Prettypegs: got the business idea because of boring sofa legs at ikea

Jana and her future husband Mikael were at IKEA to buy a sofa. They found a really nice sofa that they wanted but there was a problem: The sofa legs were boring and not directly personal! On the way home in the car from IKEA, the idea for Prettypegs was born.

Before coming home, the idea had been formed into a small business plan to start selling sofa legs for IKEA sofas.They immediately started working on the idea and as if by chance, there was a company called Bemz next to the couple's home. This company specializes in selling sofa clothes for IKEA sofas.

We simply popped over to Bemz to see if they already had sofa legs for IKEA sofas but they didn't. We then chose to move on with our idea. We have had a good collaboration with Bemz and even though they also sell some sofa legs today, we have never seen them as competitors but as a useful complement to the market. They add to our own business, says Jana Cagin.

They threw themselves into the furniture industry without really having any experience of the industry, but the business idea was simply born out of their own need. A need they thought they shared with more people. A need to customize and create your design of an IKEA sofa. They started looking for suppliers in Sweden but realized quite quickly that it was a conservative industry that was good at mass production in large volumes and with small variations. Contrary to your idea of ​​having a whole candy shelf with nicely designed sofa legs.

We finally found a supplier in Poland that felt right. The excitement was great when the first delivery with sofa legs arrived in Sweden. Two whole trucks with nice sofa legs. When Mikael tried to screw the first sofa leg on a sofa, the bracket broke, he then took and tried the next the same thing happened again. It turned out that the entire delivery was of poor quality. Fortunately, the supplier offered to take everything home and deliver it all again at no extra cost, Mikael Söderblom reveals.

In the end, they got their nice sofa legs home and the sale started immediately. It has since grown steadily and this year it expects to sell for about 20 MSEK in 30 different countries. Important success factors have been a unique product where people can individualize their IKEA furniture. This has given a natural influencer effect (word-by-mouth) and then it has of course been successful to have turned your back on IKEA.

Another factor is of course our work sustainability. Our products themselves are largely about increased durability by being able to upgrade their IKEA furniture with smart details and give them a longer lifespan. Another part we are looking at is reducing our climate impact through transport. After our initial adventures in Poland, a large part of the production later ended up in China. Nowadays, we take home an increasing part of the production to Europe. Even though the prices may be a little higher, we benefit from being able to have fast deliveries from our suppliers and with a lower climate impact, says Jana.

The company today has more than 90% of sales directly to end customers through its webshop. Over the years, attempts have been made to try to sell to stores as well, but it has been difficult to work precisely because of the strong connection with IKEA. However, it has now begun to be seen that important B2B sales are also starting to pick up speed and this may be an important growth factor in the future.

Today we have an established collaboration with IKEA in Germany where we manufacture and deliver sofa legs directly to IKEA. Covid-19 has slowed down the collaboration somewhat, but we have high hopes that we will be able to roll out this collaboration on a broader front. We have also entered a large nationwide chain in Sweden and more is in the pipeline, Mikael concludes.

Initially, a collaboration with B.E.M.Z. Another common denominator with B.E.M.Z is that Prettypegs also has part of its international customer service outsourced to the outsourcing company OnlineFactory in the Philippines, which specializes in outsourcing to Swedish e-retailers in customer service, influencer marketing and content management.

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