CGI vs. Professional Photography: What's Best for Your Furniture E-Commerce?

If you run an online store, you are familiar with the headache that comes with finding a photographer that can meet your requirements, communicating the brand's tone and style, and other details, and then having product photos taken.

It is expensive, right? Plus, the enormous amount of time and energy it takes to get that final photo ready for your product must be infuriating.

This is the hard truth, though.

But that’s not the full picture. Let’s understand the requirements for your eCommerce furniture store and figure out the best possible solution.

Importance of Product Photography for E-Commerce and Its Alternatives

Product photography is the process of taking high-quality pictures of your products for use in marketing, advertising, and visual communications. Remember that your product photos will be utilized in print, digital, and video content, among other online and offline mediums.

Imagine your online store without any product photos, or picture your website with poor quality photos. You do not think so? Therefore, if you won't compromise on the quality of your physical product, then why would you compromise on the quality of your Proof of Concept? It requires the same level of care.

People usually take the online channels as options when they are not scaling. And that is by far the biggest mistake. So, how do you make your furniture e-commerce store and the product photographs better?

Product photography not only increases sales but also helps attract attention and sell your products.

• A study by Justuno shows that 93% of online shoppers base their purchasing decisions on the visual appearance of the product.

• Another study tells, 25% of e-commerce sites don’t have product images with sufficient resolution or level of zoom. And there are still so many e-commerce brands that do not use any photos of their products on their websites.

• Google says 50% of online shoppers found images helpful in purchasing.

Now, do you understand the value of product photography? But it is also very expensive, especially if you are just starting your business venture.

One big alternative to expensive traditional product photography is Computer Generated Imagery. A research by Nfinite and Coresight shows that 60% of brands and retailers that have invested in computer-generated imagery technology identified increased sales conversion as the primary benefit.

When Should You Consider Automated Product Photography?

Knowing why mid-sized and large companies are switching from traditional product photography to 3D visualizations may encourage you to give it a try as well. Let's examine the potential benefits for you and your company.

You Have A High-Volume Product Catalog

We can only imagine the hassle you would have to go through if you had to take a photo shoot of over 100 products, even worse when they are customizable.

However, 3D visualizations for your products can solve all your problems. 3D visualizations and product configurations have empowered clients to explore the furniture they are interested in comprehensively. And we say it from experience: for an e-commerce store, product images are literally everything.

With Ashley’s tens of hundreds of products, photographing every product will be time-consuming and extremely costly. Their solution is to provide lifestyle images and a 360-degree view to save time and enhance user experience.

You Want to Reduce Cost and Improve Efficiency

Who wouldn’t like to save some money? If you are just starting or have a small or medium-sized business, you must always be looking for affordable options. This is when CGI comes into play. You can simply put your products on the automated system, and it’ll do its thing. It will cut down your costs and improve efficiency.

You Want to Improve User Experience

One of the basic yet most important things you can do for your customers enhances their website experience. Showcase your products in the best way possible with 3D Lifestyle Renders. This way, you can enhance your online presence and meet your customers' demands.

If you take a look at the Article, you’ll see that they show you a lot of real-life lifestyle images and also give the user the option to check how it can look in their homes with an AR viewer.

You’d Like to Stay Ahead of the Curve

As a business owner, you must want to be the best in your industry. And to be number one, you will have to do more than just make great products. You’ll also need to leverage the latest technologies like 3D Lifestyle Renders or integrate 3D configurators for your products.

As they say, be the change you want to see in the world, follow through with new advancements in automated systems, and woo your customers. Once they see that you care about customer satisfaction and experiences and are willing to experiment with new mechanisms, they’ll come running to you.

Why Are Companies Switching From E-Commerce Product Photography to 3D Renders?

Large manufacturers or big-scale companies do not waste their time and resources photographing their products traditionally. Instead, they use Computer-Generated Imagery and 3D visualization to make the work fast and efficient while also providing a better experience to their users.

Cost and Time Efficiency

Is it possible to shoot photos for every product? Yes. But is it extremely time-consuming, exhausting, and expensive? Definitely yes. Traditional product photography requires labor, time, planning, and money to make it happen.

Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) cuts down time and budget costs and provides better results than photos. You can choose pre-build environments, designs, or background-less photos. Very easily and quickly, they’re ready for 3D rendering. Your product prototype will exist in CAD files, which will only take a couple of weeks to transform into a properly textured and lit photorealistic scene.

Customization

3D configurators always provide customization options. This means you’ll not have to create visualizations for each and every variation specifically. Also, it gives the customer an engaging shopping experience.

Companies like Ikea use CGI and 3D models for over 75% of their product photos.

Let’s take Room&Board, for example. They showcase their furniture products in 360-degree view with interactive measurements and offer full customization with model and material variants.

Flexibility and Control

You wish you could control time consumption when shooting your products traditionally. But we can’t all be Kronos, right? Maybe that’s why the genius minds developed the technology of 3D Lifestyle Renders.

CGI gives companies ultimate control over their final product, from photorealism, color accuracy, and environment to creative design. It also gives you full control over adjustments and modifications of the product images.

Reusable Assets

A 3D-modeled product lasts forever. It is reusable and repurposable, unlike traditional product images. This means you will not have to ship your products to create the latest and most up-to-date images.

As furniture is usually a big-sized product, it can take multiple iterations to make it look perfect with the studio background and lifestyle images. However, that’s not the case with CGI. You can make these edits and improvements to rebrand and update your product photography.

Traditional Product Photography Vs. 3D Imagery

Now that you understand why big companies choose CGI photography, we think you should dive into it, too. Here’s a brief comparison between both types of photography so you can make a wise decision for your business.

1. Updates and Revisions: Traditional product photography can be costly and time-consuming to update, while 3D imagery is easily updated and revised without the need for new shoots.
2. Creation Process: Traditional photography requires physical products and a photoshoot. In contrast, 3D imagery is created virtually using 3D modeling software, eliminating the need for physical assets.
3. Cost: Traditional photography involves significant costs for getting different products ready, changing textures or colors, and creating physical setups. 3D imagery, on the other hand, has initial setup costs for software and hardware but is cost-effective for multiple iterations, being at least 3-4 times cheaper than traditional methods.
4. Timeline: Traditional photography is tied to product availability and may take time to set up shoots, whereas 3D imagery offers faster turnaround times with quick adjustments.
5. Variability and Customization: Traditional photography is limited to physical changes with some possible post-processing. In contrast, 3D imagery allows for almost unlimited customization of products.
6. Consistency: Traditional photography's consistency depends on the photographer's skill and equipment, while 3D imagery ensures high consistency as settings can be precisely replicated.
7. Environmental Impact: Traditional photography requires physical products and set materials, whereas 3D imagery has a minimal environmental impact once set up.

Wrap Up

In conclusion, deciding between traditional product photography and CGI for your furniture e-commerce business depends on various factors, including cost, time efficiency, customization needs, and overall user experience.

Ultimately, the choice between CGI and traditional photography depends on your business goals, budget constraints, and the level of customization and control you seek over your product presentation. New technologies like 3D imagery not only streamlines the business operations but also enhances your brand’s online presence and customer engagement.