The year-end shopping season is a decisive moment for e-commerce retailers, especially in Brazil, where e-commerce continues its upward trajectory with significant growth. With revenue of R$235 billion in the first three quarters of 2024, a 13.8% increase compared to the previous year, retailers face fierce competition to attract and convert consumers during the period between Black Friday and Christmas, according to data from Neotrust Confi.
Product photography, therefore, plays a significant role in creating an attractive and engaging shopping experience for consumers, especially in an omnichannel environment where images must adapt to different platforms, such as e-commerce websites, social media, and advertising banners.
Studies indicate that 90% of consumers consider product photos extremely important or very important for their online purchasing decision. Additionally, 60% of digital shoppers prefer to see three or four images before purchasing a product.
Given this, during the holiday season, adapting images to fit these platforms can be a challenge in terms of time and resources. AI photo editors, such as Photoroom, can assist with this process, making it easier to create, edit, and adapt high-quality images for use across various online and in-store platforms.
“AI-based editing tools not only automate routine tasks, such as background removal and adding seasonal elements, but also allow for quick customization and optimization of images for different settings,” explains Matthieu Rouif, co-founder and CEO of Photoroom. “When you create a scenario where consumers can imagine themselves, it not only enhances the visual experience but also significantly increases sales potential.”
6 ways to use AI photo editors to boost year-end sales
AI photo editors provide retailers with incredible speed and flexibility, enabling them to quickly create and refine product images with fewer resources. From basic edits like cropping and resizing to advanced features like background removal and image generation, these tools streamline the photo editing process.
For e-commerce merchants looking to boost their holiday marketing, here are six ways AI photo editors can help make a big impact.
- Repurpose existing product photos by removing their backgrounds
Reusing your existing product photos is a smart and time-saving strategy for retailers with limited time and resources, especially during the year-end rush.
By removing the backgrounds from your current product images, you can easily update and reuse them for all your year-end campaigns and across your various sales platforms.
Clean, background-free product photos allow you to place your items in any environment, whether for an online store, social media, e-commerce marketplaces, or even in-store digital displays. This makes it easy to create festive and seasonal visuals without the hassle of scheduling new photoshoots.
The Background Remover from Photoroom is a great tool for handling this process quickly and efficiently. It automatically detects the subject of your image and removes the background in seconds, allowing you to replace it with a new one or export it with a transparent background. With batch editing, you can also edit entire sets of product photos at once.
- Add seasonal and themed backgrounds to product photos
Taking your usual product photos and giving them a festive look is an easy way to capture the holiday spirit, connect with shoppers, and create unique image variations for use in a seasonal campaign.
Adding holiday backgrounds is one way to do this, and it’s especially useful for e-commerce retailers looking to update their marketing without redoing new product photos. You can take existing images and apply festive backgrounds that align with specific campaigns or themes you’d like to promote.
- Generate new holiday-themed visuals for marketing campaigns
Fresh and engaging visuals are important during the year-end shopping season—both to stand out from competitors and to align with the season and existing campaigns. Backgrounds help with this, as does adding entirely new elements to the image that give it a festive look.
With AI-generated images, you can endlessly adapt your existing product photos by adding new backgrounds or entirely new objects. More importantly, you can do this in seconds using your existing image files, without having to restage your products and take new photos.
For example, you can ask the AI image generator from Photoroom to place your product image under a Christmas tree alongside other gifts or set it in a scene that aligns with how it will be used in real life.
- Quickly adapt your photos for different online platforms
E-commerce happens across multiple online platforms, each with its own image file specifications. Historically, creating product photos for each of these platforms would be tedious and manual, requiring you to resize and save images individually in various formats.
AI photo editors significantly speed up this process, allowing you to export images in a variety of predefined formats that align with major online platforms.
- Retouch and repair product photos without needing to reshoot
When preparing for the year-end sales season, the last thing you want to do is waste time on simple, repetitive photo edits and adjustments. There likely isn’t enough time for reshoots, but you still need to be able to update images as needed.
This is where AI in photo editing can be helpful, allowing retailers to retouch and adjust their images without going back to the studio. Whether removing unwanted objects, fixing blemishes, or adding realistic shadows, these tools help improve the overall quality of your photos quickly, keeping your year-end campaigns running smoothly.
For example, if a product photo includes distracting background elements or unwanted objects, an eraser tool, such as the Magic Eraser, can remove them in seconds. This is perfect for e-commerce retailers who need to create clean, professional images without investing in reshoots.
- Add stickers and graphics to boost engagement
Stickers and graphic overlays are a tried-and-true sales technique that helps draw attention to specific holiday promotions and offers.
AI photo editors allow you to quickly add stickers and graphics to your photos without wasting time on large volumes of batch editing. Photoroom’s sticker library, for example, comes stacked with hundreds of pre-made graphics, such as “30% off” tags and other festive icons.
Key benefits of using AI photo editors to prepare for year-end sales
With the arrival of the year-end holidays, retailers face the challenge of capturing consumer attention in a highly competitive market. To maximize sales during this strategic period, ensuring product photos are captivating, adaptable to various platforms, and detailed enough to convert visitors into buyers is paramount.
AI photo editors not only simplify the editing process but also open new creative possibilities that help you position your products in the best light and stand out in a crowded online market. Tasks that once required hours of meticulous work—such as removing backgrounds or making complex adjustments—can now be done in seconds, allowing you to experiment and innovate without getting bogged down in manual edits.
Among the key benefits of AI-powered photo editing tools, the following stand out:
- Time savings: AI tools like Photoroom allow you to quickly edit large volumes of images, freeing up time to focus on other strategic areas of the business.
- Cost efficiency: With AI, you can get professional-quality edits without the expense of hiring external designers or photographers.
- Enhanced creativity: Automating routine tasks allows you to experiment with creative elements, from custom backgrounds to unique image effects, enabling more engaging holiday and festive visuals.
- Superior quality: Features like background removal, object erasure, and shadow creation ensure flawless images ready for conversion.
- Scalability: AI tools empower small teams to handle large workloads, making it easier to manage product listings or high-volume campaigns during peak season.
“Ultimately, AI photo editors not only improve the quality of your product photos but also allow you to focus on driving strategic growth, increasing conversions, and delivering a seamless customer experience during the year-end holiday season,” concludes Matthieu.
The Photoroom photo editor helps alleviate some of the immense year-end pressure by allowing retailers to update, expand, and reuse existing product photos across all their online sales and marketing platforms—all in seconds with an online or desktop app.
With the right tools, entrepreneurs can transform their product presentation, creating engaging visuals that not only meet modern consumer expectations but also stand out in a competitive market. Investing in AI-powered product photography and editing is, therefore, a necessary step to shine during the most profitable season of the year and build strong customer relationships beyond the holidays.
