The biggest advantage of brick-and-mortar stores compared to online stores is that customers can actually see and touch the products. This gives them a more personal im­pres­sion of the quality. In order to offer a similar ex­per­i­ence, online store owners have to rely on visual present­a­tions by means of product images and lively de­scrip­tions. That’s why product photos are crucial for the success of an online store.

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Why good product photos are so important

When it comes to online shopping, photos com­pensate for being able to phys­ic­ally handle the product. Combined with com­pel­ling and precise product de­scrip­tions, visual present­a­tion plays a fun­da­ment­al role in a customer’s purchase decision. In com­par­is­on to plain texts, photos work on an emotional level and help vendors increase their chances of a sale. Realistic present­a­tions ensure that buyers don’t have false ex­pect­a­tions, which can lead to com­plaints and returns. For first-time buyers, pro­fes­sion­al product images lead to more trust in the store and the quality of the products.

Who is my target group?

The first thing you need to do is define your target group. Who is a potential customer and whom do you want to reach with your photos? It makes a big dif­fer­ence whether you want to address men or women, adults or teenagers, a con­ser­vat­ive, or a pro­gress­ive audience. Each target group reacts dif­fer­ently to visual stimuli, colours, shapes, and product present­a­tion.

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Rational or emotional?

The buying motive, as well as the quality of the product, plays a big role for potential customers. The reason can be of an emotional or a rational nature. It also depends on the purpose and the intended use of the product. Practical use stands apart from emotional desire. Just ask yourself this question:

Does the customer actually need the product or do they just want it?

Fashion, jewellery, or home ac­cessor­ies, for example, count as emo­tion­ally charged products, whereas rational motives generally lie behind the purchase of technical ap­pli­ances like printers, hard drives, or tools. Both factors often play a role regarding lifestyle products like smart­phones or tablets: the device should be func­tion­al and possess all the important features, all while looking good and conveying a certain lifestyle. Bear this in mind when dealing with product pho­to­graphy and the present­ing of products.

Creating a suitable rep­res­ent­a­tion

When it comes to product photos, it’s important to show the product from all angles as well as a close-up of relevant details. Use the zoom function to obtain the highest quality image possible. Since it is not possible to phys­ic­ally examine products when using an online store, it makes sense to show some products in action. It’s a good idea to have videos for products like kitchen ap­pli­ances and tools, which often need demon­stra­tions if the functions aren’t self-ex­plan­at­ory. This gives the product an emotional context as well as giving the potential customer a better idea of the product. In the fashion industry, models are often used to give a more realistic view of the goods.

The quality of product pho­to­graphy

Besides the product present­a­tion, technical aspects also play an important role when it comes to product photos for online stores. Website visitors are more likely to associate pro­fes­sion­al photos to high quality goods, whereas amateur snapshots give the opposite im­pres­sion. The image loading time should not be overly long and you should pay attention to the following points:

  • Colour fastness (RGB as colour mode)
  • Proper il­lu­min­a­tion
  • High-res­ol­u­tion images (72 dpi is suf­fi­cient)
  • Suitable file format (JPEG or PNG)
  • Size of the image file

Images should always be available in various file sizes so that they can be displayed in different ways (e.g. thumb­nails or full view). This also ensures that images don’t appear blurry and can be shown in their entirety. For smaller displays like thumb­nails, 100 x 100 or 200 x 200 pixels are generally enough. Images for medium or large displays on product pages should be 600 x 600 or 800 x 800 pixels in size. An image with an in­teg­rated zoom feature needs to be at least 800 x 800 pixels.

Where can I find product images?

There are numerous ways to get your hands on pro­fes­sion­al product images. Many man­u­fac­tur­ers offer storeown­ers a down­load­able portfolio of all the images. Just make sure to get the man­u­fac­turer’s per­mis­sion before you use their photos. Since many online stores will have the same photos for the same product, this is the easiest, yet most un­ori­gin­al, way to display your wares. On price com­par­is­on portals or in Google Shopping’s overview, potential buyers are faced with lots of identical product images. It’s best to stand out from the crowd by gen­er­at­ing creative and well thought-out photos for your website, which also means you don’t have to worry about copyright in­fringe­ment. To find out more about image rights online, have a look at our guidebook.

Con­clu­sion: there’s no online store without product images

Pro­fes­sion­al, high quality images are crucial for online stores. These images provide potential buyers with a realistic im­pres­sion of the goods, which enables them to make a valid purchase decision. For a suc­cess­ful online business, you need to take your target group and their buying motives (emotional or rational) into account. Whether you’re selling clothes, kitchen utensils, or elec­tric­al ap­pli­ances, good product photos …

  • Inspire trust
  • Generate sales
  • Gives the customers realistic ex­pect­a­tions
  • Lead to a higher volume of sales
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