Ikea Communication

Effective communication at Ikea

Communication is the key to a successful business because everything is carried out properly and operates smoothly, thus being well organised too.

In a business, communication not only takes place between the business and their buying customers, but also with their suppliers, within themselves and all of the stakeholders involved in the business. This includes all of the internal and external customers.

Effective communication takes place if the chosen method works correctly for the situation the business and the receiver are in. For example, Ikea may not choose to advertise on the television that they have a product in stock which one customer was asking after because it is not guaranteed that the customer will watch that particular channel, so the best way to inform them is by phoning them directly to ensure that they have received the message clearly.

There are many methods in which businesses can use to communicate their messages to their stakeholders.

1. Face-to-face and Spoken communication

2. Written communication

3. Visual communication

4. Electronic communication

Face-to-face and Spoken communication

This method of communication is the one which is probably used the most because there are few faults with it compared to other means of communicating. With face-to-face, you are not just analysing the words which are being exchanged but also the body language (say towards a customer).

For instance, when I visited the local Ikea there was an employee near the entrance, and she asked me whether I needed any assistance. I took notice of what she was communicating to me and I also noticed she seemed very approachable because her hands gestured that she wanted to help to...

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Electronic communication is not just about having a website; there are other aspects to it too.

E-commerce is available on Ikea’s website to selected countries, and they provide an e-mail address to customers who have queries about their business.

A customer services telephone number is given on the ‘contact page’ too, so if someone wishes to talk to the business using that particular method, they can find out how through the website.

When visited, Ikea assured me that they had surveillance cameras in the store in order to keep a watch on what is going on.

When an employee wants to reach another colleague, they have pager-like devices in which they communicate and contact each other with. This is useful because if the manager is urgently needed to handle a difficult situation, the employee can contact him or her through this effective method.