Recent article in Ecwid Blog activated some thoughts on what is next in visual product presentation. I think a couple of technologies are coming fast to main stream e-commerce and now is affordable for most businesses:
360º VIEW and MOVING IMAGE
Rotating product presentations were around for some time but, with companies like imajize.com this becomes an affordable feature to be added to any online store. This company provides software and hardware to create photo sequence to present products in an online store. However, their viewer is compatible only with Ecwid for now (at least from what I could find), hardware can be used to create 360º views for any other system.
Another very cool way to show products, especially for fashion-related merchandise, is a “moving image” : Click here for an example in Amazon Fashion – While Amazon is using Flash which does not work on mobile devices and in Chrome (by default), a better way will be using something like this module : Magic 360 from magictoolbox.com. It’s compatible with most e-commerce systems including Magento and X-Cart.
How to start:
- Setup studio with a photography turntable.
- Create image sequence – The linked article will give you step-by-step instructions on setting up your studio and tips on shooting your first 360º view. Exactly same technique can be used for creating moving image : “How to make 360º product views“.
- Setup 360 view extension in your e-commerce store (just send request to our support).
While setting up a studio may require some small investment and creating those advanced views is a time consuming process, you are looking at huge ROI because, as they say, “this is the closest thing to real life” – your customers will reward you with orders and loyalty and they will come back to your store over and over again because you offer something your competitors do not – a better user experience.
What’s next? 3D views with VR headsets? Virtual reality presentation with touch sensitivity? Virtual fitness room where you can see yourself using/wearing the product? The future will tell.
To your success!
