Consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands find themselves in an increasingly competitive retail space. Product photography and imagery are critical to engaging consumers, educating them on your products and bringing them toward a purchase. 

This article from 1WorldSync explores CPG photography trends in 2024. Read on to learn about relevant trends and how your brand can present itself to meet consumer expectations and desires. 

The Value of Product Imagery in Omnichannel Retail 

CPG brands operate in omnichannel. Consumers shop in-store and online, comparing products, prices and brands on their phones even as they shop in person. Your product photography will set the stage for consumer opinions regarding your products. Quality, image type and image quantity—these and other factors directly influence the perception of your brand and, as a result, your sales and revenue. 

Impactful content delivers results. By creating and dispersing accurate, relevant imagery, you can position your products for success in the CPG market within the broader scope of omnichannel retail. Below, we explore the value of product imagery and how you can capitalize on current CPG trends to showcase your goods in the best possible light. 

1. Product Visualization 

Product visualization is a cost-effective trend for creating quality PDP imagery without photographing every product. Product visualization provides a digital alternative to image capture and generation instead of allocating time and money to intensive photoshoots. 

This efficient photography trend allows you to quickly change textures and materials, lighting schemes, and product design details and show objects from different angles without creating a physical prototype. Product visualization lets your brand quickly personalize the product to customers’ needs and save money at the production and demonstration stages.

2. Immersive Experiences 

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications have become increasingly standard within e-commerce content. In 2024, brands are increasing their focus on AR and VR to provide immersive experiences that provide a greater understanding of the product at hand. 

Integration with wearable technologies allows for an even more advanced, immersive and interactive shopping experience –– think the Apple Vision Pro. Immersive retail will enable shoppers to see your products on their terms, in their spaces, and with items they own. 

Providing immersive experiences helps consumers see how your product can change their lives in real time. 

3. Lifestyle Imagery 

Product photography does more than simply convey factual information. It has the potential to tell a story. Lifestyle imagery allows consumers to visualize how your products can serve a purpose and enhance their lives. When an image showcases your product in a real-world context, it resonates with your target audience’s real-world needs and desires. 

While lifestyle images should be polished and professional, authenticity is the name of the game. Shoppers want a realistic understanding of your product and what they can expect when they open the package. Lifestyle photography helps you set and communicate product expectations, which increases customer satisfaction and reduces return rates, especially for online purchases.

Research from 1WorldSync found that 58% of product returns resulted from misleading or poor product content, and 25% of consumers will stop shopping with a brand after just one return. When executed well, lifestyle imagery for CPG products mitigates dissatisfaction, reduces return rates and allows you to continue a positive relationship with your consumers. 

4. A 360-Degree View 

As shoppers evaluate CPG goods from their phones or computers, they need product imagery that gives them an accurate, complete understanding of the product. Few image types allow for closer observation than spin imagery. 

360-degree spin CPG product photography provides shoppers with the next best thing to an in-store experience, allowing them to turn over a product in their hands virtually. As shoppers spend more time evaluating online product content than ever, brands must provide impactful imagery that drives consumers to purchase.

5. AI-Powered Photography and Postproduction 

AI and machine learning features will continue to evolve and shape the CPG photography climate. Below are a few ways AI is powering the next wave of CPG photography trends: 

• Enhanced Image Editing: We see the power of AI editing in the palms of our hands with the Google Pixel’s editing capabilities: automatic color correction, increased precision and consistency, subject placement, and more. This technology and others like it will continue to evolve as CPG brands use AI editing tools to strengthen and streamline image production.
• Virtual Image Generation: Open AI’s image generation software has transformed what’s possible with image production. Virtual image generation can help brands showcase and sell their products without conducting physical photoshoots, preserving time and resources. While this is a revolutionary technology, it’s not currently in a place to completely eradicate physical photography given the importance of accuracy in product content. Virtual image generation is a great supplemental option for brands.
• AI-Powered Search and Discovery: AI tools allow for hyper-specific personalization that enhances product discovery and recommendations. AI image tools create a more personalized, efficient shopping experience by analyzing image data alongside user data.  

How Your Images Affect Your Revenue 

The imagery you publish to your sites, socials and product detail pages directly affects your sales. Your product content is the primary metric by which online and omnichannel shoppers evaluate your goods. Getting CPG images right the first time is essential for brands in this market. 

Here are a few ways product imagery can specifically and immediately affect your revenue. 

1. Innovation Makes You Competitive

Consumers are always searching for innovative products that balance function and value. Competitive CPG brands know that innovation doesn’t start and stop with the product but goes beyond the good to your photography, imagery and marketing. 

Staying at the forefront of product photography trends helps you maintain relevance and trust with consumers. When you fail to innovate, you lose market share to competitors who invest resources into their product content.  

2. Brand Differentiation 

You know standing out is essential to competing in your market. And on an exponentially growing digital shelf, differentiating your brand and products is more challenging than ever. 

Your product images have the potential to set you apart and create interest in what you have to offer.

3. Meet Evolving Customer Expectations

Shoppers expect your CPG photography to assist them in specific ways as they shop for goods. Advanced product photography trends allow shoppers to better understand your products and make more informed, confident purchase decisions while creating personalized experiences. 

The more visual product information you can provide the consumer, the better, regarding both customer satisfaction with purchase and long-term brand loyalty. 

Image Creation and Distribution that Drives Success 

CPG photography trends are more than random market shifts; they’re directly connected to consumer preferences and expectations of your brands. Understanding and embracing these trends allows you to deliver a satisfying content experience that engages shoppers, establishes trust and brings them to purchase. 

1WorldSync supplies you with the tools and resources to stay on top of CPG photography trends. We’ve got you covered, from image capture and creation to disbursement, regulatory compliance and everything in between. 

Reach out to our team today to learn how we can support impactful product content creation that delivers results.