Silicone Utensils Sets - Product Photography and A+ Content Photography

Today we will explore listings in the silicone utensil sets category and see what works, what doesn't work, and what is a good strategy to get into this product category or improve existing listings. Our review will focus on the visual presentation of the listings at the time of review, we will not be going into any detailed historical, keyword, or ads analysis, because this is not our area of expertise, and those things are also not what buyers see when they search for a product.

This article was created independently from our own interest in understanding our clients and the challenges they face in running their businesses, 360Refinery has no affiliation with or receives no compensation from Amazon or any of the sellers in this review.

Let's begin.

I. Main Image Photography for Silicone Utensils Set Listings on Amazon

Let's go ahead and search for "silicone utensils set" on Amazon.com. This is roughly what you will see:

We see a roughly uniform choice of main image photography in a flat lay top down view of all items in the set. This makes it easy to for shippers to get an idea of what they will be getting in the set just from the main image, but also makes it difficult to decide where to click. In fact some of the images really do look nearly identical.

Let's have a deeper look at the two the top selling items is these results.

II. Top Sellers in Silicone Utensils Set Listings on Amazon

The listings we will review in this article are:

IIa. 5 Pieces Silicone Spatula Set, Food Grade Rubber Spatula, Upgrade Strong Handle with Ergonomic Grip, Heat Resistant Up to 600°F for Nonstick Cookware, Cooking

IIb.  Umite Chef Kitchen Cooking Utensils Set, 33 pcs Non-Stick Silicone Cooking Kitchen Utensils Spatula Set with Holder, Wooden Handle Silicone Kitchen Gadgets Utensil Set (Khaki)

IIa. The best-seller in this product category is the "5 Pieces Silicone Spatula Set, Food Grade Rubber Spatula, Upgrade Strong Handle with Ergonomic Grip, Heat Resistant Up to 600°F for Nonstick Cookware, Cooking"

Stats:

- Pieces in Set: 5 pcs

- List Price: $12.99 ($2.6/piece)

- Date First Available: April 7, 2024

- Bought in Past Month: A whooping 20K units

- Number of Reviews: 5.3K (this number changed to 5.4K in the week I was writing this article)

1. Just looking at the main image of this best selling silicone utensils set, this one actually really stands out. The main image grabs the attention of anyone looking through the results with it's simplicity. The individual spatulas look bigger than those in the competitor hero images, which makes it easier to make out the details even before clicking on the listing itself. Let's go into the listing itself and see what else we can find.

For this listing the seller has made full use of the available space in the main image box, so we can find 7 main images and 1 video. Additionally, for most images in the main image box the product color has been changed to reflect all color options that are available. In terms of product photography, retouch and infographics graphic design, there isn't anything spectacular here. That is not to say that the photography is bad or anything, the images are perfectly fine, there just hasn't been any complex lighting setup or excessive polishing in post-production, that's it. The images have the most important quality of all, they are very informative.

2. The image that comes next is a dimensions infographic, which is basically the same as the hero image with individual spatulas moved around and added measurements and basic descriptions of each item. The dimensions image is good enough. The only thing that maybe could be improved is to put something for size comparison in the infographic, so people can picture a little better how big the items are.

We often see sellers who are looking to get kitchen product photography focus too much on food props and how prominently their logo is displayed in each image. Honestly, unless you are a super premium brand (or aspire to be a super premium brand) that shoppers will buy just to show to their friends how well they are doing financially, no one will pay that much attention to the logo. They will, however, care how well the product will do whatever they want it to do, how much it costs, and how promptly they can receive it. Anyway...

3. Next comes a very basic-looking and artificially looking image that shows a spatula against what looks like a steel cooking pan. The tip is flexible, but the handle is completely straight. This image aims to illustrate the key selling points of the spatulas, that they are sturdy and flexible. I personally really dislike cooking with  a spatula that is flimsy and wobbly to the extend that I need to change to another spatula to mix and move the ingredients around with confidence. This image does it's job very well, the message and clear. Ironically, this is an image that many sellers would reject and be unhappy about, but it does a great job at communicating. I wouldn't change this image at all.

