Each semester, Professor Mark Burgess leads his Market Assessment and Analysis class to IKEA, where students get a day-long, in-person look at the global retailer’s successful approach to customer experience from both a marketing and management standpoint.
This semester’s trip broke an attendance record, with 45 students—including 10 students from the online class—touring the store, an experience described by Devam Shah.
To commemorate their October 30, 2019, visit, the class created a video:
Student Zhuo Zhang reflected on her IKEA experiences in both Norway and New Jersey—underscoring the Swedish retailer’s successful and universal reach:
“Seven years ago, I studied in Oslo. Oslo is a beautiful city, like a fairy tale. However, I felt alone because unlike in fairy tales, there were no fairies, no princes, no friends. Most of the time, I went to IKEA to spend my free time. With its creative furniture and delicious food, the experience has become a beautiful memory of my stay in Oslo.
My latest trip to IKEA with Professor Burgess and my classmates provided a brand-new experience of exploring the store. When I arrived at IKEA, I felt warm and happy. Then, as my classmates and I started to go around in the store, I could share my opinions and feelings with my friends while we were looking around. I felt very pleased and enjoyed this IKEA trip. This was a quite nice and meaningful activity and I appreciate our professor who gave me this opportunity to explore IKEA in a new way. I hope I will have more chances to get to these kinds of activities in the future."
---Zhuo Zhang
