AI Product Imagery Drives Purchase Growth

Overview

Stockmann, a leading Nordic retailer, had challenges to scale its e-commerce catalog visuals as traditional photoshoots proved expensive, time-intensive, and operationally restrictive. By co-creating an AI-powered image enrichment solution with us, powered by Gemini AI, Stockmann transformed existing product images into compelling lifestyle visuals within minutes.More

Stockmann, a leading Nordic retailer, had challenges to scale its e-commerce catalog visuals as traditional photoshoots proved expensive, time-intensive, and operationally restrictive. By co-creating an AI-powered image enrichment solution with us, powered by Gemini AI, Stockmann transformed existing product images into compelling lifestyle visuals within minutes. Through a 30-day pilot program across 298 products, they achieved an 11% increase in product views, 8% growth in total purchases, and purchase growth of up to 314% in men's formal wear, proving that AI imagery is a direct commercial lever.

Less
global-telecom-provider-thumb

Business Challenge

Stockmann is a prominent Nordic retail brand operating across multiple countries and categories. Its high-volume eCommerce business demands rich, consistent product visuals, especially in fashion and apparel, where model imagery drives discovery, engagement, and conversions. However, the company relied on physical photoshoots to produce these visuals, making the process expensive, time-consuming, and impossible to scale for long-tail and seasonal products. Additionally, a large portion of the catalog lacked enriched model imagery, resulting in inconsistent customer experience and missed revenue opportunities. The absence of ready visuals delayed seasonal launches and directly impacted cost conversions. Stockmann needed a smarter, faster way to create production-ready visuals at catalog scale, and we helped to deliver it.

Our Approach and Solution

We designed and deployed an end-to-end AI image enrichment pipeline to convert existing product images into eCommerce-ready model visuals. Its key capabilities include:

AI-Powered Image Generation

Leveraging Gemini AI, the solution generates lifestyle and model images directly from public product image URLs.

Prompt Automation

Through an automated prompt layer, the model auto-generates base prompts and keywords, ensuring consistent, brand-aligned output with minimal manual effort.

Self-Service Interface

Using a react-based self-service frontend, it supports controlled, on-demand image creation.

Scalable Architecture

Operating on a Fast API-based backend hosted on AWS, the solution orchestrates all AI calls and image processing in a secure, scalable architecture.

PIM Workflow Integration

By automatically integrating Stockmann's STEP PIM workflows, the solution enables buyer-level approvals and validations to ensure quality-assured visuals reach eCommerce channels.

Secure Governance

A robust governance layer ensures brand consistency while equipping business teams with full ownership of outputs with no incremental operational overhead and zero dependency on photoshoot logistics.

Business and Community Impact

The strategic effort delivered tangible gains across operations, resulting in:

  • Increased Product Views: AI-enhanced imagery delivered a whopping 11% increase in product views, leading to stronger customer engagement.
  • Growth in Purchase: Total purchases increased by 8%, with transaction volumes rising despite temporary revenue pressure from winter sale pricing and stock unavailability in key sizes.
  • Stable Conversion Performance: Conversion rates remained steady throughout the pilot, reinforcing the reliability and consistency of AI-generated visuals.
  • Category-level Acceleration: Men's formal wear recorded +314% purchase growth (7 to 29 units), men's trend fashion grew +179% (308 to 859 units), and women's contemporary recorded +175% growth (4 to 11 units).
  • Faster Time-to-Market: Images that previously required weeks now go live in minutes, eliminating even the bottlenecks of seasonal launches.
  • Comprehensive Coverage and Scalable Architecture: Long-tail products that previously lacked enriched visuals are now fully supported. Additionally, the reusable architecture now scales across the entire catalog

AI-generated images successfully drove higher customer engagement across our eCommerce platform. Transaction volume increased despite external headwinds—and in categories like men's formal wear, we saw purchase growth of over 300%. The results have shown us that AI imagery isn't just a cost-saving tool; it is a direct driver of commercial performance.

Senior eCommerce Leader,
Stockmann