Peak oil? No - Peak stuff!

[Heckler]

http://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/ikea-rolls-out-yet-another-surprisingly-delightful-product.html


Kind of a two topic thread. 

IKEA announces they will sell bikes now.  $800 with a low maintenance belt drive and two sizes fits all, down to a 12 year old kid size. Hopefully this gets more people considering bikes as transportation, although it's only in Europe for now.   

More interesting to me was this little gem. 

Why it's time for Ikea to move beyond furniture.

When you're the largest furniture retailer in the world, what happens when you've saturated the market with your products?

Earlier this year, design magazine Dezeen reported that Ikea's sustainability chief Steve Howard admitted the demand for home furnishings has hit its max in Western markets. "If we look on a global basis, in the west we have probably hit peak stuff," said Howard during The Guardian's Sustainable Business debate. "We talk about peak oil. I'd say we've hit peak red meat, peak sugar, peak stuff ... peak home furnishings."

I know this crowd has already realized they have peak stuff a long time ago, but when massive corporations realize it, there may be change afoot!

[mozar]

I did think that was interesting. I think of it though as people are moving their purchases to virtual reality (think in-game purchases). So just as much crap, but it takes up less room. And smaller gadgets too.

[pdxmonkey]

I want to buy one of these new stuffs if they are reasonably priced. Every hydroponics system I have ever looked into seemed like it had absurd markup and I have not yet seriously looked into building my own completely from scratch.

[slugline]

I can't really complain about having more bike choices, but I would expect an $800 price point to hold it back from being competitive in a crowded market.