Snippet: Retail Disruption: IKEA & Apple ☇

Besides the fact that an iMac just looks good on an inexpensive birch effect VIKA AMON table top, IKEA and Apple have been doing things their own way in retail in Asymco’s Horace Dediu and Dirk Schmidt provided a lengthy comparison (via The Brooks Review):

Apple offers a place where people can discover and get answers about technology without the pressure of making a purchase. The job is to simplify that which is complex for a price premium.

IKEA offers a place where people can get exactly what they need exactly when they need it. The only downside is that “some assembly is required”. In a way, their job is to introduce some complexity in exchange for convenience and a discount.

I agree, but I also find IKEA to be a place where you can browse without any sort of pressure (although their staff seems plenty helpful, much like those at Apple Stores), and sometimes waste time just looking at all the different items.