Continuing with our series of articles on a complete guide to e-commerce photography that converts, we have a sit down with Jason from Car Pockets.
We are glad he has agreed to grace our very first interview! Jason Mbari, who is a co- owner at Car Pockets, an e-commerce business that specializes in car accessory products has a wealth of knowledge on running a successful e commerce business. We are going to learn how he goes about making sure he has the right e commerce images and videos for his business. Remember, in an e commerce store, you are selling the image or video to the client. They only interact with the product once they receive it.
Note: Please note the words below have been paraphrased from a video interview with Jason. The full video is below, it’s so rich in information, you will definitely want to hear all that Jason shared with us.
Carpockets: The Backstory
1. Hi Jason, when did you start Car Pockets?
We started Car Pockets in 2020. We noticed there was a gap, people didn’t have a secure way of displaying their car insurance on their windshields.
2. I may not have defined Car Pockets in all its glory, could you tell us a bit more about it?
Car Pockets is a business that deals with car accessory products. Our aim is to be “the guy”. The reliable people you come to when you need accessories for your car.
3. Why did you choose to have an e commerce store over a physical store?
We did not necessarily consciously choose e commerce. However, through a series of businesses and previous experiences, we found ourselves in the e-commerce space. Also, we started at the height of covid so e-commerce is what made sense.
4. How different is an e commerce business from a brick and mortar business?
The good thing about e-commerce is it’s a data driven business. You get to know where your customers are coming from, which device they are reaching you from. You get to know your customers a lot better and can make better decisions.
E-commerce Photography in business
5. How important is e-commerce photography to your business?
E-commerce photography is very important because most people approach online businesses with skepticism as to whether the product they are viewing is what they will receive. In the beginning, we didn’t know some products look different from different angles e.g. when folded. We quickly learned this when we got some complaints and resolved it quickly.
6. For you, what are the important aspects that you expect from an e commerce image?
It’s important for each business to understand what they need first. This can be done by checking how similar businesses are doing it and even the businesses you purchase from. On the technical side, it’s important to consider dimensions, resolution, is the product well centered, shot on a white background, with relevant complimentary props.
The brand needs to decide, a standard for their photography based on how they want to showcase their products.
Another important question is to ask yourself, what would make me buy? You are also a consumer, so what kind of image, would motivate you to buy?
You may also like part one of this series: A Complete Guide to E-commerce Photography that Converts: Part 1
7. What do you communicate to your photographer so that you are able to achieve the results that you desire for your photography?
For us, it has been understanding what we need for our brand. We also consider, which platform are we producing content for? This will direct the final product we need from the photographer.
E-commerce Photography & video that converts
8. How do you combine photography & video to market your business?
For e-commerce, there’s intuition and there’s data. We rely on both to decide which product we will highlight via video.
When deciding on producing a video for a particular product, we have also already sold it for a while and have seen the response from the market. So we know, the lifecycle of the product will be quite substantial and we know the video will also attract more people to see which other products we have. So all these factors help us decide our approach.
9. You are constantly producing content for your business, how do you decide which content direction will communicate best to your customers, in turn, giving you the most return?
Initially, when we started, we created a sort of “template” for video. It worked for us and we have been using a similar template ever since, our videos have a similar story line and there’s a consistency to them.
10. Any Challenges you have encountered while shooting e commerce images and other content for your business?
Well, as a business, our job is to break down our vision to the photographer so he/she can capture what is in our mind. A challenge we have experienced is not briefing the photographer well and therefore not getting the desired results.
11. The e-commerce photography space is evolving, do you know of 360 photography and is it something you would be interested in?
I have heard of 360 photography, we really have not delved into it yet. However, it’s something we would be interested to get into it.
12. Do you have any other tips you would like to share with other e commerce entrepreneurs?
Business owners should work on the business and not in the business. When you are working on the business, you are focused on making the business better, not getting stuck on systems that do not work. For instance, diversifying products so you can serve your customers for longer by offering them a wide range of solutions that helps to solve their problems.
Reach Carpockets
Many thanks to Jason Mbari, Car pockets for sharing more on his e-commerce business.
Shop Car Pockets at: https://www.carpockets.co.ke
E commerce consultation: Jason Mbari
