Pien

The world-class beer website and store, realized through co-design and service design, offers visitors a delightful shopping experience.

The client

Pien represents the world’s best independent microbreweries and craft beers. Pien Universe includes Finland’s first independent beer store Pien Shop, import and distribution Pien Distribution, online store Pien Webshop, and microbrewery, Pien Brewing. Pien also makes collaboration beers with different breweries and organizes various community and charity events and activities of the Pienthusiast Club it founded for beer enthusiasts. Pien has also established and produces the Helsinki Haze Wave Festival, a new and modern international small-brewery beer festival in Finland, which was organized for the first time in the summer of 2022.

Pien stands out from its competitors with its thinking, the freshness, and the quality of the selection and products, which is also reflected in the visuals in color and a modern, upbeat style. Pien aims for continuous development and the export of the entire industry forward with a bold and passionate approach. Pien is an activist; it doesn’t just talk about things but also does them transparently and authentically.

The challenge

The identity of the Pien brand has always been distinctive and colorful. As the universe grew, it was time to unify and define the various functions; style of logos, graphic elements, illustrations, and photography.

The goal of renewing the online service was to clarify the brand, which was divided into several branches, and to launch a unique beer online store on the Finnish market, which also challenges players in international markets. We wanted to offer customers a user experience refined to the end, which guides them naturally toward a purchase decision. The utilization of customer data was also considered essential. The online service had to be a platform for building brand awareness and growing business in Finland and internationally so that the effectiveness of marketing can be measured.

The solution

The development process was based on our co-design working model, where we constantly keep the customer involved in the design process. After the market and current situation analysis and keyword research, the online service’s structure, functions, and user interface started to be worked on utilizing service design, gathering the views of representatives of different customer segments. The solutions were validated with real users.

As a result of joint workshops and competitor analysis, Kaimana helped Pien to crystallize its values, vision, mission, story, customer promise, and slogan. The brand was brightened verbally and visually, and all sub-brands were brought under the new umbrella brand. An image world according to the concept was also designed for Pien, and new brand images were shot. All of this was packaged into a comprehensive brand book.

The online service was structurally divided into two large areas: Pien Webshop, a virtual candy store for adults, and Pien Universum, which covers the rest of the company’s operations. The structure of the visually pleasing site was designed to offer the visitor a smooth and overall delightful shopping experience and the opportunity to explore the inspiring content, always discovering something new. The starting point of the design was the ease of use on all devices, with particular attention to mobile use, search engine discoverability, and sales convertibility.

As a result, we implemented a world-class beer website and store to serve Finnish and European consumer customers. We also built our order channel for Pien’s B2B wholesale customers. The online store was launched in December 2021, when the new site and updated brand saw the light of day.

You can log into Pien’s online service with the Untappd application, which is popular among beer enthusiasts. In this case, the user can filter the beers they have previously tasted to hide from the product listings. Through the integration, the online store also retrieves the reviews received by the beers from the Untappd service. We also implemented integrations with Airtable, used for managing product information and stock balances, and Custobar, used for marketing automation.