Interesting find in the Ikea catalog. What happened to the price?
Few people remember today, but in the early days of its operations in Poland, Ikea was a store for the small middle class at the time. Average earners could dream of Swedish design and bright colors – Polish furniture manufacturers loved brown and black. The 1997 catalog proves how luxurious this brand was and how much has changed since then.
Let’s have a quick competition: can you think of a product whose price has not changed over the last three decades, while the product itself has remained unchanged? We recently showed prices from a Biedronka leaflet from 1997. How much did you pay for the presented food products? A Princessa bar cost 56 groszy. The Rekord bar produced by E. Wedel was 34 groszy more expensive. A sachet of Dr. Oetker pudding could be bought for 40 groszy, and the once popular Bona margarine (500 g) for 2.29 PLN. EB beer (0.5 l) cost 1.68 PLN, and Palmolive soap – 1.49 PLN.
Was it cheaper back then?
Someone will say: let these prices come back! This is thinking from today’s perspective, because in reality all products from the leaflet from 27 years ago were relatively much more expensive than they are today. At the beginning of 1997, the average salary was PLN 1,062 gross, in the fourth quarter it increased to PLN 1,182.77 gross. The minimum national salary was only PLN 391 gross. Unemployment was 10.3 percent, and in many regions, and not only in the east of Poland, it exceeded 20 percent.
How does this relationship look today? Average salary in April 2024 amounted to PLN 8,271.99 gross, and the one announced on Friday, August 9 for July dropped slightly – PLN 8,147.38. Either way, today’s average salary can buy more than was possible in 1997. More detailed calculations and explanations are included in the text below.
Ikea: A popular table at practically the same price
And back to the competition for a product that has kept its price (apart from a few dozen cents’ fluctuation): it was won by a user of a Facebook group related to Ikea furniture. She found a catalog from 1997 and was surprised to find that the still popular Lack table cost PLN 39 at the time, and today it costs PLN 39.99. This prompted commentators to reminisce: although it is hard to believe today, almost three decades ago, the Swedish Ikea entering Poland was synonymous with Western class, luxury, a new style for the aspiring. Considering the average salaries, it was a store for wealthy people.
“I live in a small town and when I was a child back then, I don’t remember any of my friends or family having anything from Ikea. When we did exchange PRL segments, it was mostly in local furniture stores.”
“Looking at the Ikea catalog was comparable to looking at catalogs from Germany by Otto or Quelle. In addition, many things did not fit Polish interiors at that time at all,” wrote Internet users commenting on the photo.
Ikea Catalog. The End of a 70-Year Tradition
Ikea catalogs are a thing of the past, though. At the end of the pandemic year of 2020, the chain decided that the catalog would not be published in either a paper version, which would not be so strange, or in a digital version.
In the record-breaking year of 2016, the catalogue was printed in 200 million copies, it was delivered to Ikea customers in 50 countries, it had 32 language editions and 69 versions. – Customer behaviour has changed dramatically, so the catalogue that was published in August of this year will be the last one. This is a very rational, but also emotional decision – said Konrad Gruss, president of Inter Ikea Systems.
Gruss added that “inspiring product images will continue to be created.” IKEA intends to inspire customers on Instagram and other social media. In 2021, a special publication summarizing the catalog’s historical and cultural significance will be released.
