IKEA discontinuing popular catalog after 70 years as shoppers shift online

Swedish furniture giant IKEA will no longer publish its world-renowned annual catalog as online shopping traffic trends higher.

The budget furniture stalwart announced on Monday that the 200-page 2020 catalog would be the company’s last, ending a 70-year run that began in 1951 and featured the MK Wing Chair on its cover, Fox Business reported.

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The publication grew from a modest first run of 285,000 copies to more than 200 million copies in 2016, and at its height, IKEA produced nearly 70 versions of the catalog in 32 different languages, NPR reported.

Only 40 million copies of the 2020 catalog were produced, however, as the company leans toward digital strategies to help it capture a larger portion of the online market.

Konrad Gruss, managing director at franchisor Inter IKEA Systems - a division of brand owner Inter IKEA Group – told Reuters that the catalog has simply “become less important” as shopping habits evolve.

“The number of copies has gone down, but we have also seen that people have much more used our website, apps and social media,” Gruss told the outlet, adding, “The interest in the catalogue has come down.”

According to Fox Business, IKEA’s online sales surged 45% in the 12-month period that ended in August.

Meanwhile, decades worth of the catalog can still be browsed online, and IKEA announced it will celebrate the catalog’s legacy with a tribute book to be issued in the fall of 2021 that will be “filled with great home furnishing inspiration and knowledge,” NPR reported.

Cox Media Group