More Chinese Knockoff Stores Uncovered: Fake Ikea Just As Frustrating As Real Ikea
from the what's-the-faux-swedish-word-for-flattery? dept
What, you thought that folks in China would just copy an Apple Store? Since that story got so much press, now reporters are uncovering other copycat stores, including a near replica of assemble-your-own furniture giant Ikea. While the knockoff doesn't directly use the name Ikea, it comes pretty close on a variety of details. The store is called 11 Furniture, and apparently, the Chinese name sounds very similar to Ikea's Chinese name. And, yes, it also has the same warehouse like setup and the little pencils to mark down what you want. It even has a cafeteria like Ikea, though the Reuters report doesn't note whether or not they stock Swedish meatballs as well...
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So. Is Ikea really losing anything to the fake Ikea? Potential Ikea customers are not being served by Ikea. Fake Ikea fills the need. Instead of shutting them down, Ikea should just move in - it's all done for them already!
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Response to: fb39ca4 on Aug 3rd, 2011 @ 7:55pm
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In Other News ...
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Not as far fetched as you might think :)
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I will admit, some Chinese companies are indeed shameless about blatantly copying other peoples products.
Here are a couple examples that I have recently seen that are very obvious:
1. One time, someone brought in his new tablet. It was a Windows 7 tablet. The amazing part was, with the exception of the slots on the back to provide needed cooling to the CPU, it looked EXACTLY like an iPhone. Only, well, much bigger.
2. I recently bought what is called an MP5 player for my family back home. An MP5 player is a device that can play the usual games, play movies, and view pictures. The added feature is that it can also play the NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy color, etc. video games. This is not the part that showed blatant copying though. It looked exactly like a PSP, except blue. It was even sold to me in a PSP box (Or at least what Looked like a real PSP box, with the instruction manual calling it a PSP).
Now, although we realize we do see copying, I want others to keep in mind normal tech trends.
1. Companies become OEM manufacturers of products for other companies (Foxconn's making of the i devices for Apple).
2. The companies become very familiar with those technologies, including their detailed systems, spec designs, etc.
3. Given they are already familiar with the designs, they begin to produce what they are familiar with (Didn't we also see this during the rise of Japan?).
4. They start producing those things they are most familiar with.
5. As their learning curve evens out, and they have become familiar with how to operate a normal business based on these "copies", they start to create their own unique goods (Don't believe me, ask Huawei).
6. Slowly, they start creating less of these knock offs, and start offering their own unique items.
Now, don't get me wrong, I understand that copying is wrong. However, I do want to point out that jumping to harsh criticisms may be the wrong way to go about it. As they get a better grip on the technologies they are creating, they will start in the "innovative" side (In fact, I would argue that some Chinese have already started this). Don't label it as a "China" thing, because we have seen it over and over again (First Japan, then Taiwan, and now that our outsourcing has moved to China, in China).
Just please remember to keep it in perspective. First, they were babies at manufacturing, but they are now grown up. Then they were babies at producing, now they are grown up. Now they are, while I would not say babies, still growing up in the innovation areas. Trust me, you will see more unique innovations coming out of China, and less "knockoffs", going forward. Then another country can take it's place and copy all of our wonderful, innovative ideas.
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Also in the 90's the U.K. labour copied even speeches from American politics, I think I saw that on the BBC show "The Century Of The Self" or the "The Power Of Nightmares".
Now American politicians are loosing money aren't they, since you can patent anything in America today and copyright is just so inclusive all those ideas and methods should be patented so we could see one politician being sued by other to stop people from being elected because they broke the law :)
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Quote:
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self_episode_4.shtml
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And even that's only a big deal if the customers actually think they're buying the real thing.
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Here is a story that highlights how a company who claimed to import furniture from Italy for the China market was actually manufacturing it in China. And this is expensive furniture...
http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/stories/da-vinci-furniture-responds-to-false-importin g-scandal.html
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SoCal had the same thing 20 years ago
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Talking about other aspects. I'd agree that for most things they did a good job in copying what Ikea does, but what's wrong about copying the model of a successful company down to the details as long as they made themselves distingishable as a different company? (As others have notes, that's even somewhere that Ikea's business haven't step in at least for the meanwhile)
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Re: For me, the Chinese name of these two store doesn't even remotely sound the same.
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Shi Yi Jia Ju versus Yi Jia Jia Ju - and actually the knock off has an easier to write name in chinese 十一家具 versus 宜家家具. In conversational Mandarin, especially in regional dialect, the name is very close one to the other.
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The US copies freely
Whenever we colonize the moon or Mars, you can bet there will be a "town" named NEW something. NEW Beijing at this rate. Or NEW New Delhi which is not new now but might be again on Mars. Or whatever.
I need a New Coke.
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