4. The forth of the main images in this Amazon product listing is a very dramatic image of a spatula hanging out undisturbed in a pot of boiling water over a stove top that is turned on to max capacity. Anyone who has ever picked-up a phone call from their best friend and forgotten a boiling soup with a spatula inside only to finish the happy chat and come back to a completely dissolved utensil and dinner that needs to be thrown away knows that importance of having hear resistant kitchen utensils, and not just a little bit heat-resistant, but heavy-duty heat resistant. This image shows precisely that.

4.5.

5. And if anyone still had any doubts, the following image shows someone actively cooking with the "Heat Resistant" headline in even bigger font than the previous image. While this image features basic food styling and the photography angle is not particularly impressive, this image show that you can use the spatula to cook and won't be eating bits of it with your food later.

6.The sixth product photo is very funny, this is an image of a very basic 3d rendered/ AI generated scene next to a sink with water coming out of the tap onto a spatula that is floating in the air. I can actually hear many sellers complain if presented with this kind of image saying that it is fake, ugly, and the product and logo aren't clearly visible. However, this image has a lot going on.

First of all the background is so uninspired that no one will look at it in detail, it is also in grey tones, which draws even more of the attention to the spatula itself.

Then you have the spatula floating on its own and perfectly clean, which communicated the message that it is effortless to clean it, you don't even need to use your hands. I don't know whether this was intentional or accidental, but this kind of simple image with a clear message is much better than a more complex image with nice setting, nice model etc.

7.1 There is a bit of an inconsistency with image 7 here. If you click through all the colors you will see version 7.1 in some of the listings and 7.2 (below) in others. My guess is that 7.2 was the original image, and then the seller replaced it with 7.1 and for good reason, because image 7.1 is much more informative and help make the sale. Product photo 7.1 shows the structure of the spatulas, how they have a steel part making the core, which keeps them sturdy, and also shows the hole design that is easy to hang and by the looks of it easy to clean. No one likes moldy silicone spatula handing holes that are near impossible to clean.

7.2 This version of the last product photo shows a breakfast scene in the front and an oddly small salad bowl with utensils spread around it and almost invisible. The focus is mostly on the food. The execution isn't great and the message is confusing unless you read the text in the infographic.

A+ Content Photography + Video. The video for this silicone utensils set is decent with the model showing different applications of the spatulas like cooking, mixing salads, spreading spreads on toast and making cakes. The food styling is very basic and the model is not a professional chef, so the video and product usage look very real and not faked. The A+ content images are actually mostly screenshots from the video. They are not as strong as the main images in their message, so I will not analyze them in depth, but they help show that the product is as described. I quite like that mix of overly simplified and clear messaging in the main box and then real-life usage examples without excessive styling and retouching to show that the product is real.

Verdict: Overall the listing approach is very practical and functional. The production of the product photos, graphic design, video, and 3d render in the video for this product together shouldn't have cost over US$800. The concept creation would have taken the seller some time or if outsourced, the creative concept development may have cost a bit more.

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IIb. The next listing we will review is "Umite Chef Kitchen Cooking Utensils Set, 33 pcs Non-Stick Silicone Cooking Kitchen Utensils Spatula Set with Holder, Wooden Handle Silicone Kitchen Gadgets Utensil Set (Khaki) "

Stats:

- Pieces in Set: 33 pcs

- List Price: $32.99 ($0.99/piece)

- Date First Available: February 26, 2020

- Bought in Past Month: 7K units

- Number of Reviews: 27.8K (this number changed to 28.6K in the week I was writing this article)

1. The main image for this product is a lot busier than the previous listing we looked at. I would go as far as say that in terms of creativity the image blends into the search results and listing image itself doesn't really attract a click. The photo still does a good job of presenting of what the set includes and the post-production quality is very good, the seller ordered more than basic retouch and it shows in the cleanliness of the image.

