Shotfarm Challenges Rich Media Market, Asserts New Industry Standard for Product Image Hosting for Ecommerce and Mobile

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Shotfarm today announces a new standard for product image and rich media delivery with the launch of their Simple Image Hosting for Ecommerce product – another milestone on the company’s path to creating a completely touchless product content workflow.

“We’ve long known about the value of rich media to increase conversion rates and lower return costs on our resellers’ storefronts as well as improve the shopper’s overall experience on our own website”

The latest offering provides even greater rich media capabilities for retailers who want to serve high resolution product images, product videos and 360º spin images on their ecommerce websites directly from shotfarm’s Product Content Network – the retail industry’s most widely adopted platform for the exchange of product images and information.

“Because of the size of our Product Content Network, we’re able to dramatically lower the cost for the same hosting features and efficiencies that large retailers have relied on for years,” says Mike Lapchick, shotfarm’s CEO. “We’ve built our model on ‘more, smaller wins’ which means all of our members can continue to expect incredibly low pricing for all of our product content related technologies – with Simple Image Hosting for Ecommerce being the first in a long list of exciting products coming out this summer.”

In addition to core HTML5-based rich media experiences – deep zoom and pan on single and alternate view images – shotfarm’s rich media service also offers support for product videos, multi-dimensional 360-degree spin, and color swatch hierarchies. To further speed delivery to both web and mobile platforms, subscribers can choose to serve images via optional integrated global Content Distribution Network (CDN) technology. The new release also boasts a powerful upgrade to the back-end workflow management tools including batch image set upload and creation as well as real-time edit and update tools for live product image sets.

Subscribers to the Simple Image Hosting for Ecommerce Plug-in gain additional benefit from the ties to shotfarm’s Product Content Network, a single free platform where thousands of retailers and manufacturers already find, request, manage and share product images and data. By serving rich product images and content from the same centralized location where manufacturers are uploading and managing them, retailers eliminate the need to pursue, download, rename, resize and re-upload images to their website or a separate rich media publishing provider. This streamlined process eliminates 85% of workflow inefficiencies and speeds time to market, offering clients an instant return on their rich media investment.

Implementation of shotfarm’s Image Hosting solution can be completed for an ecommerce site in a matter of hours, providing sharp contrast to average industry implementation cycles lasting weeks or months. Customizable feature combinations let subscribers turn on only the options they need and determine their own pricing, which starts at just $49 monthly. The service requires no long-term contract, can be canceled at any time and is backed by the same world-class customer support as the Product Content Network.

“We’ve long known about the value of rich media to increase conversion rates and lower return costs on our resellers’ storefronts as well as improve the shopper’s overall experience on our own website,” says Abel Zalcberg, Founder and CEO of OFM, Inc, an office furniture manufacturer. “Unfortunately, to date it’s been hard to find a reasonably priced option that offers all the features we need – particularly 360- and 3D-spin support. Shotfarm’s service provides exactly that, plus the added benefit of a distribution network for all of our content at a price that makes sense for our business.”

About Shotfarm

Shotfarm, LLC, is a privately held Chicago-based company offering the retail industry’s only free Product Content Network. For retailers, shotfarm offers a single place to find and download product images and information. For manufacturers, shotfarm provides a centralized location from which to distribute product images and information to all retail partners. One system, one password, one workflow—100% Free. Visit http://www.shotfarm.com for more information.