More, More, More
In today’s eComm world, it’s not just about the brand’s own site anymore. With the rapid rise of alternative online channels for content (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.), retailers face increasing pressure to engage with both customers and prospects in new ways.
For consumers, following brands on social media is a great way to stay current with the latest trends, sales and news. For retailers, the challenge is to craft a presence that draws those consumers in. Of course, there has to be content to support it, and with that comes the need for more from these brands: More channels to support, more content to produce, and more efficient processes.
The question is: How can they achieve this without blowing up their budget, derailing their current system and watering down their brand?
Fashion is Getting Faster
The idea of Fast Fashion is also something that the eComm industry has been abuzz about for some time now. With the rise in opportunistic product buys to keep up with ever-changing fashion trends, retailers are finding that the production timeframe is getting shorter and shorter. What used to be a 6- to 9-month lifecycle several years ago has now turned into 12 to 8 weeks. Brands are now feeling the pressure to produce more content in a shorter period of time to remain relevant.
So what does this all mean for retailers and their content creators? Well, for one thing, lots of last-minute, “squeezed-in” campaigns and shoots to promote various trends across various channels. This leads to quicker turnaround times, which inevitably calls for a workflow process that’s as streamlined as possible to ensure that clients are getting exactly what they need, right when they need it.
How to Succeed in eCommerce Creative Production
Here’s the thing: Trends will come and go faster than you can say “I have to have that new [insert latest style here],” but as long as your workflow process can handle it, you should have no problem navigating the ever-changing eComm landscape.
Studios and content providers are constantly partnering up with production solutions to organize their photo and video assets and decrease turnaround time. Globaledit even has a mobile app that lets you review and approve content during that train ride home, making the most of your over-scheduled day. Combining strengths helps you serve your clients better, providing solid results and a positive outcome in the long run.
It’s important to take a disciplined approach and map out your workflow from start to finish. This allows you to find ways to standardize key aspects of the process, such as naming conventions. Are your conventions flexible enough to be able to accommodate projects of various scopes and scales? Are you prepared to handle a last-minute request without having to resort to a manual approach? In short, can you keep up?
Asking questions like this and planning out your methods in advance makes it much easier to take on pretty much anything thrown your way, avoiding a never-ending series of fire drills that waste time and suck the life out of your staff. This allows you to offer clients and/or other departments an end-to-end, automated solution to help organize their content in a usable way, which, in turn, lets them utilize said content across all different types of channels faster and more efficiently.
When it comes down to it, the better prepared you are before the requests come in, the higher the chances of seamless production, minimal disruption to your workflow and — of course — satisfied, happy clients.
Check out our Ramping Up Your eCommerce Production Workflow webinar with Jim Zdancewicz, Head of Studio Services at Industrial Color Studios.
