HongKongers sleep at Ikea by invitation; Chinese at will

80 participants spent Saturday night on Ikea beds in the special location set up for the event, with local celebrities Kandy Wong San-yee and Louis Cheung Kai-chung also joining the overnight event.

All the participants took their designated mattresses and bedding sets, valued up to US$1,096 (HK$8,500) back home.

The focus of the event is obvious: to sell Ikea's bedroom range by showing people how to select the correct mattress, pillow, or quilt depending on their sleeping posture and lifestyle.

Janet Lai, marketing director of Ikea Hong Kong, told Campaign Asia-Pacific that the Swedish furniture brand wanted customers "to not only experience Ikea products but particularly experience them as we want them to".

While the sleepover concept is global, the approach and engagement was very local to Hong Kong, Lai said, to make it relevant for consumers and the business.

Ikea, which is operated by Dairy Farm in the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets on a franchise basis, reported good growth in 2012. In China, the home furnishing chain is wholly owned, but the market was harder to crack for the past 15 years, according to the SCMP, as the furniture giant has "bent over backwards to accommodate Chinese who are keener on sleeping than shopping".

Indeed, many Chinese consumers apparently took the idea of testing the furniture before buying to the extreme, as reports say many visit Ikea stores to take a nap. But the hospitable Swedish brand has treated the overzealous shopping behaviour as a "future investment".