On this page:
- This is some text inside of a div block.
- This is some text inside of a div block.
%20(1).png)
Selling on Amazon is notoriously complex. From convoluted fee structures to having to apply for approval to gain certain selling privileges, you need to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of Amazon selling to be a successful seller on the platform. Arguably one of the most important things you need to familiarize yourself with, however, are Amazon's product image requirements. Listing images are important for many reasons, not least because they're the first thing potential buyers see when your listing appears in their searches. First impressions aside, ensuring that your listing images are in line with Amazon's requirements will determine not only whether shoppers will find your listings and add your product to their carts, but whether or not your products will be successfully published on Amazon at all. In this article, we'll go over Amazon's product image guidelines, and cover everything from image size to aspect ratio. Ensuring that you're familiar with Amazon's listing image requirements will help you list more efficiently, get more visibility, and sell more successfully.
Before we dive into best practices for product images on Amazon, we'll begin by going over the simple, cut-and-dry technical requirements of Amazon product images. These basics include Amazon product image dimensions, aspect ratios, background requirements, product orientation within the image, and how to handle product variations in terms of listing images.
The minimum resolution of product images on Amazon is 330 PPI (pixels per inch).
Background and Composition for MAIN Amazon Product Image
Your main Amazon listing image must show the only the listed item, from the front, without any accessories, props, or packaging, against a plain white background (RGB values 255, 255, 255). The product must comprise 85% of the image.
Background and Composition for Additional Listing Images
In most product categories, additional listing mages may contain information about the item, photograph it with props or against different backgrounds, and show it with additional accessories that are included with the product (i.e. attachments for a kitchen mixer). Note that additional product images are known (somewhat confusingly) as image variants, and have their own unique file naming conventions on Amazon.
As mentioned above, your main Amazon product image must show the item from the front, in the center of the image, with the item taking up at least 85% of the picture.
For additional product images, you can – and should – get more creative with your item positioning and angles. Use additional product images to show different angles of the item, illustrate it in action, and persuade buyers to make a purchase.
For listings with product variants, you'll need to handle product images a bit differently. While Amazon doesn't strictly require a unique image for every variant, we strongly recommend including several (and up to 9) unique images for each one, in accordance with the Amazon product image requirements mentioned above. You'll need to name each image file per the Amazon required naming convention, then input the URL paths for each image file into the product upload file.
If all this sounds a bit overwhelming, that's because it can indeed quickly become unmanageably cumbersome. Amazon allows for up to 100 variations (child) SKUs in each listing, which means that you could theoretically find yourself managing up to 900 product images for a single listing. For this reason, sellers who sell more than a handful of items and those who need to manage items with multiple variations often opt to use product data management solutions like EasyChannel.
%2520(1).png)
Listings on Amazon typically have more than one product image. There are many reasons for this, but primary one is that shoppers are simply more likely to purchase an item from a listing that includes a variety of informative, high-quality product images. A selection of quality product images enables buyers to understand what it is that they'll be purchasing, gives shoppers a sense of the quality and authenticity of the listed item, and establishes a seller's credibility with shoppers. The importance of including a variety of product images in your Amazon listings cannot be overstated; it's absolutely essential if you want your listings to rank highly in searches and convert well. Below, we'll go over the Amazon product image guidelines for the main listing image, which is the first product image your buyers will see in categories and search results, as well as the requirements for additional product images.
As its name suggests, the main Amazon product image is the first listing image shoppers will see when they click into your listing, as well as the image they'll see when they spot your listing in search results. Amazon has strict and specific guidelines for this image. The requirements for the main listing image are:
Adhering to these guidelines, as well as the more general Amazon product image requirements like resolution and size, is important for ensuring that your product uploads successfully and without errors.
Aside from the main listing image, Amazon allows sellers to upload up to 9 additional images (though only the first seven will be published). Sellers can also choose to include a video in place of one of the item images. Additional listing images are known on Amazon as image variants – not to be confused with images for product variants – and have different requirements than main images. Additional product images
Furthermore, additional listing images must adhere to Amazon's listing image requirements in terms of file size, item to image frame ratio, etc.
