and 2 pillows. The items seem completely random, and you’re right – they are! Our initial objective to IKEA was to get the TROFAST children’s storage frame for RM99 and TROFAST storage boxes to fill the frame as the children’s toys in the playroom are increasing at a rate that’s led to utter clutter chaos.

When we got to IKEA, Lauren saw the pillows right across the entrance escalator. It was a perfect coincidence as the children’s pillows are in need of replacement. At a value buy of RM9.90, we grabbed one for each of them. Lauren happily pretended to be sleeping on it throughout our journey in IKEA afterwards (she’s cute that way!). When we headed to the children’s section, we didn’t see the TROFAST storage frame we were looking for. The IKEA sales assistant then told us that the product was out of stock. Disappointed, we decided to just make our way to the cashier to pay for the pillows. In order to do that, we had to head downstairs to the market hall area and take the short cuts so as to avoid heavy weekend foot traffic.

Despite taking the shortest possible route, we ended up with a SNUDDA lazy susan which Ryan picked up. He’s currently at a phase where he’s playing chef with his stove top and cooking utensils. He figures that his dishes need to be put on a lazy susan so everybody can easily access his imaginary gastronomic creations. At RM25, we bought one.

Walking towards the cashier, we came across some brightly coloured PAPAJA pots at RM9.90 each – just the perfect size pots we were looking for our plants for the patio. We took 5 pots – 2 green and 3 purple ones. My recent inclination towards purple probably has a lot to do with overexposure to Barney the Dinosaur.

In total, the bill came up to RM94.30. Lauren had her pillow, Ryan got his lazy susan and I bought my plant pots. Think about it, all these items were deviations from our objective – the TROFAST shelf and storage bins. It just shows that IKEA has something for everyone. I’m not so sure I can walk through IKEA and not end up buying something. Can you?

Have you ever wondered what makes customers flock to IKEA to purchase household items instead of visiting the local furniture stores better known as ‘kedai perabot’? It’s obvious that the local furniture stores can offer better deals and allow you to bargain. Many of the local furniture stores offer free assembly and delivery for large items whilst IKEA charges for these services. From a convenience perspective, the geographical likelihood of one living close to a local furniture store is higher than that of being closer to IKEA.

So what makes IKEA work?

IKEA sells you a lifestyle - people don’t just want products these days, they want a lifestyle and an ecosystem to which they can comfortably identify and live in. IKEA is amazing in this area, showcasing how an assembly of products can cater to spaces large and small. If you are the sort that cannot envision the end state of a space, IKEA is the place to go to get ideas.

Organization – IKEA’s labeling, tagging and pick-up system is simply top notch. If there’s something that catches your fancy at the display floor, just take down the label details and it’ll tell you exactly which rack and aisle to pick up the product from. Customers can also equip themselves with the provided tape measures, catalogues, pencils and paper, which really just adds to a manageable shopping experience

Knowledgeable staff – personnel retention rate in IKEA is high in case you didn’t know. Employees take amazing pride working for this Swedish giant and many of them are well trained and come across as knowledgeable when you need help. I’ve personally gone to IKEA loads of times and each time I required help, I was always guided accurately by personable staff.

End-to-end experience – IKEA pays attention to the shopper’s experience. Smaland is a place you can send your children off to play whilst you shop; the cafeteria offers a place for respite and to snack in between; you never need to look far for a washroom; there are always plenty of stalls to pick up a catalogue, pencil, paper, tape measure, shopping bags.

They’ve obviously given every detail a lot of thought. Heck, they even made the cafeteria food delicious. In fact, I’m heading over there now for some Swedish meatballs.

Armed with a RM150 budget, I decided to go to IKEA on the morning of my birthday. Why, you ask? I simply had to take advantage of IKEA’s advent deal of the day - Sundvik chairs at RM49 each.

It was a family occasion. We took the whole family there and started out at the cafe for breakfast. Ryan enjoyed the french toast and the fact that the children’s corner wasn’t crowded for once (he’s never been to IKEA on a weekday). After breakfast, we headed directly over to the children’s section to find out where to pick out the Sundvik chairs. Being fair parents, we decided to get a chair each for Ryan and Lauren. The RM49 deal only applied to white Sundvik chairs – a little disappointed but heck, a saving of RM50 per chair made color a negligible factor. There definitely won’t be post purchase dissonance here.

This left me with RM52 from my budget to spend. We decided to get the MULA crane with blocks for Ryan as he was pretty intrigued by it. I knew this would blow my budget by RM7 but hey, in the larger scheme of things, it keeps my little boy happy and that’s more important really.

When we got home, Ryan helped to assemble both the Sundvik chairs. You know the folks at IKEA have definitely gotten it right if a 2 year old toddler is able to put the pieces of the chair together. Daddy only had to help him made sure the screws were tight.

Having no way to differentiate the chairs because both were white, we decided to do a little ‘hack’. We had some leftover decals and some lettering that was adequate to spell RYAN but not enough for LAUREN. Good thing my wife’s super creative side kicked in and she started hacking at the unused letters to come up with a way to spell Lauren for her chair. Each chair had the name of one of our children and Ryan’s had four little extra fishes along with a green clover whilst Lauren’s had a nice silhouette of a cute monkey motif.

Ryan uses it daily to do his art and craft and Lauren uses it often as a walker. There’s more to the Sundvik than just being a chair!

I’m excited about tomorrow. Why? Firstly, it’s my birthday and that’s as good a reason as any to be excited.

Secondly, I’ve been waiting for the 7th of December because I’ve been eyeing to buy IKEA’s Sundvik children’s chair at RM49 instead of RM99. If you don’t know by now, IKEA’s 24 Days Advent Deals promotion has different items on offer for each day in December leading up to the most wonderful time of year – Christmas!

I’m definitely headed to IKEA tomorrow morning for a hearty breakfast and buying ‘em chairs for the little ones. 50% off sure is a deal and gets me more bang for my buck on my monthly IKEA RM150 challenge.

An interesting proposition to myself – spending RM150 at IKEA every month buying something that my home requires or simply getting the most value out of my RM150 budget. The rule is that my total spending cannot be over or under the budget by a 10% variance.

I know what I’ll be shopping for in IKEA RM150 Challenge #1 – a chair for my study desk. I’ve got a beautiful study desk but no office chair to complement it currently. I am in need of a CHAIR!

By the way, fun facts about IKEA Malaysia:

• approximately 590,000 meatballs are sold at the cafeteria a month!
• latest figures show that customers purchase 300,000 curry puffs at the kiosk opposite the checkout counters!
• IKEA Malaysia is within the top 10 busiest IKEA stores in the world, getting an average of 26,000 customers on weekends!

*Update: I’ve now decided to scrap the RM150 idea because it limits me to buying items within the budget, not so much items that I need for my home. I’ll still be shopping regularly (e.g. monthly) at IKEA and posting those purchases and my opinion of them