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IKEA Turns the Page: Drops Iconic Catalogue After 70 Years

People queue at Ikea in Gateshead as it re-opens, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Gateshead, Britain, June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Lee Smith/File Photo
People queue at Ikea in Gateshead as it re-opens, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Gateshead, Britain, June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Lee Smith/File Photo
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IKEA Turns the Page: Drops Iconic Catalogue After 70 Years

People queue at Ikea in Gateshead as it re-opens, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Gateshead, Britain, June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Lee Smith/File Photo
People queue at Ikea in Gateshead as it re-opens, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Gateshead, Britain, June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Lee Smith/File Photo

Budget furniture giant IKEA has decided to discontinue its catalogue, one of the world’s biggest annual publications, as shoppers move online, it said on Monday.

The 70-year old publication reached a peak in 2016 when more than 200 million copies were distributed to households and IKEA stores in more than 50 markets.

Its very first edition, featuring the MK Wing Chair, totalled 285,000 copies and was distributed in southern Sweden, while the last one, from this year, has an edition of 40 million.

The move is part of IKEA’s push to become more digital as consumers increasingly seek inspiration online, as well as shopping via the web. In the 12 months to end-August, IKEA’s online sales jumped 45%..

“The number of copies has gone down, but we have also seen that people have much more used our website, apps and social media. The catalogue became less and less important,” said Konrad Gruss, Managing Director at franchisor Inter IKEA Systems - a division of brand owner Inter IKEA Group.

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Scientists: Melting Sea Ice in Antarctica Causes Ocean Storms

Scientists know the damaging consequences of the loss of Antarctic sea ice. Juan BARRETO / AFP
Scientists know the damaging consequences of the loss of Antarctic sea ice. Juan BARRETO / AFP
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Scientists: Melting Sea Ice in Antarctica Causes Ocean Storms

Scientists know the damaging consequences of the loss of Antarctic sea ice. Juan BARRETO / AFP
Scientists know the damaging consequences of the loss of Antarctic sea ice. Juan BARRETO / AFP

The record-breaking retreat of Antarctic sea ice in 2023 has led to more frequent storms over newly exposed parts of the Southern Ocean, according to a study published Wednesday.
Scientists know that the loss of Antarctic sea ice can diminish penguin numbers, cause ice shelves to melt in warmer waters, and impede the Southern Ocean from absorbing carbon dioxide, AFP reported.
But this new research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, explores another consequence: increased heat loss from the ocean to the atmosphere, and an associated rise in storms.
Since 2016 there has been a large-scale reduction in Antarctic sea ice, but nothing like 2023 when a record amount failed to reform over the winter.
For this study, Simon Josey of the UK's National Oceanography Center and colleagues focused on three regions that experienced unusually high levels of sea-ice retreat that year.
Using satellite imagery, ocean and atmospheric data, and wind and temperature measurements, they found some newly ice-free areas experienced double the heat loss compared to a stabler period before 2015.
This was accompanied by "increases in atmospheric-storm frequency" over previously ice-covered regions, the authors found.
"In the sea-ice-decline regions, the June–July storm frequency has increased by up to 7days per month in 2023 relative to 1990–2015."
The loss of heat caused by reduced sea ice could have implications for how the ocean circulates and the wider climate system, the study added.
Oceans are a crucial climate regulator and carbon sink, storing more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped near Earth's surface by greenhouse gas emissions.
In particular, sea-ice retreat could mean changes in how a deeper layer of cold, dense Antarctic bottom water absorbs and stores heat.
The authors said further in-depth analysis of possible climate impacts were needed, including if sea-ice retreat could have even further-reaching consequences.
"Repeated low ice-cover conditions in subsequent winters will strengthen these impacts and are also likely to lead to profound changes further afield, including the tropics and the Northern Hemisphere," it said.