Need for Speed: Keeping Up with E-commerce at Scale

E-commerce has never been a more successful sales channel: by 2026, it’s projected that nearly a quarter of all global retail purchases will take place online.¹

Even purchases that were once always assumed to be necessary in person are now taking place online with confidence. A huge 90% of car shoppers now prefer to explore their options online, ² while almost half (45%) of younger shoppers make jewellery purchases via mobile devices without ever trying them on. ³

Managing large stock volumes from delivery to the online storefront involves multiple steps including the shooting, reviewing, editing and meta tagging process of e-commerce photography. You might be aware of trying to balance producing not only professional quality shots, but images that accurately reflect the product and match your distinctive style. This complex process can be easily disrupted by errors or delays leading to backlogs.

Notably, the post-production phase plays a pivotal role in determining business success. Lengthy or overly manual processes in correcting colours and ensuring a consistent visual output can be resource-intensive, which only adds to the timeframe.

In this fast-paced digital era, where time is of the essence, any holdup can have a dramatic effect on your ability to keep up with consumer demands. Meanwhile, where styles change quickly and trends ebb and flow, there’s a real opportunity for ‘missing the boat’ if products are held up from reaching the store.

Whether brands need 1000 shots of a new car model or a consistent look and feel for a collection of jewellery, solutions that incorporate automation allow e-commerce photography workflows to process large stock volumes at speed. For example, brands looking for a consistent effect can produce hundreds of shots per minute in a set brand style, reducing the need for post-production and accelerating the readiness of products for the online store.

Automation is also available to expedite workflows such as facilitating automatic tagging or enabling better collaboration. One example is Marks & Spencer (M&S), a UK retailer, which has begun to automate the writing of product descriptions and the editing of product photography of furniture, homeware and clothing save time and boost efficiencies.⁶

In a studio setup, automated solutions are being used to allow photographers to share shots with editors, art directors, or clients in real time for review. This allows you to collaborate, even from remote locations, giving stakeholders total creative visibility ensuring every shot aligns perfectly with their creative brief. Ultimately, this can help you speed up the overall production process and avoid losing time on rounds of feedback, re-briefs or post-production edits.

In a fast-paced landscape, commercial success often depends on efficiency and speed. Innovative technologies like automation can support your business to expedite e-commerce photography workflows from shoot to store, improving the level of accuracy, and offering tangible financial benefits.

Whether you’re an established e-commerce company or a growing brand, automated photography can help you manage increasing demand with reliable, efficient, and cost-effective imaging solutions.