First there were the five fake Apple stores in China, and now comes 11 Furniture, a large furniture store in the southern district of Kunming city, located in the southwestern region of China. The four-storey building looks and feels exactly like Swedish furniture giant IKEA.
Boasting a similar blue and yellow decor and shopping bags, miniature pencils, layout including mock rooms and a cafeteria-style eat-in restaurant, 11 Furniture is 10,000 square meters of IKEA knockoff goodness -- or not. One of the only differences is that rather than serving IKEA's signature Swedish meatballs, 11 Furniture serves Chinese-style braised minced pork and eggs as its specialty. It makes sense, but I've become accustomed to enjoying a couple of meatballs and a 75 cent hot dog after shopping for furniture.
Paul French, founder of consulting firm Access Asia says this is no big deal.
"Just about every foreign brand that has ever come here has been faked. What we are seeing with the Apple and the IKEA stores is that they are 'lookie-likies', they are not actually fakes."
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Replica Furniture
- The trend of copycat furniture stores replicating the designs and branding of well-known furniture companies like IKEA creates opportunities for disruptive innovation in the furniture industry.
- Counterfeit Retail
- The rise of fake stores imitating popular retail brands like Apple and IKEA highlights the need for innovative solutions to combat counterfeiting in the retail industry.
- Localized Adaptations
- Furniture stores like 11 Furniture, which serve local cuisine instead of the original brand's offerings, signal the potential for disruptive innovation in adapting global brands to cater to local preferences.
Where This Applies
- Furniture
- The replica furniture trend poses challenges and opportunities for disruption within the furniture industry, from design innovation to brand protection.
- Retail
- The prevalence of counterfeit stores emphasizes the need for new technologies and strategies to prevent and detect counterfeit products in the retail industry.
- Food and Beverage
- The concept of localizing culinary offerings in replica stores showcases potential opportunities for innovation in the food and beverage industry to cater to different cultural tastes in global contexts.
