Why didn’t IKEA’s clever inflatable sofa idea work?
What if you could lift your sofa with one hand while vacuuming? Sofas and armchairs are heavy, bulky, and not to mention, they are a pain to transfer from place to place. IKEA, arguably one of the best-known industry leaders in furniture, is known for its easy-to-build products. When I came across IKEA a.i.r., IKEA’s magical idea of inflatable sofas, I was intrigued. It is a brilliant idea, so what went wrong? After some research and reflection, here are five assumptions I think may have contributed to the magical idea’s failure.
Assumption #1: People want weightless sofas and armchairs.
It seems like a universal truth. However, I wonder how accurate this statement is and to what extent. What kind of research showed the demand? Is weightless furniture a nice-to-have or a must-have? It would be interesting to learn more about the research process here.
Assumption #2: People will use the hair dryer’s cold air function to fill the inflatable sofa.
“People usually have them on hot and we didn’t think of that because if you have it on hot and attach it to plastic, it melts it.”
-Marcus Engman, IKEA’s global design head
(source)
This was a major assumption. When I use my hairdryer, for example, I always have it in the hot setting because hot air naturally dries hair quicker. The product assumed that users will intuitively think to change their hairdryer setting to cold air to fill the furniture. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and hot air damaged the product. I wonder what kind of prototypes were created to observe how real people tried to fill the sofa with a hairdryer.
Assumption #3: The valve will keep the air inside.
“What was a comfy sofa on Monday was a shapeless piece of dusty fabric on Friday.”
(source)
This was a solution assumption that led to leaking valves and deflated sofas. Again, I wonder what kind of user testing was conducted to check the utility of the valve. Would it have been helpful to send the product to a few users to test out the sofa and keep a diary about their experiences?
Assumption #4: Inflatable furniture is durable.
“We didn’t think if you sit on something that is so light it has this tendency not to sit still. You were actually floating around in your living room”
-Marcus Engman
(source)
It is an innovative idea, to have a light sofa. You can even take it camping! However, sofas are useless if they cannot offer durable support. User testing may have been able to conclude this assumption to be false. I am curious to read about the research process behind this product.
In conclusion, it is no doubt that IKEA is an industry leader in designing and executing brave, delightful, and creative furniture ideas. Failure is a crucial step to success that can lead to learned lessons and better, improved products. The major takeaway here is that it is paramount to address all possible assumptions during research. I’ll end with another intriguing quote from Marcus Engman:
“If you want to do new engineering maybe put it into something people can relate to from the beginning instead of something that is such a new form because it’s hard to relate to — (people) can’t understand it.”
-Marcus Engman
(source)
Thanks for reading!
Resources:
1. IKEA a.i.r. — inflatable sofa (Museum of Failure)
2. Ikea’s Doomed Quest to Design A Couch You Can Carry In Your Hands (Stina Holmberg)
3. IKEA Introduces Line of Air Filled Furniture — IKEA a.i.r (Furniture World News)
4. The a.i.r. sofa, the Ikea product that was ‘one of the biggest mistakes’ in the company’s history (Benedict Brook)
5. The amazing fiasco with IKEA a.i.r (Museum of Failure)
