website design and build for Ritter bags

the brief

Ritter are the world's largest musical instruments bags manufacturer. I was challenged with building a website that would consolidate the brands national personalities under one easily identifiable international brand. A secondary function of the website was to launch the Ritter brand into two new industries: yoga accessories and children's fashion accessories.

the work

Although Ritter operated 30 countries, with 6 translations of the original site, an investigation revealed that the high sales volumes in several countries were not matched with online traffic to the site. Rather than developing an individual website for every region, three distinct areas were created: UK, US and international. This greater focus enabled Ritter to maximise their ROI.

The products Ritter manufactured revolutionised their industry, transforming gig bags from functional accessories to fashion items. By turning the brand into a lifestyle accessory they introduced contemporary branding into what was then a lifeless market. With an industry perception as design gurus the new website had to match this avant-garde standard, I designed a minimalist site that combined the brands distinctive colours and typography with striking lifestyle photography.

In addition to creating a website that was attractive, accessible and easy to use, I developed a versatile admin suite in PHP/MySQL with a built in content management system & analytics package, enabling Ritter to manage their online daily operations, this covered:

• Adding, Deleting, Editing Products
• Monitoring site usage
• Activating new regions in a selected language
• Monitoring SEM activity
• Managing customer and business communications
• Granting employees tiered access

the results

Internationally the Ritter brand now has a definitive style that unites the company irrespective of country and while online visual trends can change in the blink of an eye - 4 years after its creation the Ritter site still has a chic contemporary feel. While the new functionality ensured that staff were able to manage and monitor their web positions.

The website triggered a notable rise in consumer purchases in the trading regions the site focused on, with international sales up across the board. The two new products successfully launched - with the website being their only point of reference for the first year.