Ikea's decision to scrap the catalog didn't come lightly. The company collected extensive customer feedback, it said, and decided to focus on its online store instead.
Ikea has seen a significant shift in consumer behavior thanks to the digital boom. In 2019, its online retail sales grew 45% worldwide.
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Fewer people are using the catalog because of changing media consumption, it added.
The company will release a book of home furnishing inspiration "as tribute" in fall 2021.
"For 70 years it has been one of our most unique and iconic products, which has inspired billions of people across the world," Konrad Grüss, managing director of the chain's global franchisor Inter IKEA Systems, said.
Ikea described the decision as "emotional but rational."
The first 68-page Ikea catalog was released in 1951 by the furniture chain's founder Ingvar Kamprad, eight years after the company launched.
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Its print run of 285,000 copies was distributed across southern Sweden.
Fast-forward to 2016, and the catalog reached its highest print run. Around 200 million copies were distributed in 69 different versions, 32 languages, and more than 50 markets. Since 2000, Ikea has launched a full digital version of the catalog, too.
The catalog as we now know it is a massive affair for Ikea, taking around nine months to design each year. It shoots the images in its own studios in Älmhult, Sweden, which is one of the biggest photo studios in Europe.
The Ikea Museum, which is located in the same city, includes an exhibition on the catalog's history.
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