by Alisha O’Loughlin
As a retailer, you understand how important it is to provide that “in-store” experience to your online shoppers. It seems both 360 spin photography and video are moving online shopping in that direction. I met a very interesting woman, Colleen, at IRCE (Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition) a few weeks ago. She was the Director of Sales at a spin photography studio. We began to talk about the differences between 360-spin photography and video and which would benefit retailers more. I left the conversation undecided so I took it upon myself to do more research.
From a consumer’s perspective, spin photography is the next best thing to an in-store shopping experience. Think of walking into a car dealership where their shiniest car is spinning on their turn floor. Or simply shopping in your favorite department store where you pick up a pair of sunglasses, hold them one direction, then face them another direction just like spin photography would do for you if you were shopping online.
Snap36 says, “Studies show that adding 3D or 360 product photography to your website can boost conversion rates up to 50%, reduce returns and improve customer satisfaction, which means more profit for you.” That sounds great, right? So why are only 10% of retailers using it? Well, some things just don’t need spinning. Wine glasses, golf balls and baby bottles alike would be silly to spin simply because they are symmetrical. Other items like food and toiletries are everyday items that would be unnecessary to spin. As a consumer, I don’t need a full visual of that shaving cream I have been using for years. However, this certainly does not make up the 90% of retailers not using 360-spin photography. So it seems we have some catching up to do. Overall, take a look at your inventory and decide if your products would benefit from 360-spin photography. Are your products three dimensional? Do you have details that you would like to feature? Do you presently have rich media capabilities on your site?
There are two ways you can achieve 360-spin photography on your products: hire someone or do it yourself. Snap36 has been my favorite company for a complete solution. They seem compatible with any workflow and are professional and affordable. I also like to see that they have bigger clients like Walmart, Helzberg Diamonds, and The Home Depot. For all of you do-it-yourselfers, I was recently introduced to Ortery – a worldwide leader in business photography automation. They have still-shot and 360-degree image solutions that gives professional results. No experience needed.
On the other side of the argument, video is hot! People tend to look for a multi-sensory experience when surfing the web, and video has an inherent appeal to most audiences. As an online retailer your goal should be to keep the consumer on your product for as long as possible. Video keeps the consumer learning about your product and captures them emotionally which increases the chance of making the sale. An August 2010 report from comScore noted that shoppers who watched video on online retail websites spent about two minutes more on those sites and were 64 percent more likely to buy compared to shoppers who did not watch video. I am currently in the market for a baby stroller. There are so many features of a stroller that I need to see in real life (and I can’t keep staring down baby strollers on the streets of Chicago). Ideally, I would like to see how the stroller folds down after use, rides on city terrain, and the braking and turning system. A video can capture all of this and give me a real sense of how it all works.
The biggest benefit I see with video is that with proper SEO, videos can drive traffic to your website. You can also easily share your video by embedding it in your blog or sharing it with your network on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other favorite social networking sites. This all increases your organic search position since search engines rely heavily on the quantity and quality of incoming links in ranking web sites. According to TechCrunch, Google is giving more and more of its real estate to “blended” search results, displaying videos and images toward the top of the first page, and pushing down traditional web results. This provides major opportunity for retailers using video.
It’s clear that 360-spin photography and video serve different purposes, but don’t think that they’re mutually exclusive. While video can be great at showing how a product functions or interacts with its environment, spin photography really gives the customer a chance to view the product in detail. Ideally, an online retailer would have both 360 spin photography and video to give the best presentation possible. In all reality, you have to decide what is best for your business. Understand your product and how your consumer shops and you’ll be sure to find the right enhancement.
