Staying Grounded in a Changing World: How IKEA Approaches Brand Growth

In a world where marketing is constantly evolving, it is easy to get distracted by the latest trends, tools, and technologies. Yet, for Alexander Shmelkov, Director of Global Brand Tracking at IKEA, true brand growth still comes down to mastering the fundamentals. In this conversation, he shares how IKEA balances long-standing principles with modern challenges, from penetration-driven growth to the impact of AI, and why staying grounded is more important than ever.

Growth Starts with Reaching More People

At the core of IKEA’s approach to brand growth lies a principle that is both simple and widely supported by evidence: growth comes from increasing penetration. “We know that the main growth is coming from penetration growth,” Alexander explains. “If we want to obtain brand growth, we need to strive to reach many, many more consumers.”

This perspective acknowledges a fundamental truth about consumer behaviour. Most people are not constantly in the market, and even when they are, they don’t exclusively buy one brand. “People are not attached to one brand. They switch between brands,” he says. The role of marketing, therefore, is not to create loyalty in isolation, but to ensure that a brand is slightly more likely to be chosen in any given moment.

That comes down to building mental and physical availability. Brands need to be known, remembered, and easy to buy. “We are trying to ensure that we are a little bit more preferred, a little bit more remembered, and known by as many people as possible,” Alexander notes. But that is only half the equation. “If you build mental availability, you also have to build purchase availability, ensuring you have the right range, the right pricing, and that you are available whenever people need you.”

“We are trying to ensure that we are a little bit more preferred, a little bit more remembered, and known by as many people as possible.”

Simple Principles, Difficult Execution

Today, IKEA operates as a large, established brand in a very different environment. Growth is no longer driven by a single breakthrough innovation, but by the continuous alignment of multiple business elements. “Being a big brand, we clearly understand that growth is hard. We need to do a lot of work to make sure that different elements of the business are working and syncing together.”

At the same time, smaller and more agile players are constantly introducing new ideas and disruptive concepts. “There are a lot of smaller brands that are doing innovations of their own that can create a substantial challenge for us,” he says. This creates a constant need to stay alert and adapt, even for a globally recognised brand.

“Being a big brand, we clearly understand that growth is hard. We need to do a lot of work to make sure that different elements of the business are working and syncing together.”

Turning Brand Growth Principles into Measurement

Putting these principles into practice requires the right measurement infrastructure. Alexander is responsible for developing and deploying IKEA’s global brand tracking solution, Brand Pulse. Rather than treating tracking simply as a recurring research exercise, IKEA approaches it as a solution that needs to continuously evolve with the business and consumers.

“We went into the redesign knowing the legacy system was no longer producing impact at the pace the business needed. So the design and scale of Brand Pulse were set by what the business actually had to decide: focus on brand effects, nothing that only serves as a vanity metric, and enough granularity and frequency to be useful.”

The result combines vast scale with a deliberately lean design: a fifteen-minute modular survey, running across 64 markets and capturing almost half a million interviews a year, at about half the cost per interview of the system it replaced.

Delivery changed as much as the design. Results now reach through different channels and in a tailored form, with the strong data analytics backbone and embedded AI workflows ensuring speed and quality. But the value of Brand Pulse still depends on the expertise and the capacity to interpret it and land it with the business in time to act, before the decision has already been made.

The Reality of Economic Pressure

Beyond competition, macroeconomic conditions are another major constraint on growth. “Consumers are under real pressure, and that sharpens the question of value. In categories like home furnishing, where purchases can be deferred, relevance and affordability matter more than ever,” Alexander says. Consumers are increasingly under pressure, forcing them to reprioritise their spending. As a result, consumers are more likely to focus on essential purchases, which puts pressure on categories like home furnishing.

This environment not only affects demand but also adds strain across the value chain. “It puts a lot of pressure on the supply chain as well,” he adds. For brands, this means that growth cannot be taken for granted and requires even sharper focus on relevance and value.

