How Ikea is Using Nostalgia Marketing to Promote Best Sellers

Everything that was once considered old is new again in the latest Ikea collection, with models revisiting some of the Swedish furniture company’s classics. We’ll take a closer look at how Ikea is using nostalgia marketing and retro appeal to promote its best sellers. Marketing through nostalgia is a tide that raises all boats, both old and new alike, to bigger and better sales.

Ikea’s Use of Nostalgia in Digital Marketing

Ikea’s 80th-anniversary collection, called Nytillverkad, is a triumph in digital marketing and audience engagement. The collection references many previous furniture pieces popular in previous decades with fresh spins.

This decision likely was influenced by the rise in popularity of vintage Ikea pieces on the secondary market. Vintage Ikea pieces are now top-selling products on sites like Etsy, Chairish, and Pamono. Undoubtedly, Ikea’s digital marketing team is aware of these trending pieces. Not only this, but some of these pieces sell for $600 or more. This is profit that could go straight to Ikea. Instead, it’s in the hands of online sellers.

As a result, there’s a clear demand for Ikea’s vintage aesthetic. Now, Ikea is using these vintage pieces as inspiration for their latest collection. This benefits both their customer base and the brand itself. Why? Because customers are getting the pieces they want and Ikea is winning over customers from big-name online retailers. 

The Value of Nostalgia For an Online Marketing Agency

Nostalgia is a useful tool for an online marketing agency in building audience engagement. This might seem counterintuitive. But after all, many people are more interested in the newest, trendsetting products, not in previous year’s styles. However, there are certain advantages nostalgia has over current trends for audience engagement.

Nostalgia’s value in online marketing comes through three main focuses: familiarity, friendliness, and functionality.

Familiarity

Audiences are already familiar with nostalgic products. In sales terms, this is the equivalent of already having a foot in the door. There’s little need to introduce the product, or possibly even the company that made it. Plus, companies only need to reactivate the dormant connection between the consumer and the product.

Ikea’s nostalgia marketing is taking advantage of the familiarity customers have with their previous collections to promote Nytillverkad. Referencing these previous pieces will give the newer piece residual goodwill through its connection to the older one.

Friendliness

At the risk of stating the obvious, nostalgic products appeal to the past. This can be used to evoke warm memories of childhood. And, it helps customers associate a particular product with those experiences. Nostalgia lets you tap into a rapport that’s generally difficult to establish and can often take years to build.

With vintage furniture, Ikea is largely referencing fond feelings of childhood. The goal is to evoke pleasant childhood memories of sitting on particular Ikea furniture, possibly watching cartoons or playing games. Reproducing this friendly nostalgic emotion will reduce the impact (or perhaps even justify) the price of the piece.

Functionality

Many of us have a previous mental association with older products being “sturdier” than modern ones. Like the old saying goes: “They don’t make them like they used to.” This extends from clothes to electronics to furniture and beyond. Although this isn’t always the case, the mental association is an easy one to take advantage of.

Ikea’s brand benefits from associations that their products are affordable, sturdy, and functional.

Start Connecting with Your Audience

Yesterday’s bestsellers can become today’s bestsellers with the right engagement and marketing spin. All it takes is forging an initial connection with your audience to start building that relationship. 

Web Content Development has a team of experts who know the importance of that relationship and how to build it. You’ll make customers into lifelong fans and your products into cherished nostalgic memories. Contact us to find out how we can build your online engagement.