3D Packshots: The new weapon of e-commerce
August 18, 2025
In e-commerce, first impressions are often make-or-break. A product image isn’t just a visual, it’s a handshake, a promise, the moment trust is built. For years, brands relied on traditional photography to tell that story. But in 2025, the model is showing its limits: expensive, rigid, and hard to keep up with the speed of digital commerce.
That’s where 3D packshots step in as the clear answer to these challenges. More flexible, faster, and more cost-effective, they also unlock entirely new customer experiences. This isn’t a passing trend, it’s a deep shift in how products are presented, perceived, and purchased.
The limits of product photography
Organizing a full photo shoot is still a real logistical challenge. Prototypes to produce, studio rentals, lighting setups, photographers, post-production... every product turns into a costly and time-consuming mini project. And the problem only grows when variations are needed. A new color, a slightly updated packaging, a seasonal launch, each small detail often requires another shoot.
Even once delivered, photos don’t always guarantee the level of consistency brands need. Differences in lighting, uneven retouching, or even imperfections in the prototypes themselves eventually show through. In a catalog with dozens or even hundreds of products, these inconsistencies weaken the brand’s visual identity and blur its image.
The rise of 3D packshots
With 3D, the process shifts from the physical world to the digital one. Instead of organizing countless photo shoots, brands rely on a photorealistic model that becomes the foundation for all their visuals. From this single file, they can generate an infinite number of images, perfectly consistent, coherent, and tailored to every need.
A sneaker can be showcased in twenty different colors without producing a single sample. A cosmetics brand can reveal its new packaging before production even begins. A tech company can present its latest smartphone in exploded views, interactive 360° spins, or through explanatory animations.
The difference is game changing. Where photography freezes a moment in time, 3D tells a story. The same model can be used to create static packshots, promotional videos, augmented reality experiences, or online configurators. A unified visual language, deployed across every communication channel.
Hard data and real-life examples
The impact of 3D packshots is no longer theoretical, it’s measurable. Shopify reported that augmented reality product views can boost conversions by up to 2.5x. Other studies show that adding interactive or customizable visuals significantly increases both time spent on a product page and buyer confidence.
CGI-focused agencies prove it every day. A great example comes from KNR and the spirits brand "La Capricieuse": without a single physical prototype, they delivered hyper-realistic bottle renders in just a few days, saving nearly a week compared to a traditional photo shoot. On a larger scale, Apple has long showcased the power of these tools. From its website to its iconic keynotes, most of its product visuals are built on 3D renderings.
These cases highlight a simple truth: the most forward-thinking brands have already made 3D their visual standard.
What this means for e-commerce brands
Adopting 3D packshots isn’t just about cutting costs, even if the savings are substantial. It’s really about gaining agility: launching a campaign before prototypes are ready, tweaking visuals in just a few hours for a marketing push, and ensuring flawless consistency across product lines and platforms.
It’s also about enhancing the shopping experience. A customer who can spin a product around, zoom in on its details, or personalize its colors is a customer who feels more confident and more likely to hit “buy.” And behind that immersion comes a direct benefit: fewer returns, stronger loyalty, and a more powerful brand image.
With 3D, visuals stop being static assets and become strategic resources. True “digital twins” that evolve in step with your marketing strategy and your customers’ expectations.
Quand l’image devient stratégie
Product photography will always have its place, but it’s no longer enough to keep up with the fast pace of online commerce. Too slow, too expensive, too limited, it’s giving way to a smarter alternative: 3D packshots.
They bring total flexibility, unmatched speed, and consistent quality, while creating a more immersive shopping experience. For e-commerce brands, ignoring this shift means risking being left behind in a market where visuals are no longer just a support tool... they’re the very essence of the buying decision. Think of visual content not as a one-off expense, but as a long-term strategic asset, scalable, reusable, and built to grow with your brand.
We don’t see 3D as a replacement for photography, but as its natural evolution. Our photorealistic packshots aren’t just images, they’re performance-driven tools designed to attract, convince, and convert.
So maybe it’s time to bring your product visuals into the future.
