# Packshot

URL: https://tnb-tech.com/en/glossary/packshot/

## What is a packshot?

A packshot is the photograph of the product itself on a clean background, shot so that one file works in a shop, in a catalogue and in an advert. Every item is framed to the same template, the shadow is identical from frame to frame, and there are enough pixels for zoom. A packshot shows exactly what is being bought; mood and detail are left to the other images in the gallery.

**Example**

A shop with 400 items has photographs from three sources: some from suppliers, some shot on a phone, some cut out roughly. In a listing the products appear at different sizes against three different whites, and they fall apart when a buyer zooms. The shop reshoots its 120 best sellers to one template: same distance, same crop, same background and shadow, 2,000 px on the long side.

The arithmetic: 4,000 visitors a month converting at 1.6% is 64 orders. After the reshoot the rate reaches 1.9%, or 76 orders. At an average order of €45, that is €540 more turnover a month from the same traffic. The figures are illustrative; the mechanism is not. Nobody buys what they cannot see.

**Why it matters for a business**

A packshot has three audiences, and each one has its own rules:

- Your own shop. The main image is usually the heaviest element on a product page and decides when that page looks loaded. It wants a modern format and a sensible file size, without giving up the pixels that zoom needs.
- Marketplaces. They generally ask for a clean white background, the product filling most of the frame, and at least 1,600 px on the long side for zoom to work. No text, watermark or logo on the main image.
- Google Merchant Center. Images with promotional overlays or borders are rejected; a photograph carrying a discount badge does not get through.Consistency does a second job. When every frame follows one template, a listing reads as a tidy shop rather than a noticeboard. A shop that fixes its main images usually sees it in its conversion rate before it sees it anywhere else.

**What to ask**

- Is there a written template — background, crop, shadow, size — for every batch that follows?
- Are there enough pixels for zoom, and what does the file weigh after optimisation?
- Who does the cut-out, and does the outline survive hair, handles and transparent material?
- Does the colour match the real product, or is the photograph writing future returns?Cut-outs, backgrounds and a series prepared to one template are part of our photo retouching work.

- Services: [Photo retouching](https://tnb-tech.com/en/services/photo-retouching/)
- Glossary: https://tnb-tech.com/en/glossary/