Case study: Bringing Leleland online
Two weeks of my Bootcamp have passed! Time really flies. Last week we had a challenge where we applied the design thinking process in solving a problem collaboratively. After warming up, a more intense week has come!
Challenge
This week, I paired up with two other great classmates, working on a goal to help a local shop gain its online presence to boost the business, especially during the pandemic time. After some brainstorming, finally, we decided on the idea to bring LELELAND, a local store which sells Ukuleles to the online world.
The Stakeholder
LELELAND
Kreuzberg, Berlin
The only physical store which sells Ukulele in Europe.
User and Business Findings (Empathize phase)
First, we have conducted a business analysis to have a secondary understanding of the business model. These are our findings:
User survey
We have also conducted a survey to understand the users’ needs, including their buying preferences, habits, and their wishes in seeing an online shop. The findings showed that most of our respondents had bought their ukuleles at the local stores, and it is important for them to be able to check the instrument before purchase.
Stakeholder interview
After the survey, we were lucky to interview the owner of the shop to further study the actual users and the competitors as well. We have asked him several questions regarding the background of his business, the sources of customers, the competitors, how bad the pandemic had hit the business, and his views on setting an online shop.
- Background: Business started in 2010, and is the first local shop specialized in ukuleles in Europe
- Selling: Ukuleles, other string instruments and accessories
- Events: Workshops and concerts
- Main clients: Adults and beginners
- Reasons for clients to visit his shop: They like the professional advice
- How the pandemic affected the store: Very badly!
- Pains for online store: Musical instruments need to be heard and tested.
- Interest in doing e-commerce: Yes, but not with the most expensive instruments and not the risk of damaged instruments with returns
Competitor Analysis
After the stakeholder interview, where the owner mentioned his competitors, we have conducted a Competitor Analysis for LELELAND. We have identified five competitors:
- Amazon (well-known e-commerce platform worldwide)
- Thomann
- JustMusic Online Shop
(both are big online music stores in Europe) - Gute Ukulele (an online store that sells luxury Ukuleles)
- Ukulele Schule (Ukulele school in Berlin)
All competitors have already had their online presence with clear information on the price, availability of products, and details of products, which always work. There is one weak point, which is that the buyers cannot check or test the products before purchase. Not to say there is any professional advice during the purchase. In this case, buyers would have to bear the consequences of purchasing the wrong Ukuleles and have no alternatives but to return them.
Brand Comparison and Market Position Map
To complete our research, we have conducted a Brand Comparison and a Marketing Position Map:
User Persona (Define phase)
After the empathize phase, we moved on to define the main problems. For this, we have created a user persona as below:
Sitemap and User Flow (Ideate phase)
Having defined the problems, we have continued on the Ideate phase, by using the Card Sorting method to organize the categories which will appear on the website; and devised a Sitemap to include all the contents in our website. After that, we worked on the User Flow which is shown below:
Wireframe and Prototype
After the ideation, we created a mid-fi wireframe and the prototype for our website:
Wireframe
Prototype
User Test (Test phase)
We know that testing is very important as it is a product designed for the users, not for us. We have asked some users to conduct a Usability Test on the steps. Interestingly, we have received valuable feedback that would help us do the iteration in the future.
Learning Points in the project
For this project, we have applied the whole design thinking process to complete the whole task. With a concerted effort, we have created the wireframe and prototype followed by a lot of effective communication and meaningful discussions. Attention to detail was one of the keys to achieving our goal. One thing we cannot ignore is the Usability Test, as we are designing for our users, not ourselves!
