How Profoto supports the international e-commerce giant in producing quality content at scale for vastly different target groups
With more than 20 individual fashion brands, BESTSELLER offers clothing and accessories for women, men, teenagers, and children, home goods, and other products. The family-owned retailer sells products online, in about 2,600 branded chain stores, 15,000 multi-brand locations, and department stores all around the globe.
Marketing products under various brands like Jack & Jones, Vero Moda, Selected, Only, Mamalicious, and more, means catering to vastly different target groups. Located in Łozienica, Poland, the team around former studio and production manager Adam Fedorowicz creates visual content for around 1,500 products a month. We spoke to Adam about e-commerce content creation in a highly competitive environment, shooting pro-quality content at scale, and how Profoto gear enables him and his team to do so.
High-volume e-commerce photography for numerous brands
The studio team shoots around 1,500 products per month with content creation spread over six sets. “As we work with many brands, we photograph products of all clothing categories for men, women, and children, accessories, home products, and occasionally other categories like perfumes,” says Adam. Each of BESTSELLER’s brands figures as a different client with a vastly different target group and style guide. “Each client has different technical requirements and a different creative direction, so we must be very flexible and specialized in different types of photos.”
‘Successful high-volume photo production is based on three pillars: Quality, consistency, and performance. Profoto supports us in each of these elements.’
Profoto supports the team with quality, consistency, and performance
“In our opinion, successful high-volume photo production is based on three pillars: Quality, consistency, and performance. Profoto supports us in each of these elements,” replies Adam when asked what’s crucial in e-commerce content creation. By shooting high-quality, color-consistent visual content, the studio team ensures happy customers and low return rates. Ease of use, reliable gear, and a speedy workflow enabled Adam and his former colleagues to beat down time-to-online from two weeks to just three hours. “Correct color reproduction means lower returns. Flash repeatability allows us to achieve consistent quality. Speed, reliability, and ease of use significantly affect our performance, allowing us to shorten time-to-online.”
'We’ve been using Profoto from the very beginning. We didn’t consider other companies.’
Reliable gear to shoot premium content at scale
“Reliability is crucial for high-volume production” and one of the most striking benefits of Profoto gear. Any equipment failure can cause significant delays and eventually leads to customer dissatisfaction. The team shoots consistent visual content from morning to evening: “When using Profoto, we don’t have to worry – even after eight hours of continuous work.” Flash repeatability, color temperature, and exposure are critical to ensure premium output living up to BESTSELLER’s standards: “We’ve been using Profoto from the very beginning. We didn’t consider other companies.”
Incredible ease of use and quality support
The BESTSELLER studio team uses D1 and D1 Air compact flashes combined with RFI Softboxes and umbrellas for packshots. Model shots are done with ProHead Plus flashes and Pro-10 Packs. The Pro-10 series is characterized by remarkable speed, fast charging times, and short flash duration, enabling the photographer to capture the dynamic movement of the model without fear of blurring or loss of quality.
All Profoto gear convinces with incredible ease of use, enabling experts and photography rookies alike to operate each tool comfortably. Adam is impressed by how easy Profoto can be handled: “Each replacement of accessories is instant, adjusting flash parameters is also no problem – even for less experienced staff.” Only rarely does something go wrong, and if so, the team can rely on speedy assistance from our local support: “The quality and availability of technical support, consulting and customer service - this is also a huge advantage of Profoto.”
Creativity and high volumes of best-in-class output go hand in hand
The team spends around 90% of their time on shooting e-commerce content and 10% on creative output for social media and editorials – luckily, Profoto enables them to switch gears quickly. “The fact that we can use the same lighting equipment for all purposes is extremely important. This allows for quick changes, which we all know are standard in the photographic industry.”
As the content quality has to withstand a highly competitive market, the team has to offer complex, inspirational content to BESTSELLER’s customers, which requires an agile way of shooting. Using Profoto, the team can adhere to different creative directions for each brand, helping them stay ahead of trends and strong competition. “All the previously mentioned advantages of Profoto allow us to focus on the artistic aspect of photography. The equipment is a tool that supports the photographer without distracting them from the creative process.”
The future of content creation at BESTSELLER Studios
The studio team’s focus lies on staying competitive by creating consistent, high-quality e-commerce content and caring for each individual brand. “In the near future, we will focus on producing photos for e-commerce, mainly packshots. From the very beginning, we focused on continuous improvement; it is part of our DNA. We will continue to look for ways to improve efficiency and raise the quality of photos, to meet the requirements of even the most demanding customers.”
Adam sees high value in video content and foresees increased customer satisfaction with videos added to all brands’ product pages: “In the longer term, we want to enrich our offer with video. We see great potential in this area.”
