I bought junk furniture like this when I was in college. It’s actually much worse than ikea.

If you are careful when putting together ikea furniture, certain models are actually really durable and sturdy. Oh and of course sometimes the European models are nicer than the American ones.

I don't mean to rag on ikea here, i have a bunch of ikea furniture and find it to be generally sturdy and good enough to stand up to anything i ask of it. i've also got some similar wal-mart furniture that i have no complaints with. i guess i haven't had the experience you have with whatever the bottom tier of furniture truly is.

my point was more just that "good enough" furniture is often good enough. we don't usually demand too much performance from a chest of drawers: heirloom-quality furniture is nice, but mostly an unnecessary luxury item.

These are names for product lines, not brands, and usually derived from Swedish words.

Yes, but IKEA is well-known, and is somewhat well known for product names like that.

"Ailisidun923", on the other hand?

Those are product names, not brands.

IKEA has huge economies of scale, a ruthless focus on efficiency, little marketing, and reasonably low margins (~8%).

At any given price point, their products are likely to be the best available, with the caveat that they do offer things at price points where everything in the market is disposable crap. Their mid-price stuff can be great value though.

I’ve bought a number of IKEA products made from solid wood that are 10+ years old, have moved multiple times, and still look/work great, including some Hemnes dressers.