We touched on this briefly above, but the importance of product images in an Amazon listing truly cannot be overstated. Product images have many interrelated functions – they inform buyers about the listed product, of course, but they are a key component in establishing buyer trust, boosting conversion, improving search rankings, and even contributing to more successful listing promotion. Below, we'll dive into the factors that make product images so crucial for successful selling on Amazon, to help you better understand why it makes sense for you to spend your time and energy on creating the perfect selection of product images for your Amazon listings.
Online shopping relies heavily on product images and videos. In contrast to in-person shopping at brick-and-mortar stores, where shoppers can physically interact with, try on, and hold the item being sold, online shoppers' only real interaction with the product for sale is via the product images in the listing. As such, the role of product images in an Amazon listing is multifaceted – the main product image must entice buyers to click on the listing, while the addition images must strike a balance between informative and aspirational to nudge them towards making a purchase. In fact, for 93% of online shoppers, item images will play a major role in their purchase making decisions, often ranking them even higher than pricing and shipping costs.
In addition to these practical functions, product images are crucial for conveying a sense of professionalism to shoppers, which establishes trust and strengthens your brand perception. Amazon listings with a selection of high-quality, professional-looking product images are far more likely to leave a positive impression on shoppers in comparison to listings that have just one or two low-quality images.
Amazon knows that listings with plenty of high-quality images are far more likely to result in sales, which is why it takes into account the number and quality of a listing's product images when raking it in buyer search results. Listings with images that adhere to Amazon's product image requirements and include informative alt text for each image will simply rank better than listings that don't, assuming all other factors are equal. In short, while listings images are far from the only determining factor in your Amazon SEO, they're certainly an important one to consider when creating your Amazon product listings.
As we discussed above, online shoppers don't have the option of physically interacting with a product before they purchase it, as they would in a physical store. Instead, they rely on product images and videos to get a sense of what they're buying, and the more visually appealing those product images are, the better a listing's conversion rates will be.
The best way to understand this is to put yourself in your buyer's shoes for a moment. Would you be more likely to order an item from a listing with plenty of clear, informative product images, or from one with one or two low-resolution images? For most buyers, the latter is a crapshoot, indicative of high chances of less-than-desirable sellers with low-quality items, while the former conveys a sense of quality, authenticity, and professionalism, ultimately making it the obvious choice.
Now that we've gone over the what and the why, it's time to discuss the how. In this section, we'll draw on our experience with Amazon and outline nine best practices to adhere to when creating images for your Amazon product listings. Keep these tips in mind when taking product photos and editing images, and consider which ones could best apply to the specific product you're listing.
.png)
No matter what you're selling, using high-quality images that accurately represent your products is by far one of the most important things you can do to improve the quality of your product listings. Ensure that your Amazon listing product images are in high enough resolution to enable productive zoom, that they have no jagged edges, and that the product itself takes up at least 85% of each image.
While studies show that over two thirds of Amazon purchases are finalized via desktop, they also show that around 80% of searches and browsing – which ultimately leads to those sales – begins on mobile. Shoppers will oftentimes begin their hunt for the perfect find on mobile and add products to their wishlist as they go, making mobile optimization non-negotiable for sellers on the platform.
Amazon takes care of mobile responsiveness for you on their mobile site and app, but there are some important things you need to do to ensure that your listings get the best possible results on mobile. First, make sure that your listing images adhere to Amazon's product image ratio guidelines by maintaining an aspect ratio of 1:1 on all your images, with your item centered in the image so that it remains clearly visible when the image is cropped for mobile viewing. Additionally, you'll want to take extra care to ensure that every image is in high resolution to allow for zoom. Because mobile screens are significantly smaller than their desktop counterparts, buyers will no doubt need to zoom in and enlarge product images in order to see details and texture. If your images' resolution is too low, shoppers will end up with a pixelated zoom, and likely miss out on potential sales as they head to the competition.
Amazon allows sellers to upload up to 9 product images, giving them multiple opportunities to present the item, inform shoppers, and nudge them towards making a purchase. In our experience, it's always better to make full use of all the product image slots you have at your disposal, while making the most of each one by showcasing the item in a wide variety of presentations, angles, and views. While you should always include measurements and detailed descriptions in your listing, it's no less important to use product images to illustrate textures, details, and scale.
Before they start reading the product description or bullet points, the first thing shoppers will hone in on when they click into a listing are the selection of listing images. That's why it's so important to use them as an opportunity to showcase a product's features and benefits in a clear and concise way. Use product photos to show your product in action, illustrate its benefits, and show shoppers why they should want to purchase from you. You have limited product image slots, so make the most of them by ensuring that every image illustrates at least one benefit or feature of the product.
