Amazon Marketplace Guideline Importance of product photo edit for best sell

Amazon Marketplace Guideline – Importance of product photo edit for best sell

Amazon Marketplace Guideline – Increasingly shoppers worldwide are preferring to shop for products online at marketplaces like Amazon since it is often more convenient and cheaper. When people are purchasing products offline they are able to examine the product personally to check its quality and features. They can ask the seller to show how the product works and examine it for any kind of defects. One of the major concerns of online shoppers is the quality of the product sold, hence they will usually check the photograph of the product before deciding to purchase it. Hence online sellers should be aware of the Important of product photo editing for increase their sales on Amazon and other online marketplaces.

Photos for Amazon listing

For a listing a product for sale on Amazon or other online marketplace, the seller will have to provide one or more photos of the product. Most sellers are providing three or five photos of the product in their listing, so that the online shopper can get adequate information about the product before purchasing it like other online marketplaces, Amazon is aware that the sales of the product are linked to the quality of the photos. Hence it will review the photos which are provided for each listing and the seller will be asked to improve the quality of the photo before the listing is approved.

Picture quality

The camera is only a machine, which will replicate the product and the area where it is being placed. Often the image or photo is not suitable for an online listing because of a number of reasons. In some cases, the photographer may not be experienced in taking product photos, or the camera may not be of good quality. There are other cases, where the seller is not able to ensure that the photo has the right background and lighting to highlight the product features, despite his best efforts. In this case, photo editing will enhance the image to make it more attractive to the buyer to increase the product sales.

Editing product photos

There are many software tools available to edit the product photo and the tool should be selected based on the quality of the image or photos which are required. There are some free tools for photo editing like Microsoft paint and Gimp. However for high quality photos, most professionals are using specialized image editing software like Adobe Photoshop, Coreldraw ,Pixlr, Aviary, Canva, which have more features for manipulating and enhancing the photos. There are also other mobile apps for enhancing photos like Instagram, Snapseed, Afterlight and Photofox which have some basic editing features.

Photo or image size

Most of the digital cameras produce images with a high resolution, while online marketplaces like Amazon will usually specify the maximum and minimum resolution of the image which is being uploaded. This is because it will take more time for the Amazon user to load larger images, affecting the user experience. Hence the photo will have to be edited,

so that the photo resolution, dimensions and quality will conform to the guidelines. If the seller is only listing a few products for sale, he can do the photo editing himself, in other cases it is better to outsource the editing work to professional firms.

Basic editing

Usually the product will placed on a surface and photographed, so the background will also appear in the photo. Since the background will adversely affect the quality of the photo it will have to be cropped and resized, so that only the product is visible in the photo. In many cases, especially for clothes, which are worn by a mannequin or model, the background has to be removed so that a potential buyer will not be distracted. Many of the photo editing software tools which are available, allow the editor to remove all the background information, so that only the product image is visible.

There are other basic editing tasks which can be used to enhance the photo quality. These tasks are noise reduction, adjusting the changing the color of the light, exposure and lens correction. Adjusting the contrast for the photo to increase it can make it look more attractive, while reducing the contrast will make it look flatter. In other cases, the color of one of the items or part of the item may be changed. The editors are aware that darker, dull items are less attractive to buyers, and the items may appear darker, if the lighting is not adequate. Hence they will enhance these items to highlight their natural colors.

Advanced editing techniques

The latest photo editing software tools allow their users to advanced techniques for improving the photo. The editor can use portrait correction to fix the complexion and features of the models used. The can remove and add shadows to the photo if required. Special effects like adding snow, rainfall to the image is also possible, especially for seasonal products. The product may be animated, to provide more information about it. Photos may be stitched together, so that more information is provided in the same photo. Layers and photo masking can be used to hide or reveal specific portions.

Adding text, visuals

Since online marketplaces allow the user to only list a limited number of photos for each listing, the seller will try to provide the maximum amount of information with each listing. For this more than one photo may be combined together in the listing. For greater clarity, text may be added to the photo by editing it. Sellers should be aware that parametric editing will only change the parameters of the photo which was taken, while pixel editing will change the pixels of the photo and it cannot be reversed. Pixel editing alters the image file completely.

Amazon Marketplace Guideline

The photo editor hired by the seller should be aware of the Amazon photo listing guidelines, which are updated periodically, to ensure that the edited product photos can be used. For example, the listing should only contain the products which are actually being sold, to avoid misleading the customer or causing confusion.

While some of the photo editing tasks can be automated, most of it is done manually. Hence the online seller should use the services of a competent and experienced photo editor to ensure that all the photos are of the best quality.