For years, experts have been telling us that e-commerce will sooner or later, totally or almost completely replace in-store purchases. Forecasts which are confirmed by the success of online stores and which have undergone a rapid increase especially during the period of the pandemic and related quarantines. But what is missing from this type of business to completely dominate the market? Probably the fact that many people cannot "imagine" the item they are purchasing on themselves or mounted in their home. Deficiencies that can probably be solved thanks to photo editing for e-commerce products.
Photo editing for e-commerce products, what does it consist of?
This activity, which in some ways does not differ much from "traditional" photo editing, is usually focused on giving the potential buyer all the necessary information regarding the item he is checking out. In particular we can consider this activity as an image processing of products for sale online. The aim is to obtain an attractive and professional image for presentation on e-commerce sites.
The goal is to make the products as attractive as possible, in order to increase customer interest and increase the likelihood of sales.Â
Why is this so important?
As indicated at the beginning, the convenience of online purchases via e-commerce is unparalleled in many ways. The item in question usually has a lower price, there is no need to physically go to the store wasting time and money. If you have already identified the item, you don't even run the risk of being tempted when you are in the store. In addition to this, the online shop has no closing times or days, for maximum convenience for those who are always busy.
What e-commerce is currently missing is the tangibility of the object, being able to walk around it, test it and try it. They are all "special features" that for the moment we can only dream of, waiting for "virtual or augmented realities" yet to be invented. At the current date, a good substitute for physical presence can be the presence of well-made photos, animations and settings.
Well-made shots and expert photo editing can take care of all these functions.
Therefore, photo editing for e-commerce products has become a key element of online marketing and sales. Fundamental as images are often the customer's first contact with the product and can significantly influence the purchasing decision.
Photo editing for e-commerce products, how can it help sales?
Sight is our main sense, a function that we have developed for millennia and which can, at least in a purchasing process, obviate the other senses. The problem of vision when purchasing in a fashion e-commerce site, however, is caused by some factors that we must not underestimate.
 In addition to the lack of depth, anyone who generates or processes images for e-commerce sites will have to pay attention to their quality, also depending on the customer's possible viewing variables.
For example, our buyer could look at our object from a smartphone screen, a computer monitor or even a Smart TV. Different peripherals, which also based on their resolution could "distort" the photographed object, changing the colors and perception.
In addition to color and display fidelity, when photo editing for online shop windows it is necessary to pay attention to many other factors, let's discover them, in general and for the categories in which eCommerce is most popular.
Photo editing activities for eCommerce products, what are they?
Photo editing activities on the products offered on e-commerce sites can be of the most diverse types, based on the product, the type of e-commerce and why not also the price of the item.
However, there are some quite common photocorrection activities, both for "standard" photos and for those intended for eCommerce:
- Removal of imperfections and defects: this activity includes the removal of any scratches, stains, creases or other defects present on the surface of the presented article.
- Adjusting brightness, contrast and colors: this type of processing adjusts the brightness, contrast and colors of the image in order to make them as natural and attractive as possible.
- Replacement of the background: this type of activity consists in replacing the original background with a cleaner and more professional background, perhaps white or with the silk-screen printing of the shop that is offering the product.
- Creation of special effects: through this type of editing, lights, shadows and special effects are added to the photographed subjects in order to improve their aesthetic appearance, perceived quality and give three-dimensionality to everything.
- Changing the size: This type of fix involves changing the size of the image and background to fit the specific needs of your e-commerce site.
- Optimization for Compression: This activity consists of optimizing images for compression. This way the weight of the images does not affect the performance of the e-commerce site.
- Cropping and alignment: this process consists of cropping the image to remove any unnecessary parts and align the product to the cage of the image itself.
Fashion eCommerce photo editing
Going into the specifics of the various sectors we then find further activities. In the fashion field, for example, it is essential to correctly show the color of the garment.
Further editing can then concern solutions to show the actual size of the item, for example by having it worn by a person whose measurements are indicated. In this case editing is then also used to work on the model itself. Processing therefore consists of removing any aesthetic imperfections or parts that you prefer not to show.
Editing can then create versions of the single item from scratch, simulating the color range available for it. In addition to this corrective and duplicative activity, photo editing can then be used for a compositional activity, for example when you want to show the garment with a 360° view.
Photo editing eCommerce furniture and accessories
In some ways similar to the previous category, also in this case, the activity of those who do photo editing is to show the article in a "non-aseptic" context. We can therefore find it mounted in a possible definitive or ideal location or in more or less classic conditions of use that allow the user interested in purchasing to identify more with the item itself.
Photo editing for e-commerce products, which software to use?
There are various software that can be used for photo editing for e-commerce products. There are ones of varying complexity, more or less complicated, free or paid. An almost infinite list that includes paid software such as Adobe (for example with Photoshop and Lightroom) among the most important names. But also free solutions such as Gimp or applications that can be used directly online, such as the Canva platform.
Many possible applications that differ significantly in their complexity, cost and the mastery that the typical user must have of the "medium".
Photo editing for e-commerce products is a practically mandatory activity if we want the items offered in the online shop to be beautiful to look at and as similar as possible to what the customer will find in their hands after purchase. It will then be up to the skills of those who will work on the images to decide whether to work only on the defects of the shot or whether to use photo editing to add value to it. Value that can be added by trying to eliminate that physical barrier represented by the screen and the lack of tangibility of the object.
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