Design Products by Starting With a Target Price

Tactic Description:
Fredrika shares that IKEA’s design process begins with a price tag, not a prototype. The team defines the maximum acceptable price for customers and works backward – reverse-engineering materials, components, and logistics to stay within that constraint.

Priority: Short-term
Difficulty: High
Best Stage: Product Planning

Example / Use Case:
IKEA set a €29 target for a table. The team explored cost-effective materials, simplified assembly, and optimized packaging — all anchored around that price, not the spec sheet.

Executive Quote / Mindset:
“We start with the price. Then we create the product.”

Guest: Fredrika Inger, Chief Product & Commercial Officer, IKEA

This post has been sponsored by aweux.com

Trap / Challenge:
Designing products based on features or form – and pricing them afterward, often making them unaffordable for your target segment.

Time: 4–6 weeks

Impact: 5/5

Cost: $$$

Team Owner: Product + Commercial + Ops

Tool Type + Example: Price-First Design Framework – Reverse Engineering Toolkits

Source: Building One – Episode with Fredrika Inger

Stage Tag: Product Strategy, Cost Innovation

Top Play Flag: ✅

Delivery Format: Podcast Interview

💡 How a Good Marketer Would Solve This:
They’d market this approach as customer-first: “This wasn’t built to maximize margin — it was designed to respect your budget.”

✅ Implementation Checklist:

• Set a max target price for your core product(s)
• Involve ops, design, and finance teams in reverse-planning
• Identify tradeoffs that do not affect user value (materials, packaging, distribution)
• Use this narrative in your brand story to build trust
• Create “Behind the Build” content to showcase the choices

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