IKEA, for so long synonymous with flat-pack furniture, impenetrable floor plans and meatballs, may not be the selfassembly enthusiast’s first choice for much longer.

Asda, which this year became the first British supermarket to unveil an in-store estate agency, has begun an assault on the home furnishings market.

While flat-pack furniture has fallen out of favour with some consumers, who prefer not to shed blood, sweat and tears on DIY shelving, Asda is confident that customers will want to pop items from its 72-piece George flat-pack range in the trolley.

Lisa Miao, general manager home at Asda, said: “The flat-pack market will grow even more because the whole home market is so disposable now, it’s become like the fashion market. People want to change the look of their home much more often than they used to and they want to do it themselves. But they want good quality and affordable pieces.”

Ikea, which last year welcomed 33 million people through its doors in Britain, is also sure that the public’s love affair with flat-pack furnishings will continue to grow.

The Swedish retailer can point to rising profits, up from €12.8 billion (£8.6 billion) across the group in 2004 to €14.8 billion in 2005, not to mention the near-riot at the opening of a new store in Edmonton, North London.

Carole Reddish, UK sales manager at Ikea, said that the company welcomed competition from Asda, adding that the supermarket’s multimillion-pound investment in home furnishings demonstrated the popularity of self-assembly goods. She said: “The days when flat-pack products were perceived to be a bit wobbly and had a bad reputation are gone. The developments in technology makes flat-pack more desirable.

“It’s about instant gratification — the ability to buy a piece of furniture from a store and have it built and in your home by the end of the day. And with houses being built smaller and smaller, solid pieces of furniture do not fit in.”

Recent research by Ikea found that most customers were women imbued with “a sense of achievement” when they construct the furniture. Asda believes that women will be attracted by its furniture because a bedside table will take only “15 to 20 minutes” to build.

The Times decided to put the assertions by the stores to the test. Armed with a hammer, a screwdriver and memories of an aborted attempt to build a television table, The Times set to work on two flat-pack bedside tables, one from Ikea priced at £12.50 and one from Asda that cost £29.98.

Construction did not get off to an auspicious start when the first 15 minutes was spent deciphering Asda’s instruction booklet. Even the photographer, who claimed to have made tables before, could not make head or tail of it.

After 75 minutes, a good deal of brute force (who needs a screwdriver when you have a hammer?) and numerous words unsuitable for a family newspaper, a bedside table was born. Sadly, its legs were missing as Asda did not include enough screws.

At this point, The Times would have been happy to hurl the completed, if slightly shaky, table out of the window and never contemplate DIY again. But Ikea’s offering still lay in forlorn sections on the floor.

Happily, the Swedish firm had provided an impeccable step-by-step guide and the task was completed within half an hour. Once again, however, some screws were missing. This was not a problem; the hammer was still to hand.

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