Shopify is versatile when it comes to allowing users to maximise and create user-friendly eCommerce stores. Users can choose between different available themes to begin building their own stores and make use of their simple drag and drop interface to arrange design elements as they please. When it comes to images, there are of course methods to make use of them. Here are 5 image customisation methods you should consider using:
1. Image Type
Shopify allows up to 4 different image types to be incorporated into Shopify stores. Some of the common image types include: theme images, product images, content images and collection images. Theme images are themes that you use and store in the theme asset folder, since it’s specific to that and are usually added by theme developers. Product images on the other hand, are images that are store specific and uploaded by the Shopify admin as reference to their actual products. Then there are content images, which are included usually within blog contents to break up the monotony of text. There’s also the collection images, that are usually used to represent an entire collection. Depending on your website, different image types best suit different requirements so make sure you know what image types you need.
2. Sizes
Image sizes for your products or content and collection can be uploaded at a wide range of different sizes. However, in order to protect the responsiveness of your website, Shopify will automatically resize them into ranges that are predefined so you will have to choose the closest available size that you prefer to use. Generally, you do not have to worry about losing quality since they are auto rescaled. One thing to note however, is that squared images are more predictable and friendly to use. Shopify usually tracks the largest available size so if you attempt to upload images that are larger, you cannot access it’s original copy. Do note that if your image is smaller however, Shopify will never scale them up in size since it may lose resolution.
3. Product Variant
If you have a variety of the same product with differing aspects like colour and size, you can attempt to use product variant images instead! Or, if you’re looking to maximise conversions, you can use the same method to display products that relate to it! You can usually create variant images with differing prices and inventory levels to keep organised. If you want to consolidate and group all related products through different factors like seasons, colours, themes and the like, you can choose to use collection images instead.
4. Collection
Collection images can be used to group products together based on how the user wants to categorise them. Your products can be featured within one or more collections for easy user experience! A good recommendation would be to include a page in your eCommerce store that contains all your collection information so that users can find what they require easily!
5. Content images
Applying images to posts or articles in your Shopify store is pretty straightforward. Do note that in the event of using images for your article or content, Shopify will associate and display it as either background images or listing grid images. What is convenient is that Shopify automatically converts whatever image you upload into the right format before it is saved, so you do not have to worry about images not loading. In the event that there is a problem with converting it, usually into PNG, Shopify will alert you with error messages so the problem can be rectified immediately.
