IKEA senior shoppers use the shop to meet new people. (Photo : Getty Images)
The management of an IKEA store in China is trying to handle the increasing number of senior citizens who loiter in their canteen and display areas.
The seniors are taking advantage of the free coffee with the use of their loyalty card. They bring food drinks inside the canteen and use the area for matchmaking and socializing. Many customers have complained that there is no place to sit because of the elderly crowd.
According to Zhang Yu, a writer for Global Times, the Swedish furniture manufacturer had put its foot down but is caught in a dilemma.
He wrote, "IKEA's dilemma is a classic example of how foreign companies in China sometimes have to adapt and alter their policies due to cultural differences."
IKEA recently issued a policy where customers would have buy food first before getting a place to sit. The new policy is not taken well by the senior community.
An 86-year-old man named Mr. Qiu said, "We've been to McDonald's and KFC. But there are barely any peers there. We feel like aliens there--surrounded by youngsters. If there is another place in Shanghai where elderly people can gather, we are more than ready to pay twice as much and travel farther."
Another elderly woman, Mrs. Xu, said "I guess few people know just how lonely old people are. Our kids are not around, and some visit only on weekends. I feel quite good when I come here. I talk with friends, but some elderly do meet people who become lovers."
Yu wrote that many Chinese, whether senior or not, would find loopholes in the retail system that was abused in the past. One example is when people would get heaps of salad from the Pizza Hut salad bar.
The salad bar was discontinued and the foreign company had to adapt.
He said, "But the latest incident with the Shanghai seniors shows that, in fact, foreign companies aren't always to blame for cultural differences. It takes two to make a thing go right but only one to make it go wrong."
