单选题：The making of a success story 1．IKEA is the world’s largest

The making of a success story
1．IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer，and the man behind it is Ingvar Kamprad，one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs．Born in Sweden in 1926，Kamprad was a natural business man．As a child，he enjoyed selling things and made small profs from selling matches，seeds and pencils in his community．When Kamprad was 17，his father gave him some money as a reward for his good grades．Naturally he used it to start up a business—IKEA．

2．IKEA’s name comes form Kamprads’initials（I．K．）and the place where he grew up（E andA）．Today IKEA is known for its modern，minimalist furniture，but it was not a furniture company in the beginning．Rather，IKEA sold all kinds of miscellaneous goods．Kamprad’s wares included anything that he could sell for profits at discounted prices，including watches，pens and stockings．

3．IKEA first began to sell furniture through a mail—order catalogue in 1947．the furniture was all designed and made by manufactures near Kamprad’s home． Initial sales were very encouraging，so Kamprad expanded the product line． Furniture was such a successful aspect of the business that IKEA became solely a furniture company in 1951．

4．In 1953 IKEA opened its first showroom in Almhult，Sweden． IKEA is known today for its spacious stress with furniture in attractive settings，but in the early 1950s，people ordered from catalogues．Thus response to the first showroom was overwhelming：people loved being able to see and try the furniture before buying it． his led to increased sales and the company continued to thrive．By 1955，IKEA was designing all its own furniture．

5．In 1956 Kamprad saw a man disassembling a table to make it easier to transport．Kamprad was inspired． The man had given him a great idea：flat packaging．Flat packaging would mean lower shipping costs for IKEA and lower prices for customers．IKEA tried it and sales soared．The problem was that people had to assemble furniture themselves，but over time，even this grew into an advantage for IKEA．Nowadays，IKEA is often seen as having connotations of self—sufficiency． This image has done wonders for the company,leading to better sales and continued expansion．

6．Today there are over 200 stores in 32 countries．Amazingly，Ingvar Kamprad has managed to keep IKEA a privately—held company．In 2004 he was named the world’s richest man．He currently lives in switzerland and is retired from the day—today operatioas of IKEA．IKEA itself，though，just keeps oil growing．
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