After seven decades as a beloved fixture in homes worldwide, IKEA's annual catalog will no longer be printed starting in 2021. The Swedish furniture leader announced this decision on December 7 via official press release. IKEA Operational Director Konrad Grüss called it a "great and emotional decision." Key factors include the surge in e-commerce, environmental concerns over printing millions of copies, and the company's 2020 downturn. Previously distributed in 50 countries and translated into 32 languages, the catalog reached countless households.
Founded by Ingvar Kamprad, the first IKEA catalog launched in 1951 with just 4 pages focused on furniture and 250,000 copies printed. Staging products in room settings revolutionized sales, doubling them at the time. Print runs grew to 2 million by 1964 and peaked at an astonishing 35 million in 1984.
Anticipated by 400 million readers annually, it boasted nearly 200 million copies printed worldwide each year until 2020—surpassing Harry Potter and even the Bible, which holds the all-time record with over 2.5 billion copies since 1815.
Thus, the IKEA catalog claimed the title of the world's highest annual circulation.
Produced in Älmhult, Sweden—home to IKEA's first store and headquarters—the catalog was crafted in one of the world's largest photo studios, spanning over 8,800 m². 284 full-time staff, including graphic designers, photographers, and set decorators, dedicated themselves solely to its creation.
In 2015 alone, the team shot 20,911 photos for the catalog and website, plus around 80 video sequences. Notably, three-quarters of the catalog's illustrations are now computer-generated.
Though one of the world's most recognized acronyms, IKEA's origins are Ingvar Kamprad's initials (IK), followed by his family farm Elmtaryd (E) and hometown Agunnaryd (A).
