CASE STUDY
Crutchfield
About: In 1974, in his mom's basement, Bill Crutchfield saw an untapped market and turned a car audio hobby into a thriving national catalog business. Today, with earnings topping $200 million, Crutchfield has evolved into one of the most respected retailers for home, car, and portable electronics in the world. Crutchfield's website has received the BizRate Circle of Excellence Award eight years in a row, along with similar accolades from Smart Money, Forbes, and Time magazines.
Challenge: With thousands of SKUs and a product list that stretches across the consumer electronics industry, Crutchfield had some serious organizational challenges. In addition, the existing site didn't adequately emphasize the core values that set Crutchfield apart from their competition. This is a people company that focuses on stellar customer service, but the website was purely utilitarian without a human face or even a real identity.
Solution: SiteGoals worked closely with the Crutchfield internal development team to establish a logical and flexible organizational structure for the substantial product inventory. Through our wireframe process, our team established product categories and a tiered product structure to accommodate the various categories of consumer electronics. In addition, SiteGoals created an online brand identity and design language that has carried through into the sites current incarnation. Following the SiteGoals led re-design, the Crutchfield website was rated the 'Best Consumer Electronics Website' for 2005 and 2006 by Consumer Reports.
