IKEA (/aɪˈkiːə/ eye-KEE-ə, Swedish: [ɪˈkêːa]), is a multinational conglomerate founded in Sweden[6][7] that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, household goods, and various related services.

In addition, the firm is known for its attention to cost control and continuous product development, notably, the ready-to-assemble model of furniture sales, and other elements which have allowed IKEA to establish lower prices than its competitors.

[35] In November 2021, IKEA opened its largest store in the world, measuring 65,000 square metres (700,000 sq ft),[36] in the Philippines at the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City.

Lastly, the self-service furniture warehouse stores the showroom products in flat pack form for the customer to collect the ones previously noted.

Most IKEA stores offer an "as-is" or "bargain corner" (recently rebranded as "re-shop and re-use") area at the end of the warehouse, just before the cash registers.

Notable items of IKEA furniture include the Poäng armchair, the Billy bookcase and the Klippan sofa, all of which have sold by the tens of millions since the late 1970s and early 1980s.

[92] A number of IKEA's products bearing Swedish names have (or have had) pronunciations that are humorous to some and offensive to others (but no less "lost-in-translation"), by not only English-speakers but speakers of many different languages.

In November 2021, VisitSweden.com launched a jocular campaign named "Discover the Originals", which invited tourists to visit the physical locations which have received such unfortunate associations with IKEA products.

[11] IKEA has also expanded its product base to include flat-pack houses and apartments, in an effort to cut prices involved in a first-time buyer's home.

Now working in the Nordic countries and in the UK, sites confirmed in England include London, Ashton-under-Lyne, Leeds, Gateshead, Warrington, Bristol and Liverpool.

[104] At the end of September 2013, the company announced that solar panel packages, so-called "residential kits", for houses will be sold at 17 UK stores by mid-2014.

[107] In November 2015, IKEA ended its contract with Hanergy and in April 2016 started working with Solarcentury to sell solar panels in the United Kingdom.

In an interview, Jesper Brodin, the chief executive of Ingka Group (the largest franchisee of IKEA stores), commented that "climate change and unsustainable consumption are among the biggest challenges we face in society".

[111] The first IKEA store opened in 1958 with a small cafe that transitioned into a full-blown restaurant in 1960 that,[112] until 2011, sold branded Swedish prepared specialist foods, such as meatballs, packages of gravy, lingonberry jam, various biscuits and crackers, and salmon and fish roe spread.

[115] With restaurants in 38 countries, the menu often incorporates local dishes, including shawarma in Saudi Arabia, poutine in Canada, macarons in France, and gelato in Italy.

The company received approval for the concept from the city's planning commission in mid-November 2018; the building was to include 165 rooms and the property would offer 129 dedicated parking spaces.

Public Eye, a non-profit organisation in Switzerland that promotes corporate responsibility, has formally criticised IKEA for its tax avoidance strategies.

This fact, revealed in a report by Ernst & Young commissioned by the company, resulted from the intermingling of criminals and political dissidents in the state-owned production facilities IKEA contracted with, a practice which was generally known in West Germany.

In November 2012, IKEA admitted being aware at the time of the possibility of use of forced labour and failing to exercise sufficient control to identify and avoid it.

The plan focused on structural change, allowing IKEA to "maximize the impact of resources invested and reduce the energy necessary to address isolated issues".

Most IKEA suppliers fulfil the law today with exceptions for some special issues, one being excessive working hours in Asia, in countries such as China and India.

Located in Lund (a university town in Sweden), it will invest in 8–10 companies in the coming five years with focus on solar panels, alternative light sources, product materials, energy efficiency and water saving and purification.

[185][186] On 17 February 2011, IKEA announced its plans to develop a wind farm in Dalarna County, Sweden, furthering its goal of using only renewable energy to fuel its operations.

[194] However, IKEA has been shown to be involved in unsustainable and most likely illegal logging of old-growth and protected forests in multiple Eastern European countries in recent years.

[198][199] On 14 January 2021, IKEA announced that Ingka Investments had acquired approximately 10,840 acres (4,386 hectares) near the Altamaha River Basin in the U.S. state of Georgia from The Conservation Fund.

The system consists of the OptiLedge (usually used in pairs), aligned and strapped to the bottom carton to form a base layer upon which to stack more products.

[220] On 23 February 2009, at the ECOSOC event in New York, UNICEF announced that IKEA Social Initiative has become the agency's largest corporate partner, with total commitments of more than US$180 million (£281,079,000).

Onis's argument was that its advertising could be seen in prominent landmarks throughout London, having been already accredited, showing concern about the impact IKEA's campaign would have on the originality of its own.

In March 2010, IKEA developed an event in four important Métro stations in Paris, in which furniture collections are displayed in high-traffic spots, giving potential customers a chance to check out the brand's products.

[257] In 2018, the company's plush toy shark "Blåhaj" was widely used in an internet meme,[258][259][260] with social media users posting humorous photos of it in their homes.