The adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words” is especially true in the world of digital commerce. When customers base their decision about what product to buy entirely on what they can see on a screen, product images, including 360 degree and 3D images together with video and other digital assets become just as important as the fitment and price of the product. In fact, multiple high-quality images of a product can communicate the advantages of the product and overcome any price disadvantage.
To quickly review for anyone just joining the discussion, online sales to commercial and consumer customers is the fastest growing channel of sales in the aftermarket, 16-18% CAGR versus 3.5% for the overall industry. Without the benefit of speaking to a knowledgeable parts professional, the buying decision is based exclusively on what the product data expresses about the suitability of the product for the customer’s needs (fitment is assumed). The data must explain why the $400 part or accessory is a better value than the less costly alternative. Without great product data, “price is boss”, especially online. And there is no more important product data than product images and other digital assets.
From the dawn of eCommerce, a product image has been a feature of even a minimalist web page. Of course, that hasn’t prevented the Red X of Death from appearing on far too many product pages, even to this day. But customer expectations online have evolved and grown more sophisticated. Today, the expectation is for multiple images, the more the better. And for many product categories it is helpful to spin the product image 360 degrees to see all sides. And, a confident decision to buy can be made if a video demonstrated the installation or performance of the product in use.
That may sound like a lot of effort and investment to sell a product online after all the investment in design, engineering, production, marketing and distribution. But with online auto parts sales poised to exceed $31 billion this year in all etail and marketplace channels, if sufficient images and digital assets aren’t available, the product might as well not exist. With auto parts searches on Amazon exceeding those of Google, if a product does not appear on www.amazon.com with the necessary images and product content – it doesn’t exist.
I hope we’ve made the point that images and digital assets are important and deserve appropriate attention and funding. But, how do you pay for it? An eBay study looked at 6.8 million listings and found that sellers “with 2 pictures are 3% more likely to sell and are 3% more likely to sell with each additional picture added to a listing.” eBay cited no upper limit on the number of images, so many parts and accessory categories will benefit from multiple image angles and level of detail. The CXL Institute in a July 2019 Blog noted that 360-degree images can increase conversion rates even more. Specifically, Golfsmith.com, is finding that products with the special spin feature have conversion rates at least 10% and sometimes as much as 30% to 40% higher than products without it.
Imaging technical and marketing experts Ian McNabb and Pat Weilmeier of Visual SKUs (www.visualSKUs.com) spoke in a webinar produced by GCommerce (www.gcommerceinc.com) in February and listed a number of important takeaways about the ever-changing landscape for images in the aftermarket. Among the many points they discussed were:
· The demand for multiple product images, 360 images and video is growing
· Keeping up with the growing demand and evolving requirements for images requires dedicated and ongoing funding. Taking a picture is no longer a one and-done proposition
· With over 40% of ecommerce sales being done on a mobile device (phone or tablet), there are unique requirements for mobile and it is not sufficient to repurpose desktop images
· In the quest for competitive advantage, reseller requirements for compliance with high-quality images and 360 assets are evolving and growing – so too are the penalties for non-compliance
· The evidence continues to accumulate that multiple product images and 360 images contribute to the increased sales of those products and lower rates of returns
With brand owners and resellers exchanging a growing library of images and digital assets with increasing frequency, Digital Asset Management (DAM) technology can simplify the capture, management and distribution of digital assets to multiple trading partners. DAM technology can simplify and streamline the compliance with file-naming and other meta data requirements for large numbers of images.
I’ve written thousands of words about the value and benefits of the ACES and PIES standards for automotive fitment and product information. Hopefully, these 800 or so words help you understand the critical role pictures and other digital assets play in your online market strategy.
