Smarter Pricing: How to capture more value in your market

5. Customers behaving badly – how pricing can help

case study 5.1: How pricing leads to extraordinary customer behaviour – the IKEA experience The opening of IKEA’s new store in Edmonton, North London on 10 February 2005 was heralded by a promise of 24 hours of cut-price deals, including £325 leather sofas for £49 and double-bed frames for £30. IKEA expected 2,000 customers as the store opened its doors at midnight. Instead, over 6,000 bargain-hunters struggled to get in. With the car park full, desperate shoppers abandoned their vehicles on the main North Circular highway. Customers who had queued for 12 hours were angry when latecomers barged past them. Fights broke out. Customers quarrelled over possession of cut-price furniture. A man ...