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The choice and execution of a visual merchandising strategy for manufacturers and retailers in the competitive, modern home furnishing industry is vital for success during regular times; even more so during periods of uncertain economic outlook.
High-quality product photography is a must for any company involved in the home furnishing industry. Without product photos that give buyers or customers a sense of what the product looks and feels like from all angles, vendors can’t promote new lines to their retail partners, and retailers can’t set themselves apart from the competition for consumer attention.
Aperture Platform, which launched in late 2021, has set out to be the new standard in affordable, scalable product photography that is accessible to any company that wants to take control of their brand imagery.
With the vision of helping every company in the home furnishing industry improve their visual merchandising to drive business success, Outward Inc. has spent the last 10 years perfecting the technology behind Aperture Platform. Aperture is the world’s first and only automated, self-serve product photography studio and is being used by many of the leading top-100 manufacturers and retailers in the home furnishings industry.
Aperture Platform turns product photography into a competitive advantage and business differentiator, allowing teams to leverage the time savings and volume of content that can be created with Aperture versus standard photography workflows.
“To capture product images previously, depending on editing needs, it could take weeks from the initial shoot to a finished product. We can now go from photoshoot to publishing in less than a day due to the technology and simple-to-use software offered by Aperture.” -Kim Fuller, Marketing Manager, Selden’s Designer Home Furnishings
Aperture Platform brings product photography into the 21st century with a fully automated photo studio
Aperture Platform’s photo studio (also called the Capture Rig) utilizes modern artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology to automate the typical time-consuming product photography process. This gives any company the ability to photograph an entire product line and produce a wide array of image types for modern distribution, retail, or eCommerce needs, at a fraction of the time and cost of a traditional photographer and studio setup.
In addition to the physical photo studio hardware, Aperture is controlled with easy-to-use web software that automates time-consuming image capture and post-production editing tasks, such as silhouette masking, lighting, shadows, and the creation of composites with background environments.
Someone using Aperture Platform simply places the piece of furniture to be photographed in the capture rig, selects the appropriate template for the desired angle and type of furniture, and clicks “go”. Aperture does the rest. After 1 minute, you are presented with a market-ready image with your desired lighting and shadow template. That’s it, no complex workflows or post-production editing pain. Users still maintain full creative flexibility to adjust lighting direction and shadow strength without needing to reshoot.
The Aperture Platform photo studio is so simple to operate that any employee can be quickly trained to use Aperture and produce an impressive array of visual merchandising content for PIM systems, catalogs, eCommerce, marketing campaigns, and more.
Customers of Aperture Platform such as Phillips Collection out of High Point, North Carolina have adopted the technology to help increase the velocity of products to market, and enhance their overall visual merchandising workflow. Aperture has reduced the price of The Phillips Collection’s image production by up to 90%.
“While most furniture companies spend anywhere between $200 and $500 on a single product shot, the Aperture Platform costs less than $10 per shot after all is said and done,” Said Jason Phillips, VP of Sales at Phillips Collection. “Another benefit is that it takes shots in 20 different lighting settings, so afterwards, I can make shadows look sharper or less distinct.”
“While most furniture companies spend anywhere between $200 and $500 on a single product shot, Aperture Platform costs less than $10 per shot after all is said and done,” -Jason Phillips, VP of Sales, Phillips Collection
Visual merchandising meets visual processing for the home furnishings industry
Outward was founded in 2012 by Clarence Chui and Gaurav Sethi, both veterans of Silicon Valley’s semiconductor and visual processing industry, having sold previous companies to Qualcomm and Nvidia. With their new venture in Outward, Clarence and Gaurav set out to use their knowledge from careers spent in visual processing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to transform how photography and product imaging is done in the home furnishings industry.
The industry took note of what Clarence, Gaurav, and the team at Outward were developing, and in 2017 the company was purchased by Williams-Sonoma. With this partnership in place, Clarence and Gaurav were in the unique position to leverage the knowledge Williams-Sonoma has as the largest digital-first, design-led home retailer, while continuing to incubate new cutting-edge technology for the home furnishings industry.
Aperture Platform was born from the desire to continue to innovate new technologies that can fundamentally transform the industry and improve time consuming but necessary day-to-day tasks for businesses of all sizes. Outward continues to operate under the guidance of Clarence and Gaurav with the belief that products such as Aperture Platform will change the market in a very positive way for everyone who produces or utilizes product photography as part of their business.
High-quality product photography is a win for manufacturers and retailers of all sizes
Product photography can help you stand out from the competition, establish a brand presence in the market, increase your speed of new products from design to sale, and give consumers the information needed to make an informed purchase decision before ever stepping foot in store.
But not all photography is created equal. Product images from a mobile phone no longer make the cut, 3D assets can be time consuming and expensive to create, and studio time keeps increasing in price.
Schedule an Aperture Platform demo today and learn how you can take control of your own product photography and creative process to drive business results.
