Ikea China has switched to slimmed-down booklets instead of the traditional phonebook-size annual catalog, as part of the cost-cutting efforts to prepare for business expansion in the country The Wall Street Journal reported. Ikea is trying to keep costs down and expand its reach into China as it fights local competitors for notoriously price-sensitive Chinese consumers. Ikea's China retail branches are more tightly focused on price than its other stores around the world because many competitors offer less-expensive copies of Ikea designs. To compete, Ikea has cut prices in China to some of its lowest in the world, offering 12-cent ice-cream cones and 1-US dollars place mats, said the paper. The booklets will be distributed five times a year and will give the retailer more flexibility to change prices in China, officials say. According to estimates from global consulting firm Bain & Co., Ikea holds a 43 percent market share of China's expanding 15 billion US dollars housewares industry. The push to reduce costs in China is likely to intensify as the company ventures into cities farther inland, where incomes are lower than on the coasts. Ikea has three stores in China: in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing, which is its largest retail outlet outside Stockholm. In December, Ikea plans to open a branch in Chengdu, in central China.