Ikea breaks 70-year tradition. Embraces going digital and the planet in the process

The printed Ikea catalogue has established itself as an icon of home design, and their pages have always been so beautifully made—gaining popularity amongst its design enthusiasts. So, the furniture company’s new announcement must come as a shock to some people.

Ikea will be discontinuing their annual printed publications, ending a seven-decade tradition, as they move online. The decision is part of the push to become more digital as Ikea’s online sales have jumped by 45% in the past year—likely to do with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The number of copies has gone down, but we have also seen that people have much more used our website, apps and social media. The catalogue became less and less important,” said Konrad Gruss, Managing Director at franchiser Inter IKEA Systems.

You can already view their 2021 online catalogue here. While there might be a more nostalgic and satisfying appeal to holding the catalogue in your hands, looking through the catalogue online is a whole lot easier as you can just click on the items you want on their pages to add them to your online cart.

At its peak in 2016, Ikea says that 200 million catalogs were distributed in 32 languages. A BBC documentary once claimed that the Ikea catalog was the largest publication in the world—with more copies printed than either the Bible or the Quran.

“Our vision has always been to create a better everyday life for the many people. The Ikea catalogue has been a big part of our presence in Malaysia and we were there for a lot of your firsts. First job. First home. First baby. Now it’s time to say goodbye to the catalogue as we embark on our next journey filled with new firsts. We thank all our catalogue fans for your enthusiasm over the last 24 years in Malaysia,” wrote Ikea in their announcement page.

However, if you wish to get your hands on the last of the printed catalogues, Ikea says that those are available in their stores. But you can look on their site still to check on if they’ve made any printing errors—as they will often correct them online.

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