Shoppers’ brains weren’t designed to make purchasing decisions from a handful of pixelated thumbnails. But in 2026, a surprising number of customer journeys still expect them to do exactly that.
According to ecommerce intelligence platform ChannelSight research — which scored more than 500,000 manufacturer products across 50 retailers in 10 markets — the image gap is stark.
- More than 80% of product images are smaller than 1000x1500 pixels, making them unsuitable for zoom.
- Only 40% of products have more than two images.
- Just 15% feature video content.
Even more surprising: 92% of the products scored have two-plus images and at least one video available in the manufacturer’s product information management system.
“Many brands invest heavily in rich brand playbooks, asset libraries, and polished brand websites, but the depth in media doesn’t always translate to retail,” said Madalina Plesoiu, partner and event manager at ChannelSight.
For many businesses, this disconnect represents missed opportunities for engagement and conversion across the digital shelf, especially when you consider the impact these product page elements have on purchasing decisions.
According to Salsify's upcoming consumer research, product images and videos are the most important product detail page (PDP) element, outranking descriptions, reviews, and even pricing.
So what can brands do to meet today’s shoppers where they are and deliver the kind of visual experience today’s buying journey demands? Discover this and more below, with additional insight from Plesoiu and ChannelSight.
What Draws Consumers to Product Images and Video?
Here’s why 61% of shoppers surveyed in Salsify’s upcoming consumer research say product images and videos are the biggest product page elements factor when deciding whether to complete a purchase.
Images and Video Reduce Uncertainty and Build Trust
Today’s buyers often consult two to six channels before making a purchase, while weighing multiple competing options. In that kind of environment — particularly when shoppers can’t touch, test, or experience a product firsthand — there’s plenty of opportunity for uncertainty to creep in.
Images and video often bridge that gap by offering shoppers the visual reassurance they need to complete the sale. They can also serve as a helpful shortcut, allowing shoppers to conduct a quick visual assessment of your product without having to read through dense descriptions or technical specifications.
Just as importantly, strong visuals can help establish trust. When product imagery clearly reflects what shoppers can expect, it reinforces your brand’s overall credibility and reduces doubt on the shopper’s side. Over time, that consistency builds confidence — and not just in a single product, but the brand behind it.
Visuals Reduce Obstacles, Uncertainty, and Abandonment
You don’t have to guess when product visuals fall short because consumers will let you know about it.
Salsify’s upcoming report found that one in three shoppers abandon a purchase due to low-quality or missing images and videos. And nearly half say they’ve returned a product because it didn’t align with the way it was presented online.
It’s a good reminder: When visuals fail to set accurate expectations, shoppers are left to fill in the blanks themselves, often leading to hesitation, frustration, or post-purchase disappointment. Ensuring your product’s images answer all your customers’ questions can go a long way in preventing these kinds of undesirable outcomes.
How Can Brands Ensure Their Images and Videos Actually Move the Needle?
ChannelSight’s research revealed that while most brands already have the visual assets they need to be successful, they’re failing to utilize them effectively.
“The problem is rarely asset creation – it’s execution, “ Plesoiu said. “Brands and retailers struggle to maintain portfolios over time, particularly when:
- Smaller retailers still work with manual or file‑based imports;
- Marketers over‑index on a few big retailers and neglect the long-tail list; and
- Attention to detail fades as products age.”
This results in many older or slower‑selling SKUs being poorly represented or simply overlooked, even when strong assets exist, Plesoiu says.
So if the problem isn’t creating assets, how can brands employ them correctly?
Use Visuals To Build Trust, Not Just Attraction
Consider these two approaches to the same product: While both are selling the same microwave, they each deliver very different experiences for the shopper.
On the left, the product appears small, visually compressed, and surrounded by elements that may overwhelm the reader and ultimately compete for their attention. The item on the right is immediately legible, larger, clearer, and supported by additional imagery that invites exploration rather than putting up hurdles.
You can see how images aren’t necessarily about aesthetics, but helping shoppers orient themselves to your product within a two-dimensional space.
The right-hand example gives users a sense of scale, detail, and context right away — that is, multiple images are visible without extra effort, allowing shoppers to quickly evaluate the product from different angles and build confidence without leaving the page.
In contrast, the left-side experience makes that confidence harder to reach. Key visual details are less prominent, and deeper exploration requires additional clicks or guesswork. Even when accurate information exists, it’s harder for shoppers to access it at the moment they’re forming an impression.
Think about the ways your PDP images serve the customer. Do they help them figure out how your product fits into their lives, or introduce friction at the very moment they require clarity most?
Design for Scale, Not Just Top-Performing SKUs
As your product line grows, consistency only becomes harder to maintain.
That reality leads many successful brands to prioritize their highest-volume products, which can make sense from a short-term sales standpoint. Over time, though, this approach leaves your brand with straggling, long-tail SKUs, often featuring incomplete or outdated visuals.
And that kind of experience, even once or twice, can erode a customer’s faith in your entire catalog.
“High‑performing product pages rarely rely on a single hero image,” Plesoiu said. “Instead, they typically include:
- Multiple high‑resolution images that support zoom;
- Lifestyle imagery showing products in real‑world context; and
- Short videos or rich media that pre‑empt common shopper questions.”
Ensuring strong imagery at scale requires systems more than set-it-and-forget-it one-time uploads. Brands that treat visual content as ever-evolving touchpoints will maintain a significant advantage against competitors who don’t.
Prioritize Visibility Where Shoppers Actually Make Decisions
Strong visuals only matter if shoppers actually see them. That means ensuring images and video surface clearly and consistently at the moments where comparison, evaluation, and decision-making happen — not buried behind tabs or truncated by templates.
Turning Product Page Elements Into a Competitive Advantage
Images and video continue to play a central role in how shoppers evaluate products, build confidence, and decide whether to move forward. Across generations of consumers, visual content shapes how people assess quality, reduce uncertainty, and develop brand trust.
When executed well, strong visuals support clearer decision-making, reduce friction across touchpoints, and help create consistency throughout the shopping journey. When they fall short, the problems compound, leading to hesitation, abandonment, and lost trust that’s difficult to recover.
For brands, the path forward is less about adding more content and more about treating visual content as a foundational part of the customer experience. When imagery is accurate, accessible, and consistently delivered across channels, it becomes a powerful driver of confidence — one that supports both conversion and long-term loyalty.