A System, not a Single Lever

When it comes to unlocking growth, there is no single answer. Product, communication, and retail all play an essential role, and none can be neglected. “Growth isn't a single lever but the alignment of product, price, channel, retail and marketing. The mistake is treating any one of them as the answer. The relative weight shifts by market. But it is essential to keep the balance."

The relative importance of each element may shift depending on the market or situation, but the need for balance remains constant. “Markets are changing at a very high pace, so we need to adjust the business accordingly,” he explains. This makes growth a dynamic challenge, requiring continuous adaptation across all touchpoints.

“Growth isn't a single lever but the alignment of product, price, channel, retail and marketing. The mistake is treating any one of them as the answer. The relative weight shifts by market. But it is essential to keep the balance.”

Fame is not enough

One of the most interesting challenges for IKEA is that awareness is already extremely high. But that does not eliminate the need for marketing—if anything, it changes the nature of the challenge. “Yes, people know IKEA, but that’s just part of the equation,” Alexander says. “We also want to be known for the right thing, with great relevance.” Even in new markets, where awareness is strong before entry, the real work lies in shaping what the brand stands for in people’s minds.

At a certain scale, the challenge shifts fundamentally. When awareness is effectively solved, growth is no longer primarily about becoming known, but about becoming chosen. That is not simply a question of reach or visibility, but of meaning, relevance, and context.

Consumers may recognise the brand instantly, but the critical question becomes whether IKEA feels relevant to their real lives, needs, aspirations, and situations in the moment of choice. “The question is: what stands behind the brand for the consumer?” he explains. “This is where we have a lot of work to do, to create relevance and connect to real-life contexts.”

This is especially important because consumers do not continuously think about brands, even iconic ones. Brand preference is often built through small, repeated reminders of what a brand represents and why it matters. For IKEA, that means consistently reinforcing not just affordability or design, but its broader role in helping people create a better everyday life at home.

At the same time, competition for attention remains intense. “We are not alone out there. There are a lot of other brands competing for the same mind of the consumer,” he says. This means that even a brand as strong as IKEA cannot afford to become complacent. “We need to remind consumers about ourselves and what we stand for. If we want to remain a big brand, we need to invest.”

“The question is: what stands behind the brand for the consumer? This is where we have a lot of work to do, to create relevance and connect to real-life contexts.”

AI: Disruption with Caution

Like many in the industry, Alexander sees artificial intelligence as one of the most significant forces shaping the future of marketing. At the same time, Alexander approaches it with a degree of caution. Much of the current focus is on efficiency; doing things faster and cheaper, but that is not the ultimate goal.

The true potential of AI lies in more fundamental changes. “What's important is whether AI helps us answer better questions and understand the consumer better. Speed is secondary. Faster wrong answers don't help anyone make better decisions." For now, he believes that human judgment remains essential. “I still believe that humans should be in the driving seat,” he adds.

“What's important is whether AI helps us answer better questions and understand the consumer better. Speed is secondary. Faster wrong answers don't help anyone make better decisions."

The Importance of Staying Grounded

Amid all these changes, one message stands out clearly: do not lose sight of the basics. “We are very easily carried away by novelties,” Alexander says. “AI is amazing, let’s implement it right now. But we should not forget the foundations of our profession.”

Those foundations are not complicated, but they are essential. Understanding how markets work, how consumers behave, and what is realistically achievable remains critical. “You cannot make people who buy a product once a month suddenly buy it three times a day. It’s not realistic,” he explains.

This principle also applies to insights and measurement. Before adopting advanced tools, organisations need to ensure that the basics are in place. “In order for cutting-edge tools to work properly, we need a solid foundation. You cannot cut corners with these high-stakes questions.”

Ultimately, the role of insights is not just to deliver data, but to guide decisions. “It is our job to interpret consumer behaviour and help the organisation make decisions,” Alexander says. That requires clarity, precision, and a deep understanding of both the tools and the business context.

“In order for cutting-edge tools to work properly, we need a solid foundation. You cannot cut corners with these high-stakes questions.”