Straub Collaborative

Congrats to Hugo Boss for launching an ecommerce site.  The year 2001 welcomes them with open arms.

And speaking of 2001, you’ll note that some of the wardrobe styling is rather “yuppie Magnum P.I., infused with lacoste styling”, minus the mustache, of course.
Okay, in all seriousness, Ecomm isn’t for everyone and it must have been quite the internal battle for a fashion brands to launch such a platform when they rely upon boutique and premium-department store volume sales.

The point of this post is to call-out how product styling, hair & makeup can easily polarize an audience.
Being a non-yachting, no-boat shoe wearing, anti-collar popping guy, I can’t help but give this $125 polo shirt a “NO”.

How about you?

I would like to direct people to check out their site.  A word of warning, not all of the collars are popped, much of the apparel is quite nice looking and they have done a fantastic job with their styling and photo consistency overall.  We at Straub Collaborative aren’t responsible if you decide to make any purchases.

Kudos to Hugo Boss.

We shoot a lot of product here at Straub Collaborative.  We shoot for the brands as well as creative agencies.  Sometimes these are “HERO” product shots, and oftentimes these are volumes of consistent imagery for Ecommerce use.  We have trained ourselves to tackle projects from an online shopaholic’s perspective to occasionally bring some unique insights to our clients.

That being said, if there’s one thing Ecommerce behemoths like Zappos have showed the world, it’s this:

Show Consumers a Product’s FEATURES!

Zappos started a trend of saturating their site with imagery.  We’re not talking one product shot here, we’re talking about every angle, inside, outside, upside down, with the bag of chips…. and a side of Sunglasses, in fact.  Do they overexpose a product?  Undoubtedly, YES, but since they don’t represent the brand, or the “product essence” or any of that secret sauce, they have no qualms showing a bazillion views.

Let’s examine the impact of a Brand’s hero product vs. an “E-tail” outlet’s in-stock product photography:

1. DaKine Web Site: “Kala Bag”

This is the only photo available of this product in this colorway available.  It is clean, well stylied, with good light, a subtle drop-shadow and the color looks pretty nice, too.



The question is:  Do you find it effective, attractive, informative enough to purchase this product?
Does it convey the look, feel and details you need to put it in your cart, type in your credit card number, and pull that proverbial ecommerce “trigger”?

2. Zappos’ representation of the same DaKine Yoga-Mat Bag

A couple of important shots:

(This last shot is a serious bonus in the rare case you’re a self-aware mannequin and really want to know how that Yoga tote will look slung over your shoulder)

The point here is that when it comes to Ecommerce photography, it is the details, and the perspective that show consumers what the benefit of the product.  Seeing a bag isn’t usually good enough, you have to know what size it is, how many pockets there are onboard, and if it will actually fit a 17″ laptop.

In this case, no.  It will only hold one sweaty, nasty Yoga Mat.  Your towel and water bottle are on their own.

Giving Credit where ’tis due:
Zappos
DaKine

~ David