RawPixel

From stock image studio to independent marketplace

RAWPIXEL is one of the world’s biggest producers and sellers of stock imagery. They sell approximately 10,000 images a day (April 2017). They have a reputation in the market for the high quality of their images, which capture realistic scenarios and are used by everyone from independent bloggers to global brands.

Image studio RawPixel was growing at rapid speed. But soon they found this growth limited by the platforms they sold on. They needed a space where they could showcase their images, get full credit for their work, and take more control of revenues. So they turned to Fluxus to develop an image platform of their own and support them as they built a fanbase ahead of its launch.

A stock image power seller

In November 2016 RawPixel was a stock image seller on top of its game. A hobby for the company’s founder had grown to become a successful business selling over 5,000 images a day. These images were sold on the world’s most well-known image sites - Getty, Shutterstock and iStock - and available to users around the world.

Wings clipped by global platforms

The same giant image-selling platforms that had introduced RawPixel to an audience of millions soon became their greatest challenge. At first, commissions of 50 to 90 % had been fine - sales volumes made up for the high rates - but when the platforms shifted from pay-per-image to subscription models, RawPixel’s revenues fell. Soon RawPixel began to see other flaws with the platforms, such as brand awareness. The studio’s strength had always been the quality of its images. And yet when a user bought one, they would often assume it to be the platform’s work. Uncredited, RawPixel had no way to build its brand on the popularity of these images. Data was another major difficulty. The platforms gave RawPixel no access to valuable business intelligence - such as trending search terms - that would allow it to match its studio output to market demands. In short, the agency model was no longer working.

“Even though we have hundreds of thousands of customers, a lot of them don’t know they’re buying our images.”

Louise Churchill
Managing Director, Rawpixel

The search for a solution

For RawPixel the answer was clear: they needed to develop a platform to sell their own pictures. First they worked with a development agency, then they hired their own developer to work on the project. In both cases, progress was difficult. Continuing to search for a developer with the required expertise, RawPixel came to Fluxus. When they heard about Fluxus’s experience, including their work on BBC Store - at the time, ‘Europe’s biggest media project’ - they decided to trust them with the project. Fluxus put together a bespoke team for the project with a deliberate focus to keep it as small and lean as possible. This was made up of a front-end specialist, an enterprise-level developer with architecture and server expertise for the back-end asset management, and technical manager leading the team through the early phases. They worked in the RawPixel offices, which allowed them stay close to the client team, mould their approach to the internal ways of working and adapt quickly to shifting priorities in the business.

“We’re a young company, we’re dynamic. We wanted to launch the website quickly, with the flexibility to change and adapt. So we wanted someone who could fit with that.”

Louise Churchill
Managing Director, Rawpixel

Planning a platform of their own

After spending time at the RawPixel office, getting to know the studio workflow and business structure, we suggested an impact -driven development workshop. RawPixel were unwilling to compromise on their ambitious vision for the project, but budgets were tight. In the workshop the Fluxus team started by visualising the ideal platform, then stripped away unnecessary features until they arrived at a play that would be able to deliver to RawPixel’s high expectations and budget.

“We wanted to adopt an agile way of working. We had a design in mind... and in the workshop, Fluxus helped us prioritise which features to put in the original, so that we could launch as quickly as possible.”

Louise Churchill
Managing Director, Rawpixel

Building momentum

RawPixel was a major contributor to the global image platforms. On Shutterstock, they were the biggest. Therefore during development they would have to balance the need to build a following for their own platform while maintaining their following from other platforms. The team’s solution to this challenge was a three-phase development. Phase one would be a simple preview site. Phase two would expand on this to create a more engaging story-based experience. Phase three would be the full ecommerce launch.

Building the Rawpixel platform

An agile delivery approach allowed the team to go live with phase one in just 40 days. This early version of the site gave the RawPixel team a solid foundation for their marketing activity. RawPixel then posted one free image each day and promoted it on social media. This was the ‘sweet spot’: just enough to drive crucial user acquisition ahead of launch, but not so much as to alert the major image platforms. As time went on, the preview site also served as an effective test bed for new features.

“Fluxus took our plans and progressed them quickly using an agile development methodology.”

“We wanted to build a simple website we could go live with quickly. This would give us a presence and a hub for our social media activity.”

Louise Churchill
Managing Director, Rawpixel

Innovating to deliver on budget

During the planning session, it became clear that the project scope exceeded budget available for the initial phases. This led the team to investigate different routes that would enable them to build the high-quality solution RawPixel desired