IKEA: lower prices , higher sales By Paivi Munter Ingvar Kamprad started IKEA in his small farming village in Sweden over 60 years ago. He was only 17 years old and sold his products from his bicycle. When his business grew, he distributed them from a milk van. He first introduced fu rni ture into the IKEA product range in 1947 . Demand for his furniture increased rapidly, so he decided to speciali z e in this line . In the mid 1950s, IKEA began designing its own furniture. It wanted to make innovative, stylish products and to keep prices down. This made it possible for a large number of' customers to buy IKEA home furnishings. IKEA opened its first store in Sweden in 1958. In the next 40 years, the number of stores went up to over 150 in 29 countries. In 2005, there were a record 18 new stores - 15 in Europe and three in North America, and then IKEA entered the Japanese market with two stores in 2006 . That year in February, it also opened a new store in London. Six thousand customers arrived for the midnight opening. There were not enough sec urit y staff and police to manage the crowd , an d some people hurt themselves in the rush to get into the store ! Sales for the IKEA Group rose steadily, year after year. At the end of the financial year 2002, sales were at 11 billion euros. At the end of 2006, they totaled 17.3 billion euros. The success story continues, and the group expects to add more stores to its existing network. Direction: Decide whether these statements are true or false.