Text overlay images are commonly used to both inform and market products. They're "specifications" style photos that present the item against a neutral background, and have various details (often written in a marketing tone) about the item overlaid on the image. Going back to our mixer example, a specifications style photo might show the mixer against a neutral background, with text highlighting various product specifications as part of the image.
Lifestyle photos, sometimes called aspirational photos, show the product in use in a way that makes potential buyers want to own it. If you're selling a mixer, for example, a good lifestyle photo could show the mixer use, with ingredients and a baked pie around it. This type of image shows buyers that they themselves can use the product, and is a valuable tool for increasing conversion.
You could even combine the elements of these two types of product images to create images that are both informative with text overlay specifications, and aspirational in their styling.
While the composition of each type of photo will vary slightly depending on its type and function, there are several rules of thumb you'll want to adhere to when composing your product images.
First and foremost, Amazon recommends that the product is centered on all images, but requires it for the main image. In general, this is good practice to adhere to for all your product photos, since it makes it clear exactly what the listing is selling, especially if you use props or photograph the item with optional addons.
Secondly, make sure the item takes up at least 85% of the frame. This goes hand in hand with our previous point of clearly conveying which item is being sold, but is also a non-negotiable Amazon listing photo requirement for the listing's main product image.
Finally, make sure that all your product images upload as intended. An image may look clear to you when you're editing it, but it may not be as shopper-friendly once uploaded as a listing image. Double check that all text is a readable size, that the colors are representative of the colors in real life, and ensure that the image composition as a whole is what you intended.
Amazon product images are not a replacement for a product manual, but they're a great opportunity to illustrate how simple it is to use the item either through photos of it in use or instructive pictures/illustrations. With the former, your goal is to show potential buyers how they can use the item in their daily lives; essentially, this is a type of aspirational/lifestyle image, but with a more informative angle. With the latter, your goal is to show your buyers how easy the product is to use – you don't want overly-detailed instructions, just a simple three- or four-step cursory guide.
While you'll find it recommended on blogs all over the internet, comparing your product to a competitor's is very much against Amazon's policies. In fact, it's against the terms to even insinuate which brand that you're comparing yours against by use of colors, fonts, and other elements of trade dress associated with the competing product or brand.
That said, you can use comparison charts to compare your product against more generic "competitors," provided you don't name these competitors or give any indication of exactly which products you're comparing against. Keep your comparisons factual and concrete, and avoid any subjective claims that cannot be substantiated with evidence (i.e. "better than the competition").
If you find yourself with an image slot to spare, fill it with a picture of the item in or beside its packaging. Packaging photos are a good way to show buyers what they can expect to receive, and add an air of professionalism and authenticity that buyers appreciate when shopping online.
The packaging photo should adhere to the same Amazon product image guidelines as all other Amazon listing images in terms of size, ratio, and resolution.
Listing images are one of the most important parts of an Amazon listing. They're beneficial for Amazon SEO, and are one of the main factors that buyers consider when making purchase decisions. The difference in search ranking and conversion between an Amazon listing with plenty of high-quality product images and a listing with one or two low-quality images is considerable, making listing images something you'll want to spend time and effort perfecting.
When you use EasyChannel to list on Amazon, you'll have access to valuable Amazon product image optimization and management tools, making it easier than ever to optimize your Amazon listings' product images and maximize your listings' conversion potential. You'll be able to use tools like the image background remover to help you comply with Amazon's white background requirement for main listing images, and store all your product images for Amazon directly on EasyChannel's image hosting platform. Plus, if you sell on more channels, you can manage separate, optimized images for each channel, including Amazon, so your listing images are fully tailored to each one of your selling channels.
Ultimately, carefully taking and editing product images to adhere to Amazon's requirements while maintaining an eye-catching, informative selection of images that entice shoppers to buy is key to increasing your Amazon sales. Take the time to perfect your Amazon listing images today, and reap the benefits of increase visibility, sales, and brand awareness in the future.
You made it! and you're now more equipped to sell more online!
Enjoy a reward for your hard work!
Learn more about how EasyChannel works for online sellers.
.png)
.png)
.png)