In the Philippines, a Picture Paints a Thousand Words—and Money

For many years, professional photography was an underrated business and profession. Times have changed with the growing popularity of e-commerce and social media.

These two, though, also raise the standards of photography. In fact, it has already become necessary to consider photo editing services for photographers. The reason: only the polished, high-quality photos will likely convert.

People Are Highly Visual

Not all people in the world are visual learners, but they account for over 60% of the population, which is a lot.

According to 3M Corporation, the brain can process visuals more than 50,000 times than words. Haig Kouyoumdjian, Ph.D., also reveals that the body’s command center can store visual information better than text.

It is because words are abstract, while pictures are more concrete. Second, a significant part of the brain works to process images, while only a small piece goes toward words.

Another proof of the power of visuals is with picture books. Children tend to learn vocabulary and speech faster when reading materials when words appear with their images. All together, they can boost word association.

But how does this information apply to e-commerce and social media, and why should photographers bother with them?

1. E-Commerce Is a Growing Industry in the Philippines

Philippine e-commerce still pales in comparison to that of China or Indonesia. However, it is also growing rapidly. In a report by CNN Philippines, this industry earned $840 million in 2018. It was around $200 million more than in the previous year. By 2019, the expected growth rate was 10.5% annually.

The data from the ASEAN also shared that user penetration in the country was already 44% in 2018. By 2022, though, it will further grow to 46.5%. By the end of this forecast period, the annual growth rate is already 12%, while the market volume reaches over $1 billion.

2. Filipinos Are Active Social Media Users

To say that Filipinos are social creatures is an understatement. In 2019, the country was the most active social media users in the world. On average, users spent 10 hours and 2 minutes every day on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, among others. In 2018, the Philippines clocked 9 hours and 29 minutes. According to Global Web Index, in 2019, the global average of social media use was only 3 hours.

This high level of engagement on social media also matters to e-commerce. According to HubSpot, 40% of people respond better to data that contains images than words. Websites and social media that share infographics can increase their traffic by 12% compared to those that do not.

Most of all, pictures can convert visitors and users to customers and revenue. In one of the surveys by Field Agent among US smartphone users, 83% of them said that they considered images to be influential in their buying decision. A study by Etsy, an e-commerce store, meanwhile, showed that high-quality photos are a deciding factor for 90% of its users.

Photographers, indeed, now have a wider industry reach as both social media and e-commerce grow in the country. But having pictures alone may not be enough. People are now looking for quality.

Those who plan to take pictures, therefore, can benefit from investing in the right tools or working with photo editing services to create images that convert the audience into customers and even marketers.