[Peer’s Blog] IKEA Richmond rings in the Lunar New Year

I recently stumbled upon Diana Pan’s Blog where she wrote about IKEA Richmond’ s Chinese New Year celebration.  Unfortunately, I didn’t visit IKEA on this day to witness the excitement first-hand.  The use of promotions incorporated with Chinese traditions including prices being at $8.88 which is the luckiest combination of numbers in Chinese culture, demonstrates how IKEA is trying to create value for its customers.  As we all know, Richmond has the largest population of Chinese immigrants, who would be the major demographic group for the Richmond IKEA.  As a Vancouver-born Chinese, I appreciate how IKEA is trying to relate to the Chinese culture and share in our traditions at Chinese New Year, but I wouldn’t make any of these Chinese-inspired purchases because they are too Western.  I believe that these promotions appeal most to people who are not Chinese because it exposes them to Chinese culture and things they are not used to.

I did some extra research on the topic to find that IKEA had spent a lot of effort incorporate Chinese offerings in their product line.     This may not be at the Canada locations, but I found a short catalog celebrating Chinese New Year with Chinese inspired furniture along with brief descriptors of the meaning behind different items.   As a Dutch company of Swedish origin, it is amazing to see how it has diversified in out to reach more customers.  It shows how IKEA embraces the different cultures of its customers and recognizes the importance of being an international brand.

Another comment this blog post brought to mind is a recent article I read about signage in Richmond.   As the population is mostly Chinese, there has consistently been debate about businesses having signage only in Chinese without any English.  For me, there are ultimately two sides to this.   First, it makes me think about how multicultural Canada in that we have a whole city that’s an actual like ‘Chinatown’ where it’s not a Westernized tourist attraction.   Immigrants can come and live in Richmond, not have to know any English, and live as if they had never left their original country.  In that way though, the other side is that with only Chinese signage, these Chinese people never need to be incorporated into Canadian culture.  As much as preserving one’s own culture is important, it’s also important to be open to new ones as well.  Also, there are more than just Chinese people living in Richmond, who sometimes may get upset that there are so many stores they cannot visit because there is no English.  Part of being a Canadian for me is that I can experience any culture in Vancouver and feel welcome in it.  As many others have been saying, yes, owners should have their own control over their business, but with time they need to realize how important having English on their signs is.