Background
The Åhléns City concept is located in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. These are Åhléns’ largest department stores, where they offer a wider range of products and services to their customers. The Åhléns City concept provides a multisensory shopping experience for their customers.
Assignment
Efterklang was assignmented to deliver a conceptual sound design for Åhléns. The areas in the City department stores are large and house lots of different brands under the same roof, the interior is frequently changed to stimulate shoppers. A great number of staff spend their days in this environment during opening hours, welcoming the different customer flows. Considering these factors, the demands on the acoustic design is high. The conceptual sound design must be flexible, not be too intrusive and create a calm and harmonious environment while also inspire and reinforce the customer experience.
Result
Efterklang has created a conceptual sound design for the City Department Stores from idea, concept and project management to technology, installation and audio content. We have created a pleasant and dynamic soundscape that makes both staff and shoppers feel comfortable. To meet the needs of the different target groups, we have divided the department stores into different sound zones. Each zone is decorated with a separate playlist.
As many surfaces are open, we have also created invisible sound walls to create stylish, seamless sound transitions. We also complemented the old sound system in the department stores with new, modern speakers. The entire audio content is distributed with our own audio platform Twang. Twang makes it easy to schedule music distribution according to different customer flows during the day, making the audio content dynamic and flexible.
Click here to read more about our conceptual sound design for Åhléns’s City Stockholm Children’s department.
