Start-Up shotfarm Sparks a Revolution in Product Image Management

CHICAGO, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Efficiency is the ultimate mantra in today's business climate, but product image management – on which the retail marketing industry spends $5 billion annually according to AMR Research – continues to be the exception to the rule.

Chicago-based start-up shotfarm aims to change that.

The first of the company's game-changing image management products, located at www.shotfarm.com, is a free, centralized image repository for product image transfer between retailers and manufacturers.   Shotfarm offers a gallery-style interface for finding, tracking, organizing and sharing product assets, an automatic reminder option for asset requests, image quality requirements, batch uploading, asset tagging and customizable batch downloading…all within a secure, permission-based environment.

This suite of features takes on key "pain points" that make product image management so ripe for a better approach including multiple methods of product image transfer, an extensive chain of contacts, time- and cost-intensive processes, and a considerable margin for error.

"Having experienced the inefficiency of requesting and fulfilling product assets on both the client and agency sides of retail and manufacturing, the need for an industrywide solution has always been painfully clear," said Mike Lapchick, founder and CEO of shotfarm.  "The shotfarm concept is simple: manufacturers put their product images and information in the same place retailers go to get them.  One system, one password, one workflow."  

The shotfarm model offers effectiveness and efficiency previously unseen in this space which will only increase each time a retailer or manufacturer invites another partner.  And there are good reasons to invite:  shotfarm member Asana Activewear recently saw an immediate 50 percent increase in efficiency related to image exchange and management among partners using shotfarm compared with those who haven't joined yet.

"Our partners have been receptive to our request for them to join because they're willing to simplify our workflow but, in doing so, they've simplified their own as well," said Gary Schwake, co-founder and co-owner of Asana Activewear.  "Our goal is a single method of exchange for all of our partners, and with that comes previously unimaginable efficiencies."  

The free image exchange is only the beginning of shotfarm's groundbreaking products; coming in June, a hosted viewer will make rich media extremely affordable, manageable and effective for all businesses big and small.  The HTML5-based hosted viewer will permanently eliminate the need to standardize, rename and resize images, generate thumbnails, and upload images to a separate hosting provider.  

Visit www.shotfarm.com to learn more and join the revolution.

SOURCE shotfarm