--- title: Find Out Why You Overshop in Ikea description: We take you through the popular furniture and home goods store to show you how the layout affects your buying habits canonical: https://time.com/3742007/find-out-why-you-overshop-in-ikea/ author: Josh Sanburn article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-12T13:34:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:02:26.118Z og:title: Find Out Why You Overshop in Ikea og:description: We take you through the popular furniture and home goods store to show you how the layout affects your buying habits og:url: https://time.com/3742007/find-out-why-you-overshop-in-ikea/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt969a517b2809aa8a/698783523c16395d5d4523a6/ikea_1280.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ikea og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Find Out Why You Overshop in Ikea twitter:description: We take you through the popular furniture and home goods store to show you how the layout affects your buying habits twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt969a517b2809aa8a/698783523c16395d5d4523a6/ikea_1280.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is Why You Overshop in Ikea ## Video: Improve your private life - IKEA advert [Watch (HLS stream): Improve your private life - IKEA advert](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Qu6zncwy.m3u8) (1:46)  _Published 2015-03-17. IKEA has released a hilarious new ad, this time by way of a 'self-help' video for a happy private life._ by [Josh Sanburn](https://time.com/author/josh-sanburn/), [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/) and [Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) Mar 12, 2015 1:34 PM UTC  Diane Tsai—TIME by [Josh Sanburn](https://time.com/author/josh-sanburn/), [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/) and [Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) Mar 12, 2015 1:34 PM UTC It’s easy to overshop. But at Ikea, it’s almost impossible not to spend more than you originally budgeted. That’s because the Swedish furniture retailer designs its stores to trigger impulse purchases while making it difficult for shoppers to make a mad dash for the exits. It’s a way to take advantage of Americans’ changing shopping habits, which [TIME’s Josh Sanburn detailed in this week’s magazine](http://time.com/3741849/americas-clutter-problem/). --- > “” --- Watch the video above to go inside one Ikea store in Brooklyn and see how its strategy works, and [read more here](http://time.com/3741849/americas-clutter-problem/). _Read next:_ [_My House Is Ground Zero in the Clutter Wars_](http://time.com/3500104/clutter-war-purger-hoarder/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3742007/find-out-why-you-overshop-in-ikea/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3742007/find-out-why-you-overshop-in-ikea/"},"headline":"This Is Why You Overshop in Ikea","datePublished":"2015-03-12T13:34:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:02:26.118Z","description":"We take you through the popular furniture and home goods store to show you how the layout affects your buying habits","url":"https://time.com/3742007/find-out-why-you-overshop-in-ikea/","keywords":["Living","Psychology","Money","Shopping","Ikea"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt969a517b2809aa8a/698783523c16395d5d4523a6/ikea_1280.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Josh Sanburn","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/josh-sanburn/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Francesca Trianni","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Diane Tsai","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt969a517b2809aa8a/698783523c16395d5d4523a6/ikea_1280.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ikea","caption":"","creditText":"Diane Tsai—TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3742007/find-out-why-you-overshop-in-ikea/","name":"This Is Why You Overshop in Ikea"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Improve your private life - IKEA advert","description":"IKEA has released a hilarious new ad, this time by way of a 'self-help' video for a happy private life.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Qu6zncwy/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-03-17T02:16:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Qu6zncwy.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3742007/find-out-why-you-overshop-in-ikea/","duration":"PT1M46S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3742007/find-out-why-you-overshop-in-ikea/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```