Popular HiFi Store in Berlin: Einklang. Casestudy Website Redesign
Berlin is famous for its music & art scene. Enjoying the clubs, art events and going to bars is always accompanied by music of course and therefore Hifi stores in Berlin are committed to provide great sound systems as for the private music enthousiast as for different locations with music events: bars, clubs, art galleries.
The music listening experience became something different in times of digitalization. Nowadays music got more monotonous and the true sound of the music instruments got lost in digitizing it. With a high quality sound system we will get back the original sound of the recorded music.
In the following case study part of the UX/UI Bootcamp ’23 at Ironhack the popular hifi store in Berlin: Einklang will be examined on its web content. Especially in the times of ordering online platforms such as xxx are competing with the local hifi store and we wanted to redesign the online presence of the local store “Einklang” as a case study. See the video here:
Introduction Hifi Store Client Einklang
For our project we had to chose a client that owns a business with the need of an online shop for their products in Berlin. Ideally a local shop that has maybe already a website but not a proper online shop where you can buy and have an overview of the client’s products.
Based on our research we were focussed on “older” electronic or hifi shops in Berlin, as they have usually a wide range of well chosen electronics & hifi with the years of experience and knowledge of owner. The local shop Einklang agreed to work with us in order to create a shop system.
More about Einklang: “einklang Hifi” is a Hifi Store in Berlin, located at Schönhauser Allee 168–170 in the “hip” Prenzlauer Berg. Its business owner Sebastian Grimm has years of experience working in the clubbing, music scene with hifi products and has a passion for music listening.
What does Hifi actually mean? Hi-Fi systems contain a source, amplification and speakers. The source can be anything from a music streaming service played from smartphone to turntable ( source: wikipedia).
Investigating Client’s Problems, Goals & Needs
We interviewed Sebastian Grimm to identify the client’s problems, goals and needs before we create the online shop.
Assortment & Services
“einklang HiFi” in Prenzlauer Berg stands for excellent music reproduction and handmade quality. The assortment contains known brands and hidden treasures whereby in addition to the sound quality the design plays an important role too. The main goal is to find exceptional HiFi solutions for every budget in order to bring the emotion and passion of music into your home. Not only does Einklang provide extensive consultation about Hifi products, they also provide the design of your new apartment or house by incorporating tailor-made HiFi solutions and room acoustics into the planning e.g. multi-room systems, home theaters, and planning processes on your construction site.
To sum it up: the company’s key purpose is to provide high end audio, luxurious goods & intensive consulting for the music enthousiasts and passionated music listeners that appreciate good music sound. Thus most of the customers are focused on design, high willingness to pay more for quality, individual solutions, people with higher incomes, predominantly (unfortunately) men
Problems & Needs & Goal
The biggest problems to face for Einklang is the price of the products and the comparison with online shops. Customers walk in to take the good consultation, to then buy somewhere else online. At the same time the customer like to see, touch and hear the listening experience before they buy a well-chosen expensive speakers, amplifiers etc.
Einklang therefore needs the online-shop as a “extended-shop window” to get more attention, sell smaller assortment what for people don’t want to come in necessarily. This would help the marketing and visibility of the Hifi store and maintain a good competition amongst other big online shops Saturn, MediaMarkt and other Hifi store that are located in Berlin and already maintain a good online shop presence.
Insight from Research: User Interviews
We created a user interview guideline and conducted a google form survey to understand the user need and define the user persona in the following.
The survey and user interview examined the following criteria that are relevant for building Einklang’s online shop:
- Motivation for purchase
- Setting of music listening
- Price range
- Music genre
- Sound quality
- Expectations for a Hifi store
After having conducted the user interviews & affinity diagram we created the following user persona. For Rene Sinus the quality of the Hifi system is more important than the price. The most important pain points are that the variation of the products can be overwhelming. There are too many products available and he doesn’t know what to choose. Even though the quality is for him more important the price still matters as he is earning upper-middle class money but still cannot spend a tremendous amount for Hifi equipment. If he would acquire more Hifi knowledge he would feel more confident in his choice, therefore the advice that is given to him in the store is truly important.
User Persona
User Journey
In the following the user journey was created. Again the main determining factor for Rene Sinus is the music quality, the advice & knowledge given to him to make a valid choice. The online store is a tempting option which lacks though the consultation that he would receive in a physical Hifi store. Thus the gap in the user journey that can be identified as a potential business oportunity is the focus on the transfer of Hifi knowledge by consultation in the physcial store while maintaining an online shop connected to it with a good overview of affordable but high quality music equipment.
Moodboard & Brand attributes
Moodboard & brand attributes. Before modifying the website of Einklang and providing an online shop option, we examined the brand attributes and conducted a moodboard survey to get a deeper understanding of what the user is attracted to. As to be seen underneath, the brand attributes of Einklang are “ design, social, luxury, relaxation & elegant”. This should be kept consistent throughout the design process. Colors in respective are kept cosy, neutral minimalistic and light with a slight touch of gold to maintain the luxury and elegant design.
HMW
The how might we statement before starting the ideation phase was identified as following: How might we provide an online shop with hifi speakers & accessories.
Hi-fi Prototype
We came up with the following Hifi Prototype, see the video with the full content:
As can be seen from the video the user first lands on the general overview page from Einklang with short information about the store itself “Who are we” and “What we do” to make it understandable what services are offered.
In the following page under products, you can see the overview about the different offered hifi equipment which are separated into categories.
When selecting “all products”, you will find an overview of the whole shop where the user can filter the hifi product depending on: price, experience, color, body type, size etc. By this we created an online shop experience similar to well known online shops such as Amazon. With the minimalitic design and the “small” choice options the user will not be confused or overwhelmed by too many products or options and garante a smooth user experience.
When selecting more details for a certain procuct such as in this case the speakers underneath. The user gets an overview about the different colors. As you can see from the Hifi prototype the color selection is not working yet and needs to be still edited in future. The user should be able to see the different design for the Hifi equipment. As the design as the quality is an important choice factor for the purchase. When you want to get an appoinment for consulation or for listening experience you can select “book an appoinment” or “need advice”.
Next steps & key learnings
In summary we made the whole shop system: minimalistic, simple and original to Einklangs Hifi Systems. We hope we could give the owner Sebastian Grimm a good inspiration for his future online store and business tips that will be incooperated, such as the “booking appoinment option” & “consultation”.
Regarding or key learnings: We, as a group, had a time management problem and didn’t set each day goals or targets. In the end we had not enough time to do the prototype testing or to make the design even better and incooperate all our findings & ideas. The communication among the team could have been improved therefore, however it was a fun and interesting project to work with. Especially the client’s shop of Hifi systems is an interesting niche for music lovers.
I looking forward to how the Hifi physical store Einklang will integrate the online shop and I am curious to hear your opinion about our ideas.
It was fun and I learned a lot while working with Juan, Richard and Marc. Please share your feedback or any questions you have.
This article was written without ChatGPT as you might tell.
Thanks, Lisa :-)
