Great product visualization is invaluable, but it’s also easier said than done

Furniture retailers and manufacturers all agree images are important. Images fill in the gaps left by product descriptions and they are a great support in many different sales situations.

During tradeshows, like High Point Market and Las Vegas Market, images support the manufacturers’ efforts to convince retailers to buy. Catalogues, tear sheets, digital images of various formats, all help products stay top of mind after the retailer has left the showroom or booth.

On all other days of the year, images play a massive role in the lives of every furniture retailer out there. Without images websites would be incredibly boring, not to mention virtually useless. We know upwards 80% of consumers research online before deciding where to shop, imagine how many would choose the store that didn’t display any images on the website!

So it’s pretty much established – we love and need images. But they can be a real headache to get hold of.

Here are 5 issues that we constantly hear furniture retailers and manufacturers struggle with when it comes to creating, curating and distributing visual content. Do you recognize any of these?

1- You are a manufacturer with a large retail network. Your retailers each carry an assortment of your products suitable to their particular establishment. That means different products in different variations are on display at retailers throughout the country.
They are all asking for you to supply them images. Not only are they asking for images of each product, but if you could also supply images from multiple angles and in the precise fabric options they each stock, that would just be terrific.
Sure! You think – when I have nothing better to do all day than track who is stocking what and what images to send. In the end, you send whatever you have – it’s the best you can do.

2- You are a manufacturer who wants to support your retailers’ sales efforts. You know it strengthens your relationship and it helps them sell more of your products, which in turn helps you. You are well aware great product images makes a big difference, but the costs and logistical headaches of organizing photoshoots is just about to give you a permanent nervous disorder.
It would require you align multiple production facilities in several countries to ship to the location of the photoshoot simultaneously. Nothing can be late or be missing, or the result will be an incomplete image library that your retailers will not appreciate.
You cross your fingers and hope everything goes according to your carefully crafted schedule, while you sincerely hope this expenditure is not going to take too large a bite out of your margins.

3- You are a retailer who carry products from a number of different manufacturers. You ask your suppliers to send you images of the items you carry. Sometimes you have to wait a while before you get them, in the meantime your website is not up-to-date and you have items in stock that you are not able to feature on your website.
You consider doing photoshoots yourself, but once you realize the costs involved you push the thought aside and accept that you simply can’t have a fully updated website at all times – even if that means you are losing out on sales.

4- You are a retailer who has received images from your suppliers – well at least the ones that had images to share with you. You are a resourceful person, and won’t let a few missing images hold you back, so the ones you are missing you snap a few quick pictures of on your showroom floor.
After uploading all the images to your website you realize your site looks completely helter skelter. The images you received from your suppliers are all very different in style, some are environment settings, some have white backgrounds, they vary in size and quality – and the result is a confused mess. You know this doesn’t say “quality” or “style” but what can you do?

5- You are a retailer or a manufacturer. You recently spend money and time on an elaborate photoshoot and now your website looks spectacular. A short time later the color teal makes a big splash as the season’s must have color, you make sure to get products in teal fast – but what about your image library?
Are you going to assemble another photoshoot for just one new color? If you don’t, how will customers know you have teal, the “must have” color, in stock?

At Cylindo we have been listening to our retailer and manufacturer customers’ frustrations about creating, curating and distributing visual content. We built the 360 HD Viewer to solve these problems. The 360 HD Viewer is a visual content platform that ensures you, or your retail network, have the very best visual content – when you need it.

We create the content for you, so you don’t ever have to organize another photoshoot. We use the latest rendering technology to give you images that are ultra sharp, and because they are computer generated, we can apply new colors or textures in a snap – say hello to teal anytime and goodbye to websites showing “image not available” messages!
Our technology allows you to spin products 360 degrees, change colors, zoom and view products in full screen. It is everything you need to show customers what your products really look like.

If you have visual content headaches, give us a call, we can help you.