For years, savvy retailers have been creating strategies that blend physical and online channels to engage consumers where they are. With dramatic changes in consumer behaviour, being able to create seamless customer experiences across stores and online, is today more important than ever. The Danish department store, Illums Bolighus, has a strong brand and store setup. However, its online presence did not match up and was lacking as an e-commerce platform. To turn things around, Make® was invited by digital developers Alpha Solutions to collaborate on the project.
Illums Bolighus opened its doors in 1941 as the first department store in the world to sell both furniture and textiles. Over the years, product categories have expanded and Illums Bolighus has grown into a respected retailer known for its understated extravagance and enjoying international acclaim for its high quality, Danish and international designs. Despite a strong market position, Illums Bolighus face increasing competition from small, medium and large e-commerce players with lower pricing points. To counter this, it’s important for Illums Bolighus to deliver the same premium experience online as it does in-store and continue to differentiate itself on quality and expertise rather than price.
Deliverables
Insights
User experience
User interface design
Graphic design
80
years old
15
stores in 4 countries
330+
brands
56K+
products
Classic and contemporary
The implementation of a new PIM system and e-commerce platform set the technical foundation for the solution. Based on this, we created a sophisticated digital design framework. The introduction of new, bold typefaces complements the classic logo.
Letting products do the talking
New supplementary colours, drop-picked from existing and vivid imagery, complements the retailer’s characteristic colour palette of black, white and camel, and allows Illums Bolighus to create a variety of universes across product ranges, seasons and occasions.
Building delight in customer journeys
The entire product taxonomy was restructured to focus categories and allow both direct and explorative flows to encourage conversion and inspiration. To add character to the brand while providing clarity to product exploration, we created unique illustrations that represent each product category. Intuitive filtering and simple category navigation enable users to easily browse and narrow their search with relevant criteria across devices. As part of the new solution, we made it possible for customers to easily choose delivery to a desired destination or to pick up in-store.
Optimised for every platform
We applied best practice e-commerce user experience principles across the entire online customer journey, making it intuitive and convenient, and at the same time reflecting Illum Bolighus’ business concepts of delivering an attractive, inspirational and delightful shopping experience.
Product pages are designed to be clean and simple to scan. With typography as the primary identity element, the design allows for the varying degrees of product information provided by suppliers. As a new commercial opportunity for Illums Bolighus, the design includes numerous places to promote featured brands and designers.
Integrated loyalty programme
We increased the focus on loyal customers by activating the No1 program online. An updated customer universe provides a clear overview of benefits and loyalty points, as well as saving favourites and sharing gift registries for special events. Loyal customers can now shop seamlessly instore and online.
Modular and flexible
The component library is fully equipped with flexible modules that can be used to build dedicated landing pages and editorial articles for Illums Bolighus to share their expertise.
