How 360 Degree Photography Gives Brands an Edge in the E-Commerce Race

Rich media can dramatically improve ecommerce outcomes. Spinning 360 degree images solves a variety of pain points and drive sales for most product suppliers, running the gamut from manufacturing equipment and electrical parts to frozen foods and athletic clothing. 360-degree photography has again proven its value, enabling a major footwear brand to streamline in-house content production and revolutionize how power tools are sold online.

During the uncertain times of the Covid-19 outbreak ahead, the ecommerce landscape will grow even more competitive as customers transition to increased shopping online. Adding 360-degree product photography requires small investment, and you can expect to see all kinds of benefits, including higher conversions, fewer product returns, and quicker turnaround times.

Learn how eight 1WorldSync customers leveraged 360-degree imagery to improve their customer experience, boost conversion rates, and reduce production costs.

PUMA  Accelerates Studio Efficiency and Reduces Backend Costs

PUMA is a household name, and speed is a major part of its brand image. However, PUMA felt they were moving too slowly regarding product content production. The footwear and athletic brand previously relied on outsourced professional photography, which involved high costs and lengthy turnaround times. PUMA needed a product photography partner who could speed up the time to market, reduce content expenses, and increase sales.

1WorldSync teamed up with PUMA to bring its fully automated and efficient photography systems to the footwear giant’s in-house studio. PUMA quickly produced many images for each product SKU and developed photo collateral for their internal sales teams. “Increasing our throughput and moving from two-week to same-day turnaround times means our sales team can do their jobs more effectively,” said Michael Cicerone, PUMA’s manager of wholesale operations.

PUMA can quickly leverage its high-quality product assets in new and existing ecommerce channels. Interactive images make PUMA’s digital brand presence and customer experience consistent across platforms.

Before 360:

• High cost of outsourced photography
• Lengthy turnaround times
• Different requirements for multiple retailers

After 360:

• Eliminated hundreds of thousands of dollars in charge backs from retailers for missing or non-compliant product imagery
• Reduced sample costs by moving from physical to digital products
• Improved studio and sales efficiency
• Added 360 degree images on its B2B platform
• Eased asset sharing with ecommerce partners

Increasing our throughput and moving from two-week to same-day turnaround times means our sales team can do their jobs more effectively.

Michael Cicerone, PUMA’s Manager of Wholesale Operations

Allied Electronics Provides Best-In-Class Digital Marketing With 360 Degree Photography

Before Allied Electronics started working with 1WorldSync, it primarily sourced product imagery from suppliers. Allied’s team felt the images lacked quality and consistency, and they couldn’t produce better content in-house.

Poor-quality images bring down customer trust, too. Many of Allied’s customers are Maintenance and Repair Operators (MRO). An MRO must look at a product from every angle to determine whether it’s a suitable replacement for a broken machine.

The electrical parts brand needed trustworthy, high-quality product visuals. Allied knew 360-degree images were the right solution. “From the customer perspective, we want to gain their trust and confidence,” said Stacey Ostermann, Director of Digital Product Content. “On top of being flat-out sexy, 360° imagery gives an engineer the ability to see the product details, which is critically important. It’s proving to be a differentiating factor in somebody buying from us over somebody else.”

1WorldSync and Allied worked together to produce an initial 10,000 rotating images for its website. Allied has since purchased 1WorldSync’s equipment to build its own in-house studio and now has over 32,000 products spinning on its website. This digital transformation has made Allied an innovative first mover in its space.

Before 360:

• Relied on suppliers for imagery
• Inconsistent, low-quality images

After 360:

• 32,000+ product spin sets on its website
• Boosted customer trust
• Leg up on the competition
• Increased conversion rates for products with a 360-degree view

From the customer perspective, we want to gain their trust and confidence. On top of being flat-out sexy, 360° imagery gives an engineer the ability to see the product details which is critically important. It’s definitely proving to be a differentiating factor in somebody buying from us over somebody else.

Stacey Ostermann, Allied’s Director of Digital Product Content

Ajinomoto Improves Supply Chain Visibility and Customer Experience

Ajinomoto Foods North America is a fast-growing international frozen foods company that has recently undergone several mergers and acquisitions. The company needed a centralized location to host all the data to synchronize with trading partners. It wanted to do that through a cost-effective visual platform.

Ajinomoto worked with 1WorldSync, a product content solution provider, to produce 360-degree spin imagery and metadata. This partnership facilitated sharing files with online and distributor product catalogs and manufacturer websites.

Beyond the organizational ease and cost savings that 360-degree imagery provided Ajinomoto, having rich media to deploy in multiple channels online helped the company build brand loyalty and differentiate its customer experience.

Before 360:

• Lacking image data synchronization
• Needed image visibility throughout supply chain

After 360:

• Increased conversion rates
• Saved approximately 35% in imaging costs and image hosting and 45% in Data Pool and Digital Asset Management (DAM) services
• Enhanced online experience
• Positive trust factor and brand loyalty
• Improved customer engagement

Klein Tools Decreases Product Returns and Increases Sales on Grainger and Home Depot

Klein Tools noticed that its customers were starting to shop for manufacturing products online, often standing on construction job sites with a smartphone in hand. To beef up its ecommerce offerings and enhance the online and mobile customer experience, the company turned to interactive 360-degree photography.

Though Klein Tools doesn’t have its own ecommerce site, the supplier has been able to create an interactive online product catalog to share with retailers like The Home Depot and Grainger that are optimized for the mobile customer experience. 1WorldSync helped Klein Tools photograph all new products quickly and efficiently for immediate deployment on retailers’ sites, bolstering its sales across retailers.

