The long-established Kölln brand is transforming into a modern lifestyle brand with Shopify.
Brand identity, storytelling and performance on a new level
View websiteEveryone knows Kölln. Whether from Grandma’s breakfast table or from a college dorm. But to make an icon ready for the future, it takes more than just a new logo—it takes a digital ecosystem that runs as smoothly and effortlessly as freshly stirred porridge.
Company and brand pages within a Shopify system.
The generational shift at Kölln was meant to be reflected not only on the shelves, but above all on the screen. The challenge: to bring the corporate and brand identities under one roof. The goal? To create maximum brand affinity for the younger generation without losing sight of the company’s Hanseatic roots.
Custom Shopify Theme
Instead of relying on standard solutions, a fully customized Shopify-based theme was developed. This enabled the perfect blend of brand-defining design and technical scalability, far surpassing what conventional templates can offer.
- Uncompromising design: The UI breaks away from rigid grids. Thanks to the custom theme, bold typography, distinctive shadows, and organic shapes reminiscent of the texture of oats were implemented with pixel-perfect precision and high performance. Modern, vibrant, and distinctive.
- Native Reviews: By utilizing Shopify meta objects, recipe reviews have been implemented natively within the system. This eliminates the need for expensive third-party apps, saves on costs, and is the most elegant solution from a data protection perspective.
- Technology & Compliance: Despite the global scope of the project, a European server location was established, with Shopify providing a legally compliant solution. Additionally, the architecture offers the flexibility to activate an e-commerce component at any time in the future.
The result: Future-proof, high performance, and brand identity.
By developing the custom theme, we have created a "single source of truth" that remains easy to maintain despite the highest design standards and delivers top-tier technical SEO.
- Significant cost savings: A centralized system drastically reduces maintenance efforts and eliminates licensing costs for unnecessary third-party apps.
- UX taken to the next level: The synergy between content (an inspiration hub) and commerce (product selection) is perfected by lightning-fast loading times and seamless micro-interactions.
- Strong performance: The custom theme ensures a mobile-first experience that loads quickly and enhances the brand’s organic visibility through clean URL structures.
Flexible. Modular. Future-proof. Our section-based approach
To bridge the gap between Hanseatic tradition and modern lifestyle, we developed a fully modular custom theme for Kölln. Instead of rigid layouts, we rely on a flexible section system that allows the editorial team to easily rearrange content such as recipes, product categories, and campaigns.
Flexibility of the website: Design for multi-device use
The main focus was on developing a mobile-optimized website, as the target group is predominantly on smartphones. This ensured a smooth and appealing user experience on mobile devices.
You want to know more?
Hey 👋 We look forward to hearing from you, then we can answer questions about the project.
