The mighty IKEA is here. Certainly one of my favorite brands. Part of my and my wife’s childhoods in Germany. The number 1 shopping destination whenever I went to Dubai in my late 20s and throughout my 30s. And, as with everything in Jordan, IKEA is 10 years late for us.
OK, I am exaggerating a bit. We will still buy stuff from IKEA. I will certainly buy stuff for the office (more table lamps for my team!). But yeah.. IKEA is late for our family.
The pent up demand for IKEA must be enormous in Jordan. My guess is that people have been putting off furniture purchases for a year now, as they see the huge IKEA box rising out of the ground beside the airport road.
And how many times have your heard this: “I am waiting to eat Swedish meat balls in their restaurant”.
But the big question on everyone’s mind has been: how will IKEA’s prices in Jordan be like?
My answer was always a pretty assured “IKEA is about the mass market, about making decent design accessible to all. Their prices will be reasonable. They will be similar to prices of IKEA in other countries.”
But inside, I always had a bit of doubt. Our government/bureaucracy/taxations system ALWAYS wins. We always make less money than people in the Gulf, Europe and the US but we have to pay double for our Samsung TVs, cars, etc, etc.
So.. as the IKEA.jo site has launched, the answer to the big question of prices is here! I browsed the Jordanian prices and the German prices (so you don’t have to)..
I will not list any specific items, but I browsed all the major sections and did lots of random comparisons.
* IKEA prices in Jordan are generally more expensive than Germany (bummer). How much more? Anywhere between 15% more to 100%. With many items around 25% more.
* Some items have the same price as Germany. But in my random testing, not many products where priced like this.
* Very few items were cheaper than Germany. VERY FEW.
I am somewhat disappointed that even the mighty IKEA could not beat Jordan’s “system” that makes us consumers pay more for everything. But I still think people are going to buy.
My test is unscientific. So check for yourself.
But here is one example: the KARLSTAD sofa:
Jordan:
JD 280
Germany:
JD 209 (Euro 220)
UAE
JD 239 (AED 1,245)
So now we know!