How E-commerce is all about good photography
Do you wish to become more successful in the E-commerce league?
With the arrival of E-commerce, people can reach out and grab any product from anywhere on the globe, from the online store. In the last two decades, this widespread act of product purchasing on e-commerce platforms has skyrocketed the growth of the online business. And thus, with the growing demand for products, there seemed to be abundant growth in the e-commerce businesses and brands. But this growth is not as simple as it appears to be.
This brings us to the core element of E-commerce; photography. And without a first-class core, even your most revolutionary products will live off their entire life in the inventory itself.
Why is that?
Let’s look at them step by step and decode ‘how e-commerce is all about good photography.’
What is E-commerce Photography?
E-commerce photography is an artistic way of applying photographic knowledge and creativity to craft aesthetically pleasing photographs, which are then showcased on your e-commerce website or platform to encourage potential customers for making a purchase.
The whole idea behind e-commerce photography is that rather than shouting out about your product’s benefits and features like a street vendor, these ideally taken product photographs speak for themselves and will make a lasting impression on your customers.
The Making and Breaking of an E-commerce Business
In the e-commerce business, photography is considered to be the propelling source. It creates an image of the brand’s idea and tone inside the mind of the customers from a single glance. And sometimes, the quality of a perfectly executed photograph will create a luxurious feel for the customers about your brand. So, if the first impression is substandard, then you are going to lose your customer.
No matter how big your brand is in the e-commerce league, the product photos will always continue to speak for the quality of your brand.
A perfectly taken photograph will enhance the user experience on your e-commerce website, making them want to surf through the entire page and similar products. Thus, making your platform the best e-commerce platform. In a recent survey, it was found that over 93.5% of people buy products from the e-commerce market based on product photography. And that means that only 6.5% of the total population of e-commerce shoppers actually buy the products based on the brand name or the content quality.
And this is an ever-changing phenomenon that changes every decade. At the end of 2010, this percentage was 81% for product photography and 19% for the rest. Now, it is just a matter of time for the big fish to engulf all and swim to 100%.
Poorly taken photographs, on the other hand, will blemish your brand value and will diminish your name in the e-commerce business.
Ultimately, the e-commerce business is a competitive domain and, as with most competitive fields, your brand development will ground-rocket if your product photography is not something up to par. And even a great product with average photography will fall on the internet.
Over 3 billion products are there in the e-commerce market, and about 12-14 billion e-commerce sites across the globe, and still increasing in number every single day. And in this big sea, it’s only a matter of time till your brand gets sunken by poorly executed photography.
Importance of E-commerce Photography
In this day and age, written communication has lost its place in the e-commerce market. And it would be right to say that content is dead in the e-commerce league. The customers have moved from the content era to the photo era and now it’s all about how the product looks and how captivating the photo is. Soon, the photo era will also come to an end, and thus the consumers will move to the Visual era.
Since a person can’t physically touch or see the products online, photographs are the first thing on your e-commerce site that a customer looks for. They don’t want to read those long product descriptions or feature charts. Instead, it is pictures that influence them to stay on the page, check out your store, and finally, buy your products.
The main benefits of investing in product photography are:
The images provide the customers a clear-cut idea about the product and help them to compare with their need
Helps in providing them an image of what exactly are they going to receive
Images are more appealing and influencing than content
You will encourage the customers to make the final decision of buying the product with confidence
Low returns
Photographs will help in being the voice or the identity of your brand
High-quality images enhance the conversion rate
Custom photography is always better and more beneficial than stock images as you can showcase your products in their entireties without any compromise. Also, your customers will have more trust in your products.
A perfectly shot product photo creates a lasting impression on the customers and also enhances the quality of the brand
In short, investing in product photography is never a loss, but a success. After all, good-quality images shout out to the customers more subtly than your content.
Photography Statistics
Underestimation of product photography is a lively presence in the e-commerce market. After all, with a good product and well-crafted premium content, what could go wrong, right?
Let’s break this mentality right now with a crucial example. Books started to exist in the 2nd century CE and movies began to exist in 1895. But even now, over half of the population prefers watching movies to reading books.
How does this example make sense?
For that, we will look through some of the ground-breaking photography statistics.
75% of Online Shoppers Rely on Product Photos When Deciding on a Potential Purchase
“Across social channels, photo and imagery posts are the most-used content type to increase audience engagement.” (HubSpot, 2020)
“70% of companies invest in content marketing, which could include visual marketing strategies that need professional product photography.” (HubSpot)
Increasing the number of images of the product improves sell-through
Good product photography can increase your conversion rate by 30%.
Good product photography is 40% more likely to be shared from your social media accounts.
Conclusion
There are some great benefits to e-commerce product photography, so investing in photography is one of the best “business saver” tools that you would ever do for your brand. To make most of your money, the best way is to choose the perfect strategy and perform the trial and error method to understand which strategy works for your products. And remember, don’t be scared to think out of the box.
Good e-commerce photography will always remain the game-changer in the e-commerce league. After all, they can make or break a brand!
There are many types and forms of e-commerce photography which will be the crucial element in deciding the conversion rate.
What are they?
Stay tuned for our next blog!
Are you doing well with your e-commerce photography? If not, when are you going to think about it?
