On its launch, BANG cost just fifty cents and immediately became very popular. But it all started with a hot dog. Most people who have visited an IKEA store are familiar with the hot dog, which still costs fifty cents today. It began being sold at stores in the late 1980s, and Ingvar Kamprad wanted the hot dog to be half the price of one in town. Customers should be amazed at how cheap the hot dog was, and also how delicious. It was a success.
Inspired by the hot dog, IKEA soon discovered that the same approach could be applied to other products. The BANG mug was the first. It sold very well but soon required some product development. Since the mug was not stackable, it took up too much space in distribution and sales. A new model of BANG was developed, but the function and design were not as good as before, and it was nowhere near as popular with customers. After four years it was replaced by the TROFÉ mug, which was stackable and looked good. It was later named FÄRGRIK and still didn’t cost “more than the loose change in people’s pockets,” to quote Ingvar Kamprad.
