Riding an escalator past a man lying on a display bed with a book opened on his belly, [Zhang Xin's] clan sauntered into the crush of visitors squeezing onto the showroom path, bumping elbows and nicking ankles with their yellow shopping trolleys.
Zhang said the family needed a respite from the smog and a reliable lunch.
"We just came here for fun," said the 34-year-old office manager. "I suppose we could have gone somewhere else, but it wouldn't have been a complete experience."
The article says Walmart and French supermarket Carrefour faced similar looky-loos when they entered China in the 90s, but have since become success stories. IKEA, however, seems to still be having trouble:
"The brand awareness is great, but the question is, how do we get people to open up their wallets and spend money?" said Linda Xu, a company spokeswoman who rolled her eyes when she came upon a trio of slumbering customers.
"Beijing loves IKEA — but not for shopping" [Los Angeles Times]
(Photo: fsse8info)
This is freaking hilarious! I have traveled all over southern China and although I am treated very well in the countryside, I find people doing the funniest things (family of 4 riding on 1 bike, 4 way intersections with NO traffic control, cars rubbing each other and then just leaving without calling any police, etc...). This story sounds like something out of a comedy improv show on tv. Ultimately you can't just open a store in a foriegn country and expect the people to follow your social norms. You have to adapt your new store to the local population. Remember the 6 P's!
]]>Do I lose my independent street-cred for this?
/thinking aloud
]]>I'm not sure you've ever been to an IKEA, but that's how most of them are - loiterers or not. Customers are encouraged to bring their kids, so the employees would need to do it anyways.
Also, the furniture is cheap, good quality and looks better than any other "lowest price $1,999 bedroom set".
]]>@Munchie: I don't need assurance from anyone.
I love shopping, and I'd much rather shop alone. I have absolutely no problem being at the mall by myself. I get things done much faster that way. So when I go shopping, I'm by myself or with a friend, and Mr. Pi doesn't go.
This gets flipped when he needs clothes - then he's okay with going to the mall, but for the least time necessary.
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]]>Logic 0
Women emotional craziness 1
@jamar0303: I carried a tissue packet, just in case.
Even so, I was pretty surpised to see the squat toilet in the Singapore office (none of my other offices had it). Only 1 out of 3 stalls had it, so I waited it out.
]]>@evilrobot: I brought my own TP the first time I went to Asia (HK, Singapore and Tokyo). Since I didn't need it, I didn't bother the next couple of times.
I'll remember that if I ever get to mainland China.
]]>And if you do travel to China, carry your own toilet paper.
]]>@PsykoDemun: @Vandelay Import Export: Apparently, it's still free on the weekends.
Note to self...should I become a zombie...get map to Beijing IKEA.
]]>I thought IKEA in China was their way of housing displaced farmers. I'm sure they can fit a whole village in there.
]]>@lrapturel: They can use their Blaskas with their Admetes and their Barnsligs for extra large stains. The Hulingen makes disposal easy!
]]>I live very close to an Ikea - I'll go there pretty often just to hit the snack bar. $1 frozen yogurt ftw!
]]>@pb5000: Well, the elderly are especially heinous with this. I think it's because most of them are depression-era people and they remember when things were scarce and it wasn't clear that you'd have any food to eat tomorrow, so they try to save stuff. I had friends whose grandparents would save rubber bands and paper clips and all sorts of things that no one needs thousands of, but they all kept stuff like that.
]]>I don't understand this comment. ????
]]>@pecan 3.14159265: Yes. Cheap, rude and weird.
]]>@missdona: I think most of them are just being cheap, and they keep doing it because they know no one is going to stop them. This makes them cheap and rude, IMO.
]]>@Laura Northrup: Yep! Cox has put a stranglehold on one of my local malls by setting up shiny TVs in constantly tuned to various ESPNs in HD. Every weekend there are men who sit down and just watch for however long it takes.
]]>@Keavy_Rain: Speaking for myself, I find people filling up tupperware-sized containers with condiment bar onions weird. If people brought their own Heinz Ketchup bottles and filled them up with the store's ketchup, I would find that weird too.
If someone wants to collect packets and do the refilling in their own home, that's less weird, but weird nonetheless.
]]>In fact, every fast food place I know of now has the condiments behind the counter and only gives out a small amount upon demand, with fees charged for additional condiments because some genius on Oprah decided to tell the world he saves money by filling his wife's purse with condiments whenever they go out to eat.
Way to ruin it for the rest of us, jerk!
]]>Not needed in our house - the wife doesn't like shopping, even for clothes.
]]>Lots of people come by everyday and spoon the onions from the condiment bar into their own containers, and then leave. No one ever tells them to stop or attempts to stop them in any way. There's a Costco employee that constantly refills the onions.
]]>Seems to have cut to down on the interlopers.
]]>I love Ikea's gluten free almondy cake. Never noticed they sold furniture-I just go straight to the cake...
]]>What, there is nothing wrong with this Splööge bed.
]]>@G.O.B.: Come on!: I think this may be a cultural thing. Here in Japan, I've noticed that shopping is very much a pastime, not so much something done out of necessity for things. As such, the Ikea's near Yokohama and Tokyo seem to have a lot of people roaming the aisles AND buying things at the checkout, but the ratio of looking/buying is heavily in favor of looking. Browsing and just "going shopping," though not necessarily with the intent to buy, seems to be a very big favorite among the Japanese. I'm wondering if it's the same in China.
]]>the cleanup isn't much different than having to pick up after customers at other stores. and at least at ikea, the point is to try out the merch, though not to that degree. i can't tell you how many times i had to clean up paint/glitter/etc while working at a craft store for 2 years--now that was shitty!
]]>"...how do we get people to open up their wallets and spend money?"
By telling them to buy something or GTFO? I don't know. But I do know that if I was working there, I'd be seriously pissed off at having to re-make beds, re-arrange furniture, etc. after loiters arrived just to dick around for hours.
]]>![[www.cockeyed.com]](http://www.cockeyed.com/pranks/ikea_party/ikea02.jpg%5B/img){kind=link}