2. The next product photo shows the whole set laid-out on a tabletop with a few minimal props, but one of these props is very interesting. You will notice the Smeg toaster. Technically, I believe the seller needs to retouch out the Smeg logo and not show it, but no one has made a problem with the listing, so they are using the prop to associate their product with a high-end brand, implying that their products are also high-end. Actually, without the toaster, I would say the photo is not great, the individual items are not very visible at this angle and the colors don't make the product pop-out. In fact the main thing I focus on looking at the image is the toaster. I guess this was the aim.

3. The third main image box image shows six scenarios where the utensils can be used. Since there are 33 pieces, only  a few of the pieces can be highlighted and the seller has done this here， placing 6 utensils together into one infographic. The images are basic close-ups showing fix of the spatulas.

4. The forth of the main images in this Amazon product listing is a flatlay still life image of the main spatulas in an abstract setting with a few rather random props and text describing the material.

4.

5. Next we see an image of utensils in a basket with the title that says "Heat Resistant". There is nothing in the image suggesting that the items are heat-resistance, and how hear-resistant they are.

6.Next we see three selling points fit together in one infographic with text saying "durable silicone", “heat resistant", "easy to clean". This is 3 images occupying the top 1/3 of the image and in the bottom we find an image of 3 of the utensils hung on a rather strange hanging stand.

7. The last image is a cutout assembly of three utensils photoshopped over images of soup, salad and cooked pasta. The image looks very fake.

Let's Move on to Review the A+ Content Photography

1 This landscape of an infographic we saw before. The focus is still largely on the toaster and the props are quite random. The image is also quite confusing, because it seems to include more items than what is actually included in the set, and there is nowhere that lists and labels every item. That point definitely is a block, because not everyone will contact sales support to ask, most people will just move on to the next listing.

2 This version shows of the infographic seems to show all the things included in the set. Personally, I am still confused what the 33 pieces are. I counted everything in the above images and it looks like that hook things are counted for one piece each. The header of the infographic says "33 Pcs Wooden Handle Kitchen Utensils", which is misleading. Even if we agree that there are 33 pieces in this set, it is definitely not true that these pieces have wooden handles. Only 10 pcs have wooden utensils.

3 In this infographic we have the misleading header again. It is somewhat interesting that this doesn't feature in any of the main image infographics, but is present in 2 infographics in the A+ content. Generally, we advise against misleading text or text that can be interpreted to be something that the product is not.

4 Next we have a features A+ infographic about the holes of that holder.

5. Then we see a photo showing wooden handles that are "anti-hot", which is a bit of an off choice of words. I would think the benefit of wood is that it is comfortable to handle, kitchen utensils that get hot while cooking are quite rare, especially those that have silicone heads.

6 In this infographic, the seller tried to illustrate that there is stainless steel core and highlight that the silicone is heat resistant. I would say this is not a very high impact image. Both points get a little lost.

7 Lastly we have "Hanging Hole", without any special features, just hanging hole that makes the product easy to store, allegedly. The backdrop is also a very fake looking image with props that don't contribute anything to the a

Product Video. This product listing does have a video, which features a showcase of all colors and someone using the utensils to prepare pasta, pasta sauce, steak, and something I can't identify. This video production clearly shows the utensils, the food styling is very basic, but it shows the versatility of the set.

Verdict: This listing is quite messy. The main image draws attention with its clear post-production, but in the following images the key selling points of the product are not presented well at all. This looks like not much time was spent on concept development, probably a very basic brief was given to the product photography company expecting them to create the concept, but they wouldn't have had time to do that free of charge, and they just took some images that show some features in a basic way.

These 2 listings are quite different. I definitely prefer the first listing more and it is not surprising that the amount of sales they make per month is almost 3 times as many as the nearest competitor. The second listing looks OK at first glance, but it has a lot of missed opportunities and small things that would make buyers leave the listing without buying.

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