IR500 Retailer Summit Sports Creates Better In-Store Experience and Increases Conversions by Adding 360 Spin Imagery to its Site

CHICAGO, IL, March 20, 2013 (Press-News.org) Online Sporting Goods Retailer Turns to Snap36 Full-Service Spin Photography Products and Services to Boost Sales, Reduce Returns and Improve Customer Satisfaction

• Online supplier of a broad array of summer and winter sporting goods and equipment, works with Snap36 to create a richer online shopping experience through the ability to spin and manipulate product images on its e-commerce site.
• Summit Sports improves customer service, increases conversion rates and reduces company overhead by incorporating 360 spin product imagery throughout its site, as well as combining 360 spin and video to give customers more product detail and 'control.'
• All customer feedback related to the use of spin photography on the Summit Sports site has ranked 5 out of 5 - on a 1 to 5, poor to excellent ranking scale.
• Summit Sports is a 2012 Internet Retail 500 retailer.

Snap36 (www.snap36.com) today announced that Summit Sports (www.skis.com), an IR500 online supplier of sporting goods and equipment for consumers, has seen its conversion rates increase significantly through the use of 360 spin product imagery made possible by Snap36. The ability for Summit Sports customers to manipulate images on the site, turn products around and take a much closer look at what they are interested in purchasing, makes them more comfortable about their buying decisions. It emulates a true "in-store" experience versus merely allowing customers to "browse" online.

An online business serving sports enthusiasts nationwide, Summit is always looking for new ways to enhance the customer experience and provide the right level of detail to meet each visitor's unique product needs. They turned to Snap36 to help them achieve this goal. Through the unique Snap36 product and services approach, Summit Sports was given the option to purchase its own cutting-edge equipment to shoot 360 product images themselves; hire Snap36 experts and photographers to create the images; or take a hybrid approach of purchasing equipment and photography services to optimize time and resources. This flexibility enables Summit to determine which products to offer in 360 spin and when to offer them, based on sales momentum and product availability.

After the initial addition of spin imagery to a number of products on its site, such as ski helmets and goggles, the Summit Sports e-commerce team saw an opportunity to make its video and photography strategy work together. Videos available on the site provide customers with more information on a particular product, while the ability to then "pick-up" and spin the product provides an important new level of detail.

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"Consumers come to us to find the best sporting goods brands available on the market today," said Ron Pate, video and photography manager for Summit Sports. "Many times they are looking for a specific color or style of equipment, but may not have experienced the product in-person. Offering 360 degree images of our most popular items provides a richer, in-store experience, which is paying off. Website shoppers who utilize the spin photography options tend to convert more often, stay on the site longer and purchase more products. We are working to offer 360 spin on every product across our site."

"A one-size fits-all approach to spin photography doesn't serve anyone well," said Jeff Hunt, CEO of Snap36." But until recently, online retailers didn't have many options. Our custom solutions combine the right mix of hardware, software, services and expertise - either at our customer's facility or at our own, to make the process of adding 360 product views to a site simple, scalable and affordable. This provides leading retailers like Summit Sports with new ways to grow their business by giving customers a greater level of confidence when shopping online".

Click to Tweet: @Snap36 helps Summit Sports increase conversion rates by adding 360 spin product photos to its retail site. http://clicktotweet.com/K0A_0

About Snap36
Based in Chicago, IL, Snap36 helps online retailers develop compelling 360º/3D product imagery that engages shoppers and keeps them coming back for more. Working with Snap36, clients including Kohl's, Walmart.com, Cabela's, eBags, Summit Sports and LIDS, are turning static online browsing into an interactive shopping experience that mimics a true in-store engagement. Combining leading-edge, 360º/3D spin photography robots and automation software with photography experts and services, the ability for e-commerce businesses to increase customer confidence and conversions is now simple, scalable and affordable. For more information, visit http://www.snap36.com, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.