If you're a small business selling on Amazon, one of the challenges is putting your products in their best light. There are countless studies on optimizing Amazon pages and the gist of it all is that photography and videos win. So, how can AI help? This week I look at 3 potential solutions: 2 AI/virtual and a physical but remote solution.
The first is Flair.ai. This kind of system works best for products that sit comfortably on a tabletop: bottles, cans, tubs, small packs etc. and can stretch to small clothing items like shoes. Not really ready for intricate items like jewelry or things that need styling like clothing. Simply take a phone picture of your product in flat natural light and upload to the site. Avoid fingers/thumbs or harsh reflections.
From there you can resize, rotate and position your product as needed. Then the AI comes into play: Like most AI tools it's prompt-based and you can specify on what surface you'd like to place your product, what lighting, props, background etc. "Sunlit marble pedestal, with ocean view," for example.
This kind of system takes some extremely careful prompt-writing, and is often best handled by seeing what others have used successfully. The site itself is a bit clunky with the occasional 404 error which gives it a distinct "start-up" feel. But with a basic free trial level and a $10/month full version, it's hard to complain.
Next is Claid.ai. The process is largely the same but the system is distinctly more slick. There is again a free trial version with a pretty generous number of uses and uploads. If you are a fully-fledged Amazon store or 3rd party seller, then it's probably worth investing $49/month for up to 500 uses. There is also enterprise-level pricing upon request.
But AI might not be the solution for everyone, and these tools really are limited to fairly small, simple items that won't "confuse" the AI. If you have something more complex or otherwise need a more custom solution, but can't afford a full tabletop photo shoot of your own, there is still an option. This is where Soona (https://book.soona.co/) comes in. With Soona, you are making many of the same decisions on product environment and styling, but rather than doing this virtually you are setting up a real photo shoot. As such, you start by sending your product(s) by good old-fashioned US mail or courier. On the site you select the type of business/product, how many shots (or videos) you want, what environment (can be as simple as a white background or as complex as a fully-styled bedroom or kitchen). Need a hand model, or full body model? No problem. You can even book pets! You can also book styling, hair & makeup, grocery shopping, even a producer if it's a complex, multi-SKU shoot. It's really a one-stop-shop for any kind of remote shoot.
Pricing for Soona is by the shot with an a la carte set of add-ons. The net ranges from a few hundred dollars for a set of simple shots, to multiple thousands of dollars for something more complicated.
So there we have it. An Artificial Intelligence solution to Amazon-listing shots, and a human intelligence solution to remote photography.