E-commerce product photography: 4 reasons to produce your own visuals

In e-commerce, producing your own visuals means making the choice to control your communication. From turning attention into a buying act to adapting to the latest trends, here are all the arguments to take into account.

1- Transform intention into a buying act for your e-commerce

Control your sensory marketing It also means giving consumers the power to see and touch the products they want to buy. On the internet, in e-commerce, compensating for the absence of this contact with the use of quality visuals is an essential condition for your success. A European study carried out by PackshotCreator in 2013 confirms that product photos or animations are the first element encouraging Internet users to buy.

2- They adapt to your products

Very often, because you don't buy furniture like an electronic product, and even less like printer toner, it's important to ask yourself some questions before putting a design online. Do you need to take simple photos, multi-views, animations, compositions or even simulations? It is only after answering it that you will be able to set up a production flow and a visual charter for your e-commerce website.

• The HD photo : if you sell simple products that require little visual information, such as The packaging agri-food or wines & spirits.
• Multi-views : one of the most used solutions, it allows you to give your customers all the visual information they need by reducing the text part of your product sheets to what is strictly necessary. The multi-view packshot plays a major role in improving the conversion rate of your e-commerce site.
• The 360° packshot animations : they make it possible to give interactivity to your e-commerce site and are ideal for presenting accessories. To make this animation you must take several photographs (32 on average) of the same object. Its position is changed at regular intervals around a central axis, until the object completely rotates on itself.

3- They offer your visitors a different context

Faced with the evolution of the online sales market, the appearance of multi-channel or cross-channel, new tools are within your reach to offer your visitors new experiences.

Give your visitors the opportunity to configure products: the objective is to offer a sensory experience so that the consumer appropriates and projects himself into a context with the proposed product. As of 2014, Ikea offers Augmented Reality to visitors to its site. For example, the future purchaser visualizes, from his smartphone or tablet, a sofa modelled in his living room. Another example: opticians allowing their customers to try on pairs of virtual glasses live.

4- Stick to the expectations of Generation Y

The Digital Generation: with the evolution of technologies, the appearance ofOculus or even PlayStation VR, the boundaries between video games and e-commerce are shrinking. Augmented Reality and Virtual reality combine interactivity and practical aspects. Your e-visitors can project themselves with your products into their environment and if they buy furniture, there is no need to take dimensions in store!

A recent example, in 2016, The Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba Has set up The Buy+ system. This technology of Shopping in Virtual Reality gives Internet users the opportunity to immerse themselves in an e-store. An essential element for Generation Y who have been rocked by video games for years. The e-visitor browses the shelves as he pleases, displays the characteristics of the products he selects by fixing his gaze on the action buttons.

Bonus: what options are available to the e-merchant to produce its visuals internally?

From simple visuals to Augmented or Virtual Reality, many options are at your fingertips for internal visuals. Depending on the volume of visuals to be produced and/or their complexity, you can use a internal provider to avoid logistical back and forth. The external service provider will choose to use its own photographic equipment.

Increased responsiveness

Another solution is the provision of equipment already on site. One Packshot Photo Studio is a ready-to-use resource, a professional photographer or simple operator can easily use it. Depending on the configuration, this type of studio allows you to create photos or animations of objects. They take the form of a box with lighting connected to a computer and controlled by dedicated software. The functionalities of said software make it possible to standardize and homogenize the production of images. Other functionalities allow enrichment with the addition of an interactive zoom, scripted animations or even the intelligent distribution of images.

Betting on in-house production means ensuring responsiveness and quality to give an e-window the cachet that will make it stand out. Beyond e-commerce, in-house production allows you to control all your communication, from archiving to quality control. All of these elements are a common denominator of good management of production flows.

To go further

• Discover What equipment should you use to photograph small objects