Incase Finds Increased Customer Interaction

Leading bag and case retailer Incase was looking to make significant changes to the online shopping experience it offered to consumers. Enhancing product imagery to provide shoppers with as much information as possible in hopes of motivating them to purchase was at the top of its wish list.

“We were looking to provide a more dynamic online experience that included improved product interaction for our customers,” says Frank Balle, director, consumer sales and support at Incase.

That’s when KSC Kreate, a creative agency specializing in visual content creation and digital asset management, came into the picture. Incase partnered with KSC Kreate to develop product photography for the retailer’s website, including a revolutionary 360-degree product viewer. The mobile-compliant viewer provides consumers with the ability to see and interact with Incase's products from every angle.

“The 360-degree photography software allows users to get close to the products and view them as if they were in a store,” Balle notes.

With the growing popularity of mobile devices and tablet PCs that don't support plug-ins such as Flash, retailers have been searching for a flexible online product viewer. Driven by this trend, KSC Kreate along with technology solutions provider Beyond 360 Imaging developed a revolutionary non-Flash, 360-degree photography solution. The platform doesn't require any plug-ins and is fully functional with all browsers and mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry devices.

Some KSC clients have seen that the iPad is the most frequently used mobile platform to access their site, and shoppers are viewing more pages on the iPad than those accessing the site from other platforms. It’s imperative to be able to provide those shoppers with rich media so they can actually use the devices they’re shopping with, which in the case of the iPad means nothing can be Flash-based.

Incase's decision to provide shoppers with 360-degree product images seems to be paying off. “We chose to feature a variety of products with 360-degree photography and we’re already seeing increased interaction with those items,” Balle says. “We can see that customers are moving the images around. They’re spending more time on the site and more time on the individual pages.”

KSC Kreate will continue to provide still photography along with the 360-degree software as part of an ongoing relationship with Incase. Future partnership plans include the use of instructional videos on Incase product pages. As evidenced by retailers like Incase, as online shopping grows in popularity it’s important to recognize the impact of dynamic product imagery, especially in relation to mobile devices.

Brad Tuckman is president and founder of KSC Kreate, a provider of photography, video and software solutions for retailers.