Unboxing IKEA

Hi, today we explore: (1) TIME's Person Of The Year award, (2) IKEA's remarkable growth, (3) The age of home buyers in America. TOGETHER WITH Today's Topics Good morning. After this one, there are only 3 Wednesdays left in 2023. Today we're exploring: - Person Of The Year: A visual history, as Taylor Swift wins TIME's latest award. - IKEA: Unboxing the flatpack business model. - Maturing market: Home buyers have been getting older. Have feedback for us? Just hit reply — we'd love to hear from you! [Read this on the web instead]( The year of the Swift Taylor Swift was [today crowned]( as TIME magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023, beating tough competition from fellow nominees King Charles III, Sam Altman, Hollywood strikers, and Barbie. The award, which was given to Volodymyr Zelensky and the "Spirit of Ukraine" in 2022, caps a staggering era for the 33-year-old songstress, who has grown to become the biggest popstar [on Earth]( broken a multitude of [music]( and [movie]( records, and even [been credited]( with boosting the US economy. A tale as old as TIME TIME’s debut issue was published over a century ago in March 1923, when it became the world’s first weekly [news magazine](. However, the publication didn’t give out its first Man of the Year award — the accolade’s default title before 1999 — until 4 years later when it recognized the efforts of [Charles Lindbergh]( the man who made the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight. According to ex-TIME editor and recent Musk biographer [Walter Isaacson]( the award goes to the “person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill” in the given year — for much of history, it seems that’s meant men. Indeed, of the 84 awards handed out to individual people — rather than concepts like “The Inheritor” in 1966, or mass groups like “The Whistleblowers” in 2002 — only a fraction have been awarded to women, with Taylor Swift becoming the 8th to pick up the TIME gong. Flatpack products Following IKEA’s record-breaking global sales of €47.6 billion ($51.4bn) [in its latest fiscal year]( the furniture giant is spreading the joy a little, with IKEA employees in the US set to divvy up a [bonus pot]( of $54m. The bonuses come with the Swedish company in full expansion mode, announcing plans to [slash prices]( open 8 new stores, and set up 900 new pick-up locations over the next 3 years, as it looks to win over price-conscious American consumers. Fat-stack profits Like many retailers, IKEA’s business model works best at scale. Enormous, meticulously styled showrooms, packed with as many products as possible, help entice customers to spend an afternoon filling shopping carts with everything they need for their homes, and — often — many things they don’t. Indeed, if you’ve ever found yourself wandering aimlessly around IKEA, you’re not alone. IKEA’s store planners have mastered what’s known as the [Gruen effect]( — leading you, both mentally and physically, through a dazzling and immersive store to tempt you into making [impulse purchases](. That understanding of consumer psychology has worked wonders for IKEA — so much so that just looking at the chart of its sales for the last 22 years, you would be hard-pressed to pick up on the global recession of 2008/09 or the pandemic in 2020/21, as the IKEA juggernaut powered on. The Swedish company has also cracked the digital world, with 23% of its sales, or nearly ~$12bn, coming through online channels. [Sponsored by hear.com]( Playing it by ear at the family gathering? With so much going on through the festive season, you might have to wing it once or twice. But if you’re having trouble hearing over all the Christmas cheer, it’s not worth leaving to fate. 48M Americans hear so poorly that their quality of life suffers — but many wait too long to act on it. [Horizon]( the innovative dual-processing hearing aid from [hear.com]( is making conversations crystal clear again for over 400,000 people. Developed using cutting-edge German technology, Horizon hearing aids are virtually invisible but provide an ultra HD sound. By separating speech from background noise then recombining the two, [Horizon]( delivers unparalleled speech clarity — so you can connect with the conversation no matter how loud life gets. You can try [hear.com’s Horizon hearing aids]( with most major insurance plans on a no-risk, 45-day trial. Now you’re talking. [Trial Horizon hearing aids no-risk for 45 days]( Homing in Thinking of buying a house? Chances are, probably not — the double effect of [nominal US house prices]( jumping 40% since 2020 and soaring mortgage rates has left many feeling that now is [not the time to buy](. There are, however, buyers out there, they just tend to have already been on the ladder for some time. Indeed, [new data]( from the National Association of Realtors reveals that first-time buyers made up just 32% of the US property market this year, down from the 38% average seen since 1981. The median age of a repeat buyer was also revealed to be 58 — slightly lower than last year’s 59 — but still significantly greater than the early 1980s, when the typical person buying for at least the second time was only 36 years-old. Boomer room Several factors are driving this shift. For one, more senior buyers are simply more likely to also be selling a house (often for a much greater price than was initially paid), providing them with larger down payments and making their offers on other homes more attractive than those of first-time buyers, who are likely entering the mortgage market at a time when rates are hovering near 7%. With a [housing inventory shortage]( looming, and analysis revealing the biggest gap between the cost-to-buy and the cost-to-rent in the US in [over 50 years]( younger buyers may find themselves waiting even longer to make that first home purchase. More Data • The new trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI just broke the record for the most YouTube views on a non-music video in a single day, racking up almost 100 million views in [24 hours](. • Apple has become the world’s only $3 trillion company again, after shares climbed 2% to take the company’s market cap. back up to its summer [record-breaking threshold](. • 48M Americans hear so poorly that their quality of life suffers — but many wait to act. Horizon hearing aids from [hear.com]( have been the game-changer for nearly 400,000 people, delivering unrivalled speech clarity with cutting-edge German technology. [Trial Horizon no-risk]( for 45 days.** • McDonald's has revealed plans to open [9,000 new restaurants]( by 2027. • Tesla's union troubles in Scandinavia seem to be growing, as [employees in Norway]( move to support their colleagues in Sweden. **This is sponsored content. Hi-Viz • Have a look through the 50 [greatest innovations]( of 2023. • See how the TIME Person of the Year’s [website]( looked in 2002. Off the charts: Wikipedia has released its list of the [most viewed articles of 2023](. Can you guess what came out on top? Hint: think tech. [Answer below]. [Answer here](. Thanks for reading. See you on Friday! Have some [feedback](mailto:daily@chartr.co?subject=Feedback&body=Hi%2C%0A%0AI%20like%20the%20newsletters%2C%20but%20I%20had%20a%20thought%20for%20you...) or want to [sponsor]( this newsletter? Not a subscriber? Sign up for free below. [Subscribe]( Copyright © 2023 CHARTR LIMITED, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: CHARTR LIMITED 231 Vauxhall Bridge RoadLondon, SW1V 1AD United Kingdom [Add us to your address book]( Don't want charts in your inbox anymore? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](.