Love From Australia (LFA) design and make sheepskin boots and sell them to upmarket boutiques across the globe. In a marketplace now flooded with many branded and unbranded versions of the original iconic Aussie ‘ugg’ boot, LFA are best known for their customised designs adding a little glamour and style to the traditional silhouette. Taking a smaller share of the high end market alongside super-brand Ugg Australia, LFA have a loyal following but are still largely product-lead and rely heavily on their website as a shop window to promote the brand. The website is also used to display the collection to potential new stockists and therefore the way the boots are presented online is hugely important.

LFA wanted a cost effective way to drive sales and promote their collections through their stockist base. One of the key requirements from LFA was to provide as much information to online customers as possible in an intuitive and enjoyable way, while keeping within budget for the entire project. The proposal put forward by ViewFX included bespoke Product Photography, Dynamic Interactive Images and Digital Editions. The target was to increase customer experience while reducing costs on the ground - both of which were successfully achieved.
Over 300 products were photographed for the AW08 collection, all of which were globally available live on our system. These were published as Product Zooms, Digital Editions or 360 Degree Product Spins within 2 days of shooting!

Digital publishing solutions implemented:

 Digital Editions
 Dynamic Interactive Images
 360 Degree Photography
 Product Photography

• Initial marketing and press material distributed internationally within 1 week of the products being photographed
• Reduced photographic costs by 45%
• Reduced marketing distribution costs by a massive 65%
• Reduced production costs on the ground by 33%
• Reduced environmental impact - something close to LFA’s heart
• Reduced customer service enquiries

Ugg is a generic term in Australia. It means ‘pull on sheepskin boot’, but the name itself comes from the word ugly and let’s face it, even with LFA’s clever on-trend twists and extra bows and sparkles, it is challenging to get a beautiful and interesting product shot that makes our buyers reach for an order pad or a customer run to a store.
Where ViewFX has been so brilliant for us is that it has made the process of looking at a flat product shot online interesting and interactive. That has proved a very powerful advantage when selling to the boutiques who are often too busy to view the actual collection in person but too wary to just buy blind. The zoom tool means they can look at the finish and quality close-up, even examining every stitch and every crystal!

Our next step is to roll it out to our stockists and we hope to see the same set of high quality, beautiful product shots across all our sellers' websites. The zoom tool will enable shoppers to have a good look before they buy, enhancing their buying experience and minimising returns. We'll also be investigating web video more in 2009 and exploring what possibilities it can offer across the social media.