How the New Zealand wholesale giant efficiently scaled its e-commerce content creation while achieving same-day turnaround time with Profoto technology.
Accent Group Limited is a leading New Zealand-based footwear and apparel retailer, wholesaler, and distributor. With over 500 stores, 19 brands, and over 20 online platforms, the company is a leading e-commerce player in constant need of fresh visual content. To efficiently scale its e-commerce photography and video production, the team turned to our valued partner LookDepot and found solutions to their problems. Read on to find out how Accent Group achieved same-day turnaround time and upgraded their website while scaling their visual content production.
This Q&A content was kindly made available to us by LookDepot. Find the original post on their website here.
The need for efficient, scalable e-commerce content creation led to Profoto technology
While acquiring new brands to expand its portfolio, Accent Group was looking to scale its e-commerce content creation efficiently. At the same time, the team was busy upgrading its various websites to be able to host video content. Therefore, investing in photo and video solutions to produce content in-house was a no-brainer.
The content team used to shoot footwear with an outdated photo booth at one of the warehouses. Apparel flat lays were shot manually on the floor. While researching alternative ways to produce e-commerce content, Accent Group came across LookDepot and its convincing portfolio of Profoto automated solutions. ‘We were impressed by the machines’ capabilities, specifically the auto-editing feature, as well as LookDepot’s notable list of clients and their positive testimonials,’ says Accent Group’s representative. To streamline its content creation process, the creative team is now working in one location and has upgraded its solutions to two Profoto StyleShots Eclipse machines and one Profoto StyleShoots Horizontal.
‘The level of consistency and volume that the machines allow us to achieve is top tier. Our turnaround times are as little as the same day, which is instrumental in our goal to achieve speed to market.’
Seamlessly integrated systems enable a consistent stream of content to the e-commerce team
Despite the increased need for visual product output that comes with a growing brand portfolio, Accent Group has managed to keep the content stream to its e-commerce team consistent. The systems ‘have been integrated into the business seamlessly’ and enable the brands to produce consistent stills and videos. ‘The level of consistency and volume that the machines allow us to achieve is top tier. Our turnaround times are as little as the same day, which is instrumental in our goal to achieve speed to market,’ so the Accent Group representative.
‘The user-friendly interface means we can upskill anyone into operating the machines.’
Profoto’s long list of benefits has positively influenced Accent Group’s business efficiency
One of the main benefits for the creative team is the ability to create profiles and presets with Eclipse. This enables highly consistent output with just a few clicks thanks to Profoto’s incredible ease of use: ‘The user-friendly interface means we can upskill anyone into operating the machines.’ Eclipse’s robotic four-axis camera movement removes the physical toll that manual shooting used to require from the creatives.
Another efficiency driver for the team is the barcode scanner of the systems: ‘Not only does it make naming each product 10x faster, but it also removes the possibility of human error.’ The content team can now produce high-quality video content for their websites at the push of a button. Experimenting with Eclipse’s various video presets, the Accent Group representative is a fan of Flare and Vega: ‘Flare and Vega videos are also very impressive, removing the need for any post-production as the smart software slices together each frame completely autonomously.’
‘We have seen an increase in the consistency and quality of the still images we produce and has enabled us to create video content, which in turn has increased the time customers spend on site and is positively driving site conversions.’
Investing in Profoto has positively influenced conversions thanks to improved content quality
Since using Profoto equipment for its visual content production, the team has seen an increase in time spent on site and a surge in site conversions. ‘We have seen an increase in the consistency and quality of the still images we produce and [Profoto StyleShoots Eclipse] has enabled us to create video content, which in turn has increased the time customers spend on site and is positively driving site conversions’.
We want to thank our valued partner LookDepot for this interview. Ample experience and excellent service were provided by the LookDepot team, leaving Accent Group a happy and successful customer.
