01/09/2009 / CHINa
The average monthly income for someone from Beijing,
Shanghai or
Shenzhen - where Ikea has shops - is around 3,000 to 4,000 RMB [€300 - €400]. An EKTORP sofa itself costs 3,500
RMB - the same
price as in the US and Europe. So I think that's why most people go there to do window shopping rather
than real shopping. You see a lot of people with cameras. Some of them simply
want to have pictures of the pretty furniture, others are design imitators, who
then use the image to get a carpenter to copy it.
Ikea, perfect getaway for the Chinese
Posted on kdslife.
For most people, Ikea is the place where you spend Saturday afternoon waiting in a long queue to pay for some inexpensive furniture. Not for the Chinese. They've discovered that spending the day reading, sleeping and chatting on a brand new black sofa is much cheaper if you don't leave the shop with it.
For some weeks now, Chinese Web users have been amusing themselves by posting photos taken in Shanghai's Ikea store. Passers-by stop to stare at what appears to be residents of the Swedish chain. It's not only the beds and the sofas that attract nap-seekers. The restaurant is pretty popular too. It seems that coffee, biscuits and re-fill soda in an air-conditioned canteen is a great way to spend your weekend in Shanghai.
A former Ikea worker posted this comment on an online forum:
"I worked in the bed section of Ikea. We often had to ask clients to leave because they were snoring. They were very angry to be woken up and some even made complaints to the manager."
Contributors
Ikea, Shanghai's leisure park
“Ikea hasn’t made any complaints about their Chinese shoppers”
Du Xiaodon is a student from Shanghai who occasionally works at Ikea.
The average monthly income for someone from Beijing,
Shanghai or
Shenzhen - where Ikea has shops - is around 3,000 to 4,000 RMB [€300 - €400]. An EKTORP sofa itself costs 3,500
RMB - the same
price as in the US and Europe. So I think that's why most people go there to do window shopping rather
than real shopping. You see a lot of people with cameras. Some of them simply
want to have pictures of the pretty furniture, others are design imitators, who
then use the image to get a carpenter to copy it.It's true that people go for ‘outings' to Ikea with their kids, and they do sit down in the chairs and have a lie down on the beds. But they only stay for a few minutes. There are few people sleeping like you see in the photos put online.
Ikea hasn't made any complaints about their Chinese shoppers. I think the company is optimistic about its market in China. They built five stores in the country between 2005 and 2009, and their sales have increased 25% each year, while only 10% in the rest of the world."
Photoshoot in Ikea
»
Sign up via 
The Observers TV show
Observers' Tips
Location
Maps
What we’re working on now...
Most popular
Comments
the reality of communism.
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Tue, 01/09/2009 - 21:32.the reality of communism.
Unregistered user
This doesn't just happen in
Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Wed, 02/09/2009 - 12:43.This doesn't just happen in Shanghai. It happens here in the Netherlands and back in my homeland Singapore too. IKEA is a huge store & I get that they we need a break now & then but there's a difference between taking a break & napping. What happens when the display set is sold off knowing that it has been 'violated' by so many people!?! It's also not very hygienic sleeping in beds that belong to you.
Unregistered user