[datacruncher01]

Not a good trend, IKEA is like the Toyota of furniture. It's inexpensive but functional. With these changes they will be no different than cheap trash furniture. So why pay any premium for Ikea when I can just Amazon the cheapest equivalent furniture knowing both will equally break sooner than later?

[wildzzz]

The only thing that seems to separate Ikea from similarly priced stuff on Amazon is the fact that I've never had misaligned parts from Ikea. Their QA is top notch despite some of their cheap stuff being very flimsy. I buy from Ikea knowing that I probably won't need to return it or have to talk to some Chinese furniture factory about getting spare parts because some are missing or are so poor quality, they broke during install. Ikea is certainly cheap for some things so you should use wood glue if you want them to last, these are definitely not hierloom pieces.

[lutorm]

I love IKEA but I'd have to disagree with their QA being top notch. I can't keep track of how many times I've had to go back because some piece in the flat pack was damaged.

[tennisflyi]

Is QA part of shipping? I'm sure they're pristine off the line?

[JohnFen]

> IKEA is like the Toyota of furniture.

Except that Toyota vehicles can take a lot of neglect and keep on going.

[throwaway192102]

I've never had a piece of IKEA furniture that couldn't do its basic job even after 10+ years and removing clearly important structural bits, I'm honestly not sure what more I could do to reach the point where anything better is worth it

[seventhtiger]

Except that Toyota is the king of reliability and IKEA furniture is not even worth moving. Better to trash it and buy new.

[oblio]

Honestly, how do you move furniture? Do you want it over to 2 guys with a chainsaw?

Ikea furniture can definitely be moved.

[JAlexoid]

Cheapest furniture on Amazon manages to be considerably worse, than cheapest IKEA products.

[dsfyu404ed]

Toyota has NEVER been inexpensive.

They've never been conspicuously or indulgently expensive but they've never been the cheapest option in a given class. And that has been a key part of their success in the North American market.

The parallel to the furniture market isn't so cut and clear but Ikea does not generally compete with the big box stores on the lowest end FWIW.

Fine tuning quality, feature and price points for their products to attract or repel various customer demographics is something big brands spend a lot of effort on.

[ramesh31]

>Toyota has NEVER been inexpensive.

They are over the long run. It's a lot like Apple hardware. Slightly more expensive at first, but massively better resale value and durability, resulting in a much lower total cost of ownership. This is basically just the "cheap boots" paradox though, so people instead buy Hyundai/Kia based on the sticker price.

[aidenn0]

The Sienna is often the cheapest minivan available in the US. The Transit Connect Wagon is currently available for cheaper in some regions, but was never really marketed as a family vehicle, and is being discontinued this year, in its 10th year of nearly zero updates.

[JAlexoid]

When it comes to US market, IKEA is only beat by the custom kitchens from the big box stores. Even midrange IKEA is better than Ashley or similar common furniture stores... not to mention that it's drastically cheaper.