IKEA hacks have even become their own cottage industry — other retailers sell products specifically made to work with the company's furniture.

So how did the brand become so influential? At the heart of its success is value. Similarly to McDonald's, you know what you’re going to get when you shop at IKEA, and it's going to be affordable.

In fact, price is so important to the company's strategy that it first decides on how much a particular product is going to cost and then reverse engineers the construction.

The company has a "democratic design approach," according to Antonella Pucarelli, the chief commercial officer of Ikea retail U.S., which means that it “deliver[s] form, function and quality products at a low price. Even though our products are affordable, we don't compromise on quality."

(IKEA has had high-profile recalls of millions of chests and dressers after several tipped over and harmed children. In response, it admitted the chests and dressers could be dangerous and offered free kits to anchor the chests and dressers to the wall, as well as refunds.)

Some of IKEA's products are made from wood, some are made from particleboard (recycled wood chips fused together), keeping production more affordable.

IKEA furniture is shipped and sold in flat-packs, which makes transporting it cheaper, and customers put it together themselves (or pay for someone to do it for them), further reducing labor costs.

And the simple style of the furniture is not just because it’s a Scandinavian aesthetic. It's actually easier and cheaper to make affordable versions of such furniture look good.

"IKEA's aesthetic is pared down and minimal, which is not an accident. Uncomplicated forms with very little applied decoration are easier to manufacture. More can be produced in a shorter amount of time, increasing efficiency and decreasing production costs," Ashlie Broderic, interior designer for Broderic Design, told CNBC Make It. "The Malm bed is an excellent example of simple rectangular shapes combined to create a very chic bed."

And "most of IKEA's furniture is available in black, white, or unfinished wood. By producing more items in fewer finishes, IKEA takes advantage of economy of scale,” Broderic said.

All this makes the “aesthetic per dollar” ratio very high, added neuromarketer and author of The Buying Brain Dr. A. K. Pradeep.

He explained that IKEA's affordable style is its "category-busting-metric," or what makes it stand out from all the other brands in that space.

IKEA's stores also appeal to the subconscious mind, which is the primary decision-maker. “Furniture is set up in its natural environment,” Pradeep said, which your subconscious brain appreciates. “Every single thing there is contextually in position. The brain perceives it, understands its inherent value, and therefore desires it.”

But at the same time, there are always new and unexpected items to discover along the way. Both of these things are positive triggers in the brain.

"A great store will give you the sense of comfort and familiarity and will also give you the pleasure of discovery. That is when retail becomes retail therapy," Pradeep highlighted.

It often feels that even though IKEA products are minimalist and beautifully designed, there are 10 billion parts that you, the buyer, have to put together. But that might also be a win for the company. We feel more connected to our purchase if we have to put work into it ourselves.

Daniel Mochon, a researcher and associate professor of marketing at Tulane University’s business school, calls this the IKEA effect. "We come to overvalue the things that we have created ourselves,” Mochon told Shankar Vedantam, the host of NPR's podcast Hidden Brain.

“Imagine that you built a table. Maybe it came out a little bit crooked. Probably your wife or your neighbor would see it for what it is, you know, probably a shoddy piece of workmanship. But to you, that table might seem really great because you’re the one who created it," Mochon said. "It is the fruit of your labor, and that is really the idea behind the IKEA effect."

And it's a big part of the reason why communities like 'IKEA tips, hacks and more!' exist in the first place. You get hooked.