They also have to deal with preparing the accounts for example gathering together receipts to see how much money has been brought into the business from customers. They also have to deal with payments and pay money to the people who supply the company with the materials for the products. The financial directors also have to prepare yearly profit and loss accounts stating how much money has been made for the year and how much money has gone out of the business.
They may also draw up a cash-flow forecast which shows whether there is enough money available to pay salaries and wages to their employees. This can also identify all of Ikeas savings, which could be used to reinvest in new products or even in expanding the business.
Marketing and Sales
The purpose of the marketing and sales department is basically to bring in customers and promote their products in various ways. The marketing side of the department concentrates on ways in which they can make potential customers aware of their products.
This can be done by broadcasting adverts on television between shows, so that people will see the adverts and it will interest them in buying products from Ikea. Ikea also do their marketing through catalogues which customers can pick up and browse through in order to see whether there are any products that they like.
Ikea also use the internet to do their marketing however, they do not sell directly via the internet at present. Ikea also use billboards to market their products and to try and attract more customers.
The sales side of the department concentrate on the promotion of the items for instance they may decide to promote the products by having a buy one get one free offer, this would attract more customers as they are getting better value for money. They may also decide to offer discounts on products or to existing store card members, in order to get their existing customers visiting on a more regular basis.
The sales side of this department also try to find out what kind of products people are buying for example, they may carry out a survey asking their store card holders what types of products they buy and from these surveys, they can see whether they need to remove any products off the shelves.
Research and development
The purpose of the research and development department is to carry out research to find out what kind of products are good sellers and which aren’t. They also carry out research in order to get information in order to develop new and innovative products which will be good sellers and bring in money.
They carry out research and try to make better products to sell and at the same time try to keep them at a low cost in order to bring in more customers. They try to deal with lifestyle and functional products, Ikea are always looking at methods to reduce costs of their products in order to keep their existing customers as well as to try and attract more customers to their store.
They may decide to modify existing products to suit customer needs and so that they can get more customers who want to purchase their products. They may modify an existing product and make it better so that the customers are getting better value for their money.
