Top 10 Interesting facts about Ingvar Kamprad

Ingvar Kamprad by Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Interesting facts about Ingvar Kamprad

A special Swedish businessman made life simple for people as furniture gradually encroached on our daily lives. Billy bookcases, Friheten sofas, Kallax shelving units, Lack side tables, and a host of other items were gifts from Kamprad to the world. At age 91, Ingvar Kamprad, the man responsible for IKEA’s phenomenal success as a manufacturer of furniture, passed away. He has been described as an industrious man who made a  fortune made from furniture and climbed the slick ladder of success.

Here are some fascinating details about the eccentric Swedish tycoon and the revolution in affordable furniture that he started.

1. He was the eighth richest man on earth

Kampradlectur by Wikimedia Commons

But it depends on how you count. His wealth is currently valued at $59 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That indicates that barring seven people, Kamprad had more wealth at the time of his death.

It’s unclear, though, exactly how much of that fortune belonged to him. IKEA is owned by numerous private trusts and foundations. According to the Swedish Institute, “Kamprad has never issued a stock or borrowed money.” He left his board position in 2014 after retiring as CEO in the 1980s.

2. At age five, he completed his first business transaction

According to The New Yorker, Kamprad, who was born in Sweden in 1926, made a deal with a Stockholm-based aunt when he was five years old to buy large quantities of matches to resell locally at a significant profit. He had grown to include garden seeds, fish, lingonberries, and Christmas ornaments by the end of his middle school career.

3. He anticipated modern developments in digital retail

Ikea Kungen by Historien om IKEA from Wikimedia Commons

The New Yorker reports that when Kamprad started his mail-order company in the 1940s, he promised his clients that he would keep prices low by removing the middleman. He introduced the “basis of the modern IKEA concept,” as Kamprad later put it: a catalogue to pique interest, along with a showroom for customers to visit.

The first IKEA store opened in this showroom in 1958 after it was first constructed. This is not all that different from what recent actions by online retailers like Warby Parker, Everlane, and perhaps most similarly, Amazon, have been.

4. In 1973, Kamprad left Sweden in search of a country with lower taxes

Kampradostud by Wikimedia Commons

He moved from Sweden to Denmark in an effort to reduce his taxes before deciding on Switzerland. His business is run by a number of offshore holding companies, a Dutch nonprofit foundation, and other entities. As a result, it is tax-exempt. According to Bloomberg, European officials started looking into IKEA’s tax structure in 2017.

5. Fascism was the source of his biggest error

The connection between Kamprad and a Swedish fascist movement in the 1940s and 1950s was made public in a 1994 investigative report. According to the New York Times, Kamprad replied by telling staff members that it was “the dumbest error of my life” and “a part of my life which I sincerely regret” (paywall).

6. Kamprad was a thrifty person

He was a billionaire with a reputation for extreme frugality, despite the fact that his business was successful. In 2013, it was revealed that he only had two vehicles—a 2008 Skoda and a 1993 Volvo 240—during the inventory of his estate. He had a reputation for taking cheap flights and buying used clothing at flea markets.

7. IKEA is an acronym

Ikea by Wikimedia Commons

The first two letters of IKEA come from his names, Ingvar and Kamprad, while the final two letters come from the names of the farm where he was raised, Elmtaryd, and the surrounding village, Agunnaryd. The two primary colours of IKEA, blue and yellow, which are also present on the Swedish flag, demonstrate his passion for Sweden. He positioned Sweden on the world map.

8. His two marriages produced four children

He married Kerstin Wadling in 1950, and the two of them had an Annika-named daughter. He remarried Margretha Sennert three years after their 1960 divorce, giving birth to three sons: Peter, Jonas, and Mathias.

The New Yorker claims that despite the fact that all three of them have held roles within their father’s business, “he and his allies have argued that none of them possesses sufficient grit” to fill their father’s enormous shoes.

9. The first Ikea catalogue emerged in 1951, and the first Ikea storefront opened its doors in 1953

IKEA by Michael Trolove from Wikimedia Commons

In 1951, after recognising it as a chance to sell furniture on a bigger scale, he launched the first Ikea catalogue, which is now a recognisable aspect of the furniture brand.

In 1953, after engaging in a price war with its primary rival, Ikea opened its first showroom in Almhult. The Ikea showroom gave customers a chance to feel the quality of the furniture before placing their order as the quality was threatened when both companies lowered prices.

When the first Ikea location first opened its doors in 1958, it quickly grew to be Sweden’s biggest furniture retailer. Ikea dominated significant markets in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East beginning in 1970, capitalising on the growing middle class in nations like post-Cold War Russia. Currently, Ikea has over 400 stores on every continent and employs 190,000 people worldwide.

10. He struggled with dyslexia, which led to the creative names for Ikea products

Ingvar Kamprad by Sandra Baqirjazid from Wikimedia Commons

He devised an easy system for naming the products using Swedish words because he had trouble remembering inventory item numbers. For instance, outdoor furniture is named after Scandinavian islands, and bookcases bear the names of Scandinavian islands and professions (Ikea’s popular Billy bookcase is named after employee Billy Likjedhal). Bathroom accessories are named after Swedish lakes and waterways, and bed linens are given floral and botanical names.

This is the tale of a young farm boy from the Smalad hamlet who worked his way up the social ladder to become one of the most successful businessmen of the 20th century.  The discipline to maintain concentration on an idea until it takes off is demonstrated by Kamprad in his life. It reveals the strength of a concept that was successfully developed by a visionary leader who recognised the importance of consistency.