Product images

Below are some recommendations on how to capture and optimise images for use on Stock2Shop. These images can then be distributed to your linked B2B and B2C sales channels.

In the below documentation we will be covering:

Preparing image files for bulk upload

A task that faces most companies when taking their inventory online is preparing their product imagery for presentation, and ensuring these images are uploaded to the corresponding products.

Stock2Shop has several ways to manage this process in bulk, which is useful when dealing with a large product range. The simplest way to import images into our system is to maintain a spreadsheet which has the path of the image in one column and the products SKU (unique identifier) in another column.

Rows in your spreadsheet may look like this:

  • “https://your-server.com/pic1.jpg”, “ABC”
  • “https://your-server.com/pic2.jpg”, “XYZ”

Another way to import many product images quickly and easily is to use the image importer. For steps on how to do this on the Stock2Shop console, read here

Product positioning and angle

It is important to maintain the same camera angle for each product, especially when you have a catalogue of similar products. Sometimes it is useful to have different angles of the same product (e.g. front, back and side). In these cases, try to keep the angles consistent across your range.

Maintain the same image “bleed” across your range. This refers to the amount of space between the edge of the product to the end of the image. We recommend ensuring that the product is placed in the centre of the image and has a small amount of bleed.

Image background

Where possible, ensure that the product images all use the same background, preferably “pure white”.

Image ratio

Maintain the same image ratio for all of your products. You can use any image ratio that works best for the majority of your products, but ensure that it is consistent throughout your entire range. Some examples of ratios are:

  • square 1:1
  • portrait 4:3
  • landscape 3:4

Image format and size

A rule of thumb is that photographic images should be “jpg” files and graphic images should be “png” files. You need to test the images for quality after they have been sampled. Often, DTP is required to re-sample the images into the appropriate format, size and dimensions.

We recommend an image size no larger than 200kb. The height / width dimensions should be around 1200px (72 DPI), depending on the shape of your image.

Most of our sales channels (Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce and the Stock2Shop B2B Trade Store) will create thumbnails and other image sizes based off the original image. They tend to use the original image for “zoom” features on the product details page.