The strong growth of e-commerce business in recent years has led to a surge in image content.
Everything that wants to be sold on the internet absolutely needs expressive, sales-promoting images. Let’s take a look at what types of images are used and where the strengths of the individual images lie.
1. Representation on the model/model pictures
The most emotional presentation in the fashion sector is the model picture – this offers several advantages: the fit and appearance of the fashion items are shown to their best advantage on a model. The consumer gets an immediate impression, can estimate sizes and, in the best case, receives a recommendation to buy a complete fashion outfit.
Disadvantage: a model is needed, which causes additional costs – depending on the demands and professionalism of the model, costs of 1,000 € to several thousand euros per day can quickly arise. In return, the customer receives a professional presentation of his articles.
Of course, the customer requirements for an e-commerce image of a model differ greatly. Depending on the posing requirements and the number of views, the number of motifs per shooting day varies from approx. 15 – 60 shots, in individual cases even more than 80 motifs can be shot per day. It is obvious that the demand on the individual image decreases with increasing output. The image background for the online shop is often designed in light grey tones or discreet pastel shades.
2. Bust photos/hollow man/ghost/hollows
Bust photos are strong in the pure factual representation of a product – the full focus is on the sales item – without the distraction of a model. In many online shops today, the buyer can choose in the product overview whether he or she prefers to see a representation on the model or factually on the bust – depending on the shopping situation, whether one wants to be inspired or specifically meet a need, a bust image plays to its strengths. A combination of both image formats is optimal and is also required as mandatory content on many of the large platforms such as About You, Zalando, Otto and others.
3. Leger/stack/stills
An attractively staged lay-flat image can be particularly convincing when presenting many colour variations. Here, the emotional factor plays a strong role, but on the other hand, the fit is usually not optimally recognisable for the customer. As an alternative to the bust illustration, a leger is also used in some online shops.
Creative Leger are used in the social media sector or for campaigns. Exciting item combinations, unusual depictions and much more are possible here – the main aim here is to inspire and create a need.
Sometimes, hung free-forms are also used, which are loosely hung over a usually high-quality hanger. Here, the fit can only be conveyed to a limited extent compared to a model or bust image, but it is still a nice alternative.
Of course, the use of the image formats mentioned above is also strongly dependent on the budget used. The use in different channels and media can also decide which image types are used.
