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Ikea no longer Sweden’s most trusted brand

Furniture giant Ikea has been pulled apart by the Swedish public, voted as the fourth most trusted brand in the country despite topping the consumer confidence charts for the past nine years.

Published: 9 September 2013 07:24 CEST

Ikea, which has been voted first ever since the Nordic Brand Academy started its annual survey in 2003, finished fourth this year, after DIY chain Clas Ohlson, supermarket chain Ica, and Google, which was the only non-Swedish company to make the top ten.

“Ikea has historically been teflon clean when it comes to the question of customer confidence,” Robert Gelmanovsky, CEO of the Nordic Brand Academy, the Swedish arm of the Reputation Institute, told the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper.

“They’ve got through scandal after scandal and no-one’s confidence has been shaken. Now it appears the trend of being super-trustworthy has been broken. Ikea is becoming like all the other companies in terms of reputation. It will be interesting when a new Kamprad generation takes over.”

Ten most reputable companies in Sweden

1. Clas Ohlsson

2. Google

3. ICA

4. IKEA

5. Apoteket AB

6. Volvo PV

7. Stadium

8. Electrolux

9. Scania

10. Samsung

The survey was based on interviews with over 15,000 Swedes who were quizzed about their confidence in 50 of the biggest companies operation in Sweden.

Clas Ohlson, which topped the list for the first time, was founded in 1918 as a mail order business in Dalarna, central Sweden. The company now boasts 178 stores in four countries, specializing in hardware, electrical, home multimedia and leisure products. It employs around 4,300 people.

Ten least reputable companies in Sweden

1. Ryanair

2. SJ

3. Telenor

4. 3

5. Mc Donald´s

6. Fortum

7. Vattenfall

8. Nordea

9. Skandia

10. EON

TT/The Local/og

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A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021.

A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Anyone who has found themselves wandering the mazy aisles of an Ikea might be able to empathise with the sense of being lost in the furniture store for a seemingly indefinite time.

Such a feeling was probably more real than usual for six customers and 25 staff members who were forced to spend the night at the furniture giant’s Aalborg branch after being snowed in.

Heavy snow in North Jutland brought traffic to a standstill and halted public transport in parts of the region on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in a snow-in at Ikea.

“This is certainly a new situation for us,” Ikea Aalborg store manager Peter Elmose told local media Nordjyske, which first reported the story.

“It’s certainly not how I thought my day would end when I drove to work this morning,” Elmose added.

The 31 people gathered in the store’s restaurant area and planned to see Christmas television and football to pass the evening, the store’s manager reported to Nordjyske.

“Our kitchen staff have made sure there is hot chocolate, risalamande, pastries, soft drinks, coffee and the odd beer for us in light of the occasion. So we’ll be able to keep warm,” he said.

“We couldn’t just send them outside and lock the door behind them at our 8pm closing time. Absolutely not. So of course they’ll be staying here,” he added.

The temporary guests were given lodging in different departments of the store in view of the Covid-19 situation, Nordjyske writes.

“For us , the most important thing was to take care of each other and that everyone feels safe,” Elmose said.

At least Ikea’s stranded customers and staff had somewhere comfortable to lay their heads.

The same can unlikely be said for around 300 passengers at the city’s airport who had to stay overnight at the terminal.

The airport was forced to stop flights from 2:30pm yesterday amid worsening weather, which also prevented buses from transferring passengers to hotels.

“We have around 300 people in the terminal right now and have been giving out blankets on the assumption they will be staying here tonight,” Aalborg Airport operations manager Kim Bermann told Nordjyske.

READ ALSO: Ikea reopens in Denmark after country’s worst retail month this century

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