Before 360:

• Outdated product content
• Lagged to address shift in consumer shopping behavior

After 360:

• Leader in 360 SKU coverage on homedepot.com
• 18% decrease in return rates on homedepot.com
• 23% increase in sales on grainger.com

Gold Eagle Offers a First-Rate Amazon Experience

In the automotive supplies industry, labels are important.

Before Gold Eagle added 360 product photography, customers couldn’t inspect the labels of car protectant sprays online. They hesitated before buying because they weren’t sure if they’d found the right product. When Gold Eagle started receiving reviews from shoppers asking for this information, the company knew it needed to find a solution that would give customers the confidence to convert.

To test the impact of 360 product photography, Gold Eagle partnered with 1WorldSync to produce spinning images for Amazon listings. Salisia Weber, Gold Eagle’s e-commerce manager, noticed that no other automotive suppliers had 360 imagery on Amazon and knew that this move would make its products stand out from the competition on Amazon.

“Having our products spinning on Amazon provides a 360-degree view for customers that enhances the overall experience,” Weber said.” We want customers to feel like they are in a store where they can pick up the bottles and read the front and back labels.

Gold Eagle now has 360-degree images for its products on several major retailer sites besides Amazon, including Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Walmart. Thanks to 1WorldSync’s careful file naming and adherence to retailer-specific photography requirements, this was easy to do.

Before 360:

• Challenge to deliver the right product information upfront
• Received customer reviews asking for better views of product labels

After 360:

• Ecommerce team saves times thanks to 1WorldSync’s sorting and file naming
• Easy for sales and marketing channels to leverage assets
• Produced spin images for major retailers, establishing a new norm for product label visibility

Having our products spinning on Amazon provides a 360-degree view for customers that enhances the overall experience. We want customers to feel like they are in a store where they can pick up the bottles and read the front and back labels.

Salisia Weber, Gold Eagle’s Ecommerce Manager

TPI Corporation Boosts Sales By 58% Through Increased Buyer Trust

Before TPI Corporation partnered with 1WorldSync, its customers had trouble finding the right products to meet their needs. Even though TPI Corp provided specs and static images for its products, ranging from ventilation units to industrial lighting and ovens, that product information wasn’t sufficient to build customer confidence. Product returns were all too common.

TPI Corp was handling its photography in-house but struggled to produce high-resolution imagery and multi-angle shots. The ability to rotate an image and zoom in on any angle is key for customers who evaluate a TPI product because they need to understand how the parts will fit in during installation.

1WorldSync helped TPI Corp create digital assets that give customers a comprehensive view of its products, dramatically increasing conversion rates on Grainger.com.

Before 360:

• Buyers purchased the wrong products
• Low quality of existing product photography

After 360:

• 58% increase in sales on Grainger.com
• Increased buyer trust and purchase confidence
• Fewer product returns

360 Degree Images Are a Sales Enablement Tool for Reelcraft’s Customer Service Team

Reelcraft is an industrial B2B company that wanted to transform its ecommerce strategy to meet increasing customer demands. Before working with 1WorldSync, Reelcraft shot its product photography in-house and produced only single-angle images. The brand knew this minimal product information wouldn’t cut it for visually-hungry customers.

After partnering with 1WorldSync to build 360-degree content for ecommerce channels, Reelcraft was certain it could dial up its product content strategy.

With new digital assets, Reelcraft equipped its sales and customer service teams to guide prospective customers through the buying decision process. When a customer calls and inquires about a product, customer reps point to parts of the image online to help answer questions and solve problems. As Reelcraft’s marketing manager Jennifer Braun said, “360-degree photography gives the customer a comprehensive view of the product. The next best thing is having the physical product in your hands.”

Before 360:

• Limited photos missing different product angles
• Low consumer trust and purchase confidence

After 360:

• Greater product visibility
• Better customer experience
• Effective sales and issue resolution tool for the customer service team

360-degree photography gives the customer a comprehensive view of the product. The next best thing is having the physical product in your hands.

Jennifer Braun, Reelcraft’s Marketing Manager

TricorBraun’s Top-Line Revenue Soars

The packaging industry faced a push to expand inventory. Packaging Options Direct (POD), the ecommerce division of global packaging solutions leader Tricor Braun, knew it needed to step up its offerings. One thing stood in the way of that expansion: it was hard to get high-quality visuals for a rapid increase of product listings. POD’s photography vendor at the time wasn’t efficient enough.

POD turned to 1WorldSync to help launch its digital content initiative, POD360. 1WorldSync helped the packaging supplier generate 360-degree content that could be used as sales collateral, as interactive product content proved to be more effective in garnering B2B customer interest than traditional sales methods.

“Some of the packaging solutions we offer have presented some unique challenges in how to show and visualize the product,” said  Brian Bettcher, VP of TricorBraun’s ecommerce department. “The team at 1WorldSync took those head on and came up with some innovative solutions.”

After POD’s new platform went live, the company saw considerable website traffic and sales growth. The total effect was a boost in top-line revenue.

Before 360:

• High demand for inventory expansion in a growing industry
• Slow turnaround time for images
• Need for high-quality imagery

After 360:

• 25% increase in sales
• Increase in web traffic
• Use of images as a sales enablement tool
• Improved user experience

Some of the packaging solutions we offer have presented some unique challenges in how to show and visualize the product. The team at 1WorldSync took those head on and came up with some really innovative solutions.”

Brian Bettcher, VP of TricorBraun’s ecommerce department

Custom 360 Degree Photography Enables Big Results in Any Vertical

Professional 360-degree photography isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. To be successful, it must be tailored to a brand’s specific needs. Every industry has different products and pain points, but they all want the same thing for their ecommerce visuals: quality, cost-efficiency, and consistency.

1WorldSync’s team brings creativity and innovation to each solution. The company’s unique ability to customize services enables brands in any industry to turn lackluster images and costly processes into streamlined production that drives better business.