Would you be willing to buy a product without an image on an e-commerce website? Or one whose image is of bad quality or worse, doesn't even correspond to the item in question? For your current and future customers, the answer is clearly no. They will at best buy something else, or at least something similar. At worst, they will buy from your competitor who offers datasheet with high-quality and realistic images.

Product Images: What Are We Talking About?

Brands and manufacturers must create and update datasheet containing a multitude of technical, regulatory, marketing, or consumer information (INCO). These product sheets, increasingly exchanged in a digital format via a PIM solution, are indeed required, among other things, by retailers. They allow centralizing all inherent product information and are partly included in catalogs, "drive-through" and "marketplace" type e-commerce websites... Any complete and effective product sheet must feature images because they attract, charm, and reassure buyers. Moreover, images have a strong impact on consumers and favor purchasing decisions. And yet, images are still scarce, especially among consumer products.

Any complete and effective product sheet must feature images because they attract, charm, and reassure buyers. Moreover, images have a strong impact on consumers and favor purchasing decisions. And yet, images are still scarce, especially among consumer products.

How Are Product Images Made?

Planning your products photo shoot is a winning strategy because over time, your partners will increase their visual requirements. Don't wait for your distributors (who are increasingly demanding images!) to ask you for them, plan your photo shoots as soon as possible. These images will also be useful to enhance your products on your own communication media, be it web or print.

The product shoot, also called packshot, cannot be improvised. Material quality, compliance with standards, lighting to avoid shadows, solid white background, trimming, colorimetric adjustments, slight retouching, quality control... photo shooting is a discipline in its own right that requires real expertise.

You have two options:

• Have the photo shoot and image processing done internally: this requires having the equipment, resources and skills. This is a particularly time-consuming task for your teams, but the cost of digitizing images may be lower than that of a professional if the previous conditions are met.

• Use a studio specializing in product photo shoots. By making this choice, you will rely on experts with the right equipment and know-how to produce quality work. If you market food products for example, a specialized studio will be a great help to answer your problems (expense management, compliance with GS1 requirements...).

You Want to Get A Head Start?

If you've done your research and you already have high-quality photos for all your products, there is an additional format that could interest you. The "Mobile Ready Hero Image" is a visually reworked product image that is perfectly optimized for mobile consultation. Standardized by GS1, this format aims to help consumers easily and quickly find the product they are looking for using their smartphone. To do this, only the essential information is put forward: brand, type of product, range/variety, and quantity.

There is no doubt that the Hero Image will win big in the coming months, as 3D photos are gaining ground. 3D photos consist in creating a photorealistic visual from the RFP (ready for printing - model) of the packaging. As the RFP is available on average 8 weeks before the first production, it is possible to substantially anticipate the creation of the product image. This process gives you a head start because you can communicate internally and externally about your innovations, while securing the launch of the product for increased commercial potential.

Good Practices at a Glance

• Have images for each product
• Take photos of each side of your product
• Ensure visual consistency between the product and the image
• Import images into your PIM
• Have the photo shoot done as soon as possible
• Use a professional studio for the creation of your images (photo, hero image, 3D photo)

Given the extent of e-commerce, images are more than ever essential to successfully market products. Nevertheless, brands are always sorely lacking content to value their products, often providing one or no visuals. In view of the stakes, product visuals must become a top priority for all brands. Images attract, charm, and reassure buyers. They have a strong impact on consumers and contribute directly to purchasing decisions on digital channels. Plan for the creation of your product images!