Dyslexic Entrepreneur Creates World's Largest Furniture Store Chain

ingvar cprad a Swedish business Mogul with an extraordinary mind for business and success he turned his incredible Vision into a reality when he founded Ikea Ikea the number one stop for any furniture you like this company has been around for close to 80 years since 2008 it is consistently ranked as the biggest Furniture retailer in the world yet there was just one man behind the rise of this conglomerate company but what were the main reasons for his incredible success we'll dive into the reasons ingvar cprad was a ble to become so successful but first let's get to know the man himself a little better ingvar cprad was born in PID Sweden in 1926 to a Swedish mother and a German father he was fortunate enough to have a pleasant childhood his ambition and willingness to engage in business were Apparent from an early age you see ingvar truly desired success at the tender age of five he started selling something as simple as matches since he was living in a small town during the 1930s he found that there was a need for things from the city this is when he started buying things like pencils and ballpoint pens in bulk and reselling them back home this mindset would later also help him in the pursuit of growing his business in school it was discovered he suffered with dyslexia because of this later on at Ikea ingvar would use familiar Swedish and Norwegian names for his products these names would be of towns cities Rivers Etc this would make the items easier for him to identify one of the most impressive things about ingvar was his unwavering ambition he was just 17 years old when he established the first Ikea in 1943 back then the company mostly survived by providing mail order Services however it would become a furniture company just 5 years later after the second world war ended today Ikea generates substantial Revenue around $44 billion for 2021 alone so how did one man with limited education manage to create such an incredible business and magnificent Legacy a business structure like no other European business owners often have to contend with high taxes in some cases this taxation makes it more challenging for businesses to grow that's why one of cpr's key strategies was finding more ways in which he could get breaks on tax this would all be revealed in how the company was set up you see cprad came up with an incredible idea of creating a nonprofit organization in this case the Inca Foundation it serves as the parent company for Ikea but it isn't the only company with a stake in Ikea another company called the stitching Inca Foundation is the owner of ik Ikea's trademarks and intellectual property what this means is that each year Ikea needs to pay billions of dollars in royalties to its parent company these royalty payments are then tax deductible for Ikea which means that it saves around 100 million per year in taxes additionally Ikea reportedly borrows money from the parent company at a low interest rate this is tax deductible for the furniture conglomerate overall Ikea focuses on creating as many tax write-offs as possible this means more funds are available to be reinvested Ed in the company thanks to cprad strategy the IKEA business model has allowed the company to become the largest Furniture retailer in the world it's also one of the most admired the lesson well it's that regardless of how successful you are you need to maximize your savings whenever and wherever possible this includes opportunities for tax deductions use the money you Sav to reinvest in your company so you get an edge over the competition costeffective distribution when you're selling millions of items each year it makes sense that Logistics could become an issue if not dealt with correctly luckily Ikea is an expert in this area in fact in 2020 Ikea was recognized by supply chain magazine as having one of the most efficient Warehouse Systems in the world when you're selling millions of items each year Logistics can quickly become an issue cprad was ready for these challenges as he followed the trend of Automation in fact he designed some of the most efficient automated warehouses the world has ever seen plus he introduced Innovations in how he stores inventory Ikea inventory is frequently stored in low tax countries this often reduces the taxes by only incurring a tax when the products are sold this becomes another way of saving on operating costs also you don't really find Ikea stores set up in high tax countries this is because it would have to charge higher prices for their products in those places the company plans distribution so that when it's taxed it's at the lowest possible rate this means there's more money available to be reinvested which improves your business system sustainability cprad always understood the need to find more ways in which to save money he teaches us that it's not enough to Simply set up a company if you're selling products you need to ensure that you don't run into logistical and distribution issues and if you can do this at an affordable price you can keep your expenses under control but why does IKEA have such low prices do they skimp on quality frugality and cost control ingvar was always seen as a Frugal person he rarely flaunted his wealth and his frugality directly trans transferred into his business Acumen comprad continually looked for every loophole to ensure that he saved on costs but this didn't mean that he would create massive profit margins you see he understood that people desired a mega store where they could buy all of their furniture at affordable prices the only way to provide this was to keep the overhead as low as possible for this reason cprad rarely spent tons of money on things like store designs and layouts he strived to keep things as simple as possible his manufacturing setups were also in countries like Poland which at the time had low tax rates he saved money on product storage costs as well he was Notorious for having a Keen Eye on the books and controlling the costs even Ikea employees sometimes became frustrated with how Frugal he did business this didn't bother him as he had a goal in mind even in his personal life he embodied a Frugal mindset driving the same 1993 Volvo 240g for 20 years adding to this costeffective mindset is the fact that he only flew economy class he even stayed in Budget Hotel tells what's the lesson here well it's that when you start making money you shouldn't change your lifestyle this is often a big issue that people deal with when they start earning more money comprad understood that you need to keep your expenses way lower than your income once you adopt this Frugal mentality you'll have more available funds for additional things such as marketing his Visionary leadership for all these admirable qualities it was his Visionary leadership that truly set him apart from the rest of the world ingvar cprad was a forward-thinking visionary who always seemed one step ahead of those around him comprad vigorously studied his competition to discover ways he could change or improve his operations since he had a vision of creating affordable reliable Furniture he was dedicated to finding unique ways where he could be even more efficient his products would also Echo this and that would later translate into how his brand was perceived ask any person what Ikea is they'll tell you that it's synonymous with affordable quality furniture ingvar and his business Acumen had such an impact on the world that Ikea is often mentioned in pop culture Ikea has been mentioned on TV shows when people talk about furniture plus social media is full of memes that mention Ikea this pop culture exposure helps to set the brand and its founder apart from the competition it's incredible to think it all started when ingvar observed an employee removed the legs from a table so it would fit in the trunk of a car this gave him the idea of creating furniture that can be self assembled from Flat packaging reducing a large chunk of the trans ort fees without question ingvar cprad was a revolutionary entrepreneur incredibly ahead of his time he truly changed the world's fiture Retail Landscape he may have started out as a farm boy who struggled in school due to dyslexia ingvar comprad however ultimately persevered to achieve enormous worldwide success we hope you enjoyed this video please let us know what you think in the comments