The vinyl is basically music’s response to ‘slow food’. It’s about sensing, being a ‘music nerd’, and taking conscious choices. To enjoy the ritual and the fourth track on the B-side. To simply love a cool cover. The total opposite is algorithms, playlists, or maybe the lazy version – a “radio”, built around a couple of numbers, whereafter the algorithm is feeding you with “things that taste a bit of your first choice”.

Accord is Denmark’s largest physical music- and film dealer. So why shouldn’t they repeat the success online and serve the whole country? But to understand the complex task, we must understand the company first.

In 2006 the LP hits the bottom with global sales of around 34. Million UDS. Since then, the number grew twenty times as large and today we experience growth with around 10-15% a year. It is still a pretty young ’little brother’ to streaming with a market share with around 5% + the second-hand market. But it’s still a growing niche with a broad and young target audience. Accord has been riding on this wave from the beginning.

Accord came to Dwarf with a deep wish of opening a webshop for buying and selling used vinyl. They wanted a webshop with more qualities than being able to convert into sales. A webshop that was “on brand” and able to transfer the vibe and feel from the physical shops into a digital space. Moreover, it was important that you could find everything from mainstream to all the unique albums and rare titles. A pure experience for music lovers - and not too expensive…

The solution is built around three Software as a Service Solutions, which Dwarf connected to Laravel Nova, and expanded with a tailored system for scanning and recording both new and used LPs and CDs.

Shopify is used as an e-commerce engine, the E-touch already functions as POS in the stores and is integrated with the solution, e-conomics functions as the bookkeeping whilst the Product Information Management System (PIM), with connected scanners and printers, are developed by Dwarf in Laravel Nova.

The solution draws on two extern services: Spotify so the customers are able to listen to track samples (and the whole record, if they have a Spotify subscription) and Discogs.com from where we find an image that shows the record cover and facts about the artists, tracks and more info on each recording.

Discogs.com is the world’s largest discographic database with more than seven million artists and 13 million tracks – and more than a million volunteers have contributed with these facts and data. In total, we ended up with 3 x Software as a Service + 2 x online API-services + 1 x Tech & Design.

Recycling, it’s not a reinvention of the wheel. Dwarf is already working with used leasing cars for ALD, used houses for the Danish Safety Technology Authority, and used packaging for Dansk Retursystem – and with this solid experience, we had a true advantage.

The result needs to be experienced. The design is built around a cool/retro minimalistic expression with a 1-pixel drawn design, and recognizable elements like crate instead of basket, mechanical inspired animations, a simple logo and colours that point back to the history of Accord.

Minimal UX – Maximum product. Technical terms are technical terms, and all notes about each cut are included. It is not a closed club, but you are free to be engaged if you want. Some associations to a “Once Upon of Time feeling”, the Hollywood style. The place you would have visited if online was an option in the primetime of the vinyl.

The shop went live on 1 December 2020, and Accord has only received positive feedback from customers who can now finally buy their much-loved plates at home from the sofa.