As a small business owner, your every moment is precious. How you choose to spend your time is so important.
It can feel like you are on a hamster wheel, overwhelmed and overworked with a never-ending to do list. Product photography and the need for daily content consumes a ton of time. Photographing products and inventory robs HOURS of your valuable time that you could be putting to use in another area of your business.
It’s not as if you can just not have high-quality content or not consistently show up online. Here’s why:
Over half of US consumers prefer to shop online.
Over 80% of US consumers shop online.
79% of shoppers shop at least once a week.
50% of shoppers research major purchases online.
74% of shoppers shop online before purchasing in store.
Let that sink in. Half of all shoppers research major purchases online and nearly ¾ of shoppers shop online and then purchase in a store. Even IF you prefer your customers to come to your brick and mortar store, your customers want to see you online before they visit you. Or especially if you want to boost your online sales, you must up your product photography game.
Maybe you are thinking, “Meh, I’ll just use the manufacturer’s images.” 😬
Oh, if only it was that easy. It seems tempting to take the manufacturer’s images and pass them off as your own. Maybe you’ve even found another seller who uses your manufacturer, and you want to add those photos to your listing. You have the same product, so what is the harm? If your manufacturer gave you express permission, then yes, it is acceptable to do so.
Manufacturer images are often pixelated
But….
Using images without express permission to do so - in any instance - infringes copyright. Legal penalties from copyright infringement could cost you $150,000 in fines or more.
On the other hand, even when the manufacturer gives you permission to use the product photos for your listing, I still suggest that you take your own product photos. When you take your own photos, or hire a photographer to provide them for you, then you have more freedom to use them as you need. Additionally, using stock photos puts up red flags in your buyers’ minds. It is VERY obvious when a boutique uses stock images. Think to all the times you’ve scrolled through Amazon to find five different sellers with the same product and same images. You have no reason to pick one product over another except for price. Let me add one other reason to not use your manufacturers’ stock photos. Most likely, you use multiple suppliers and manufacturers. They probably have different styles of photos across their different brands. These stock photos will not look cohesive across your website and socials. Using your supplier’s images makes your buyers question the quality of your product and whether or not they can really trust buying from you.