Biz Ideas: Delivering Ikea

Entrepreneur:

The Cultons’ business is based on their 13-hour round trip drives to the nearest Ikea store, in Minneapolis, to pick up furniture, placemats, flatware and other items with umlaut-bearing names for customers in Omaha and other Midwest cities far from the Swedish big-box retailer.

“The odds of Nebraska seeing a store locate here in my lifetime are virtually zero,” Dennis Culton says, citing a population that’s apparently too sparse for the retailer. “However, Ikea products are very stylish and have a high demand, even in markets without easy access to purchase them.”

Customers ordering directly from Ikea’s website don’t have as vast a selection as those visiting stores, and shipping costs can run higher than the product itself, Culton says, so his customers can buy more and potentially save significantly on shipping.

“We basically take the entire Ikea website and catalog and open it up to our clients,” he says.

Photo by epSos .de

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