Potential buyers need to know what your products look like. Seems obvious, but without a clear view of the products themselves, including the different colorways, the variety of materials used, and more, it’s difficult to get buy-in.
Converse was using CAD files as a strategic part of growing their B2B. They realized that while this seemed simple, cheap, and easy, it was also deeply deficient, inefficient, and did not help increase sales.
Working closely with Envoy B2B Studios, Converse converted all of their wholesale product imagery from CAD files to high quality e-commerce photography.
Let’s dive deeper into the challenges they faced with CAD files, how we helped them rise above those difficulties, and how, together, we created a stronger, more cohesive brand appearance across their B2B platform and beyond.
Converse has historically used CAD files to help them sell their season. But, they became painfully aware that retailers did not want to order based off of CAD images alone. It’s easy to see how a brand could fall into this trap, as on paper, CAD files seem to have many benefits that encourage their use.
Let’s take a look at a few of the claims made by brands who use CAD files regularly:
Myth: CAD files can be produced faster than photography.
Reality: While this may have been true in the past, Envoy B2B Studios has over a decade of experience in product photography. We’re able to harness this deep well of knowledge, combined with our smart use of technology, to create a rapid production workflow. We can turn around a high quality product image, with multiple frames or angles, in 24-48 hours.
Myth: CAD drawings are cheaper.
Reality: CAD files are actually an added cost to your budget, because they don’t prevent the need for product photography, they only delay it until later in the season, at best. You can’t use CAD images for marketing, D2C support, educational materials, or any other kind of premium experience. So, in the long run, CADs will demand both more money and time.
Myth: CAD images are “good enough” to start selling
Reality: Let’s get real… retailers don’t like CADs. Ultimately, retailers are buying more than just a product from you. They’re buying the confidence that your product will sell when it’s on the shelf. A CAD won’t deliver that confidence because it can’t capture the subtleties, textures, or colors of the real thing. And when retailers don’t know what they’re buying, they won’t buy it.
Converse faced a number of challenges when switching to real product photography. Oddly enough, many of these challenges are why they used CAD images in the first place. We worked closely with them to guide them through the process, doing the heavy lifting on the logistics so they could continue to focus on their business.
Converse was concerned about the amount of time it would take to produce a product image versus the perceived amount of time it would take them to implement a CAD file. CAD files are often pre-existing from the concept and design phase of product creation, and so that felt logical to use at the beginning of a season.
To solve this, we worked directly with them, testing our process and delivering high-quality samples to shrink that workflow even further, all while producing images at or above the high-bar set by Converse. In the end, we were able to produce images within a 24 hour time window upon receiving the product – at a higher quality than other comparable options.
Converse was naturally a little uneasy about switching to photography, because the internal demand for product samples is high in the run up to (and during) a season. They were hesitant to ship a product out when multiple departments have a critical need for that sample.
To solve this, products were shipped directly from the factory to Envoy’s photography studio first, before any other department got their hands on it. This is a critical move, as it frees the sample up for the entirety of the season after that, and provides departments like marketing and sales with high quality images at the very beginning of the season.
Once our team shoots the product, we ship it directly to wherever it needs to go. This means, at worst, there is a 2-4 day window where the product is outside of Converse’s internal workflows. However, it frontloads that image creation step, so other departments and their seasonal workflows don’t get interrupted mid-stream.
Additionally, to help Converse save time and money, we created box end labels with our images, to offload yet another production need from Converse’s internal teams and smooth out their pre-season.
Using CAD files didn’t prevent the need for product photography, and created greater strain on budgets since they can’t be used for marketing, D2C support, educational materials, or any other kind of experience. Converse came to realize CAD images are an added cost and time sink. In the end, Converse is spending less, with greater return.
With CAD files, Converse would have to go through the laborious process of uploading all their images and data internally, adding to the logistical complexity of preparing for their season.
Since they were already using Envoy B2B, we were able to eliminate that process for them, as our studio can upload directly into the Converse B2B platform. We are even able to skip the need to work through Converse’s DAM for the initial upload, so their sales reps can hit the ground running, and Converse has all its images in one place as a single source of truth.
As a result of working with Envoy B2B Studios, Converse was able to move away from sub-par CAD files and reap huge benefits:
By dropping CAD files, Converse was able to smooth out their pre-season, eliminate internal pressure, spend less, and ultimately create better value for their retailer.