IKEA Website Evaluation and Electronic Marketing Plan Research Paper

General description of site

The moment you open www.ikea.com you get into a global gateway display. The page allows the user to voluntarily select their location. The page is not country specific. No country, even Sweden, has a preferential billing on the site. To add on this, each country supported by the website is denoted by 2 letters on the domain name. For instance, Germany domain is titled www.ikea.de while France domain is denoted as www .ikea.fr. The U.S. domain is denoted as www.ikea.us (Yunker, 2007). The website uses a banner that covers the entire home page. The banner communicates the niche covered by the site i.e. furniture. The banner also allows the website visitors to easily maneuver to their country details. If the website does not contain store information for the country specified there are alternative details made available.

Beneath the banner, there are country-specific domains with regional organization, that is, Caribbean, Europe, Asia Pacific etc. The IKEA website contains a surplus of information and information. The abundant information is denoted in such a manner as not to overwhelm the user rather guiding the shopper to what they need.

The core focus of the website is E-commerce. IKEA is known to be the most conspicuous and largest furniture retailer in the entire world. The process of making a purchase is quite simple on the website. The site has buttons that help users locate stores nearest to them. The site also has detailed information on the various modes of delivery, FAQ’s, and other fundamental tools situated on the website’s homepage.

Products are priced based on the need to ensure affordability alongside the need to achieve a determined sales target. The profit target set by IKEA significantly determines price levels. IKEA has adopted a number of pricing strategies. The future objective of IKEA is based on an analysis of the desired market position based on 3 proposals. IKEA seeks to ensure the Furniture titans are financed adequately. The items purchased by a customer will be shipped to where the customer is located.

Target market

Based on internet population information and details from alexa.com women enjoy higher levels of website presence compared to men. The people holding some college education or none at all also record higher levels of website presence. College graduates are not adequately represented. Compared to the general population on the internet, school going individuals visit the website more often. The people accessing the website from their homes are lesser compared to those accessing the site from their workstations. These statistics reveal that online shoppers and the people visiting stores are most likely the young populations. Young women between the age of twenty and thirty are overrepresented. Women averaging 38 years of age are shown as the most frequent visitors to IKEA website. The company has had a recent goal of capturing the young couples market, specifically those who have their own apartments (Kerin et al., 2010). A recent survey that entailed a sample of young adult couples with active professional carriers and those who shopped for furniture a first time had the following to reveal:

According to Kerin, Hartley, and Rudelius (2010), various regions ascribe to different backgrounds depending on market segment and geographically identifiable activities. Such market segments and varying backgrounds are shown to align themselves to the local conditions in the region. IKEA is segregated into various geographical units both for the Asian and European markets. More sales are recorded in the region of Scandinavian, the region accounts for 80% sales. North America records 15% of sales while the 5% sales are left for Asia and Australia continents (Kerin et al., 2010). Statistics disclose that the main target markets for IKEA are Asia, America, and Europe.

Workers with salaries show a higher ability to spend and accept new ideas and products. The market segment that has shoppers who bought from IKEA for once and for the students who bought from IKEA indicate higher levels of price consciousness probably because of the budget constraints and the need to get value for money spent. Some products are more inclined to respond to the purchasing behavior shown by customers over time (Evans & Bridson, 2005). The purchasing behavior of customers, income levels, consumer attitude, commodity prices and consumer demand dictates how furniture at IKEA sells. The range of income at IKEA is divided into three categories i.e. low-income earners, middle-level income, and the high-income earners.

Strengths and weaknesses of site

Strengths

The website’s homepage is easy to navigate and has adequate information. The display is also user-friendly. The website is loaded with enough content and information. The information is put in such a way as not to overburden the user but offers assistance to the users. The different website pages are neatly designed and the photos are professionally uploaded. The website also uses authentic infographics. Various aspects of the website pages have unique designs. Some of the pages are quite beautiful due to their simplicity and grid.

The aesthetic value of the website is also quite pleasing. The website uses a white background and a blue bar containing the menu right at the top. The area below the menu bar has a slideshow which encompasses scrolling pictures with details on offers and other product relevant information. Beneath the slideshow block, there is some more information directing the shopper regarding product recalls, sustainability, or such as IKEA information. The website hosts no advertisements. The website is quite clean, consistently organized with respect to font size and color contouring.

Each aspect of the web pages is properly organized. A big picture ware is positioned on the background for the purpose of allowing a better viewership. The price and name details are conspicuous enough. Social media links are also found on the bottom of the page. Variations of ware pictures are also available on the page bottom. There is a save to list tab which is grey in color hence camouflaged to the white background.

Easily navigable: The website easily maneuverable. All details and links can be located on the bottom and top of the page. The site also has a search area for easy location of desired items and products.

Proximity: the positioning of items on the website is strategically organized, placing related objects together. The grouping of items helps avoid cluttering of objects helps to avoid cluttering of the objects giving the user an easy to locate the items they want easily. Employing the proximity principle enables the spacious positioning of items giving the website an organized feel. IKEA’s website is categorized according to the regional blocks. This gives the user the direction on which to follow the different processes. Additionally, there are clear links to redirect the user to other websites to access more information.

Weakness

Ease of use. The website requires an upgrade to make the user experience easier and more efficient. While being less cluttered with images and texts, the website requires an improvement to help the users access the different items they require promptly. These can be achieved by the addition of a description pane for items. The message should be brief, clear, and address the users’ needs precisely. The home page should include all the categories of products available. This makes it possible for the user to access all the…