"It's only with the arrival of tv-series like 'sex and the city' that Chinese have taken an interest in Western interior design." I read this sentence once, over a year ago as an explanation of the popularity of IKEA in China. I wondered since what the Chinese version of 'Köttbullar' (Swedish meatballs) is and if the products have a special 'made in China' feel to them. Today is our chance.
Getting to IKEA is a bit of a hassle. Although we'll find that the store is universal, the pronunciation of the name isn't. It takes a lot of gesticulation before the driver understands us. "Aija!" he jells and makes a sharp U-turn.
The Scandinavian design and colors have a whole different touch and feel in this Asian context. Whole families sit around on the flowered sofas in the showrooms and one mother has put her child to sleep in a children's bed. Everything else is exactly the same as it is in any IKEA anywhere in the world. No need for a floor plan, we follow the yellow arrows with our eyes closed.
Products that are hard to find elsewhere are available in big stacks and many colors. Candles, tea towels, baby beds. It's there, and it's called SOMNET, or RÖRVIK, just as it is at home. Looking at the endless flow of customers, these alien products are in high demand.
We settle for a children's bed (made in Rumania) and a mattress (made in Turkey). After check out, we buy chocolate (made in Germany) and knäckebröd, and consider cranberry jam and rösti. We settle for the usual ice cream (1 yuan only) and take a minute to look at a Chinese bachelor buying his complete interior.
It's only when we are back outside bargaining the price of the taxi ride back home that we feel back in Shanghai.
At home I read up on the topic of retailtainment in this funny article from The Wall Street Journal. Did we do this in Europe fifty years ago?
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