December 08, 2020
IKEA Discontinues Famed Print Catalog
After seven decades, the Swedish furniture maker is bidding farewell to the former ‘largest publication in the world’ as more of its sales go digital.
IKEA has decided to cease publication of its once-essential print catalog after a 70-year run. Catalog readership for the Swedish furniture company has been on the decline, while online shopping has increased dramatically during the pandemic,
When one door closes, another door opens. After 70 years, we're saying goodbye to our annual catalog, but we look forward to bringing design inspiration to the many people in ways that fit into their everyday lives. Read more: https://t.co/0OPebH0u9X via @FastCompany
— IKEA USA News (@IKEAUSANews) December 8, 2020
In a 12-month period ending in August, online sales at IKEA jumped 45% worldwide, and the brand’s website saw 4 billion visitors. At the print catalog’s peak in 2016, IKEA was distributing 200 million catalogs in 32 languages. A BBC documentary once claimed that the IKEA catalog was the largest publication in the world, with more copies printed than the Bible.
“For 70 years, [the catalog] has been one of our most unique and iconic products, which has inspired billions of people across the world,” said Konrad Grüss, managing director of Inter IKEA Systems BV, as reported by The Verge. “Media consumption and customer behaviors have changed, and IKEA is already increasing digital investments while volumes and interest in the catalog have decreased.”
Though the death of such an iconic publication seems to herald the end of an era, print isn’t dead. IKEA told Reuters that its working on a smaller print publication, focused on providing inspiration for home furnishing, which will be available in stores next year. Other retail giants have continued with their print catalogs or even started them, as was the case two years ago when Amazon began printing its own holiday toy catalog two years ago. Print catalogs are still preferred by many distributors in the promotional products industry, according to data from Counselor’s 2020 State of the Industry report. In fact, 53% of distributors say they either greatly prefer or somewhat prefer print catalogs over their digital counterpart.