It's been around for 70 years, but the IKEA catalogue will soon be a thing of the past. On December 7th, the Swedish company announced the end of this long-standing tradition.
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IKEA discontinues its catalogue
This decision was not taken lightly. It is the result of different consumer behaviour today, and the firm explained its choice in a press release:
Consumer behaviour has changed, and fewer people read the IKEA catalogue than a few years ago. Inter IKEA Systems, the global franchisor of IKEA, has therefore taken the moving but rational decision to respectfully end the career of the IKEA catalogue.
If you received the Summer 2020 catalogue, keep it safe: it will be the final one and may become a collector one day.
Older catalogues available on the internet
The IKEA catalogue was a true icon. Every year, nearly 200 million copies were distributed. It was available in more than 50 countries and was translated into 32 different languages. In 2020, the catalogue was no longer sent out to consumers, but the 40 million copies distributed to IKEA shops were available to customers.
If those who were attached to this little treat thought they could take comfort in the digital version, unfortunately, this will also soon be gone. However, there is one piece of good news. All the old catalogues are now available on the internet, so you can spend your evenings seeing how interior decorating has changed over the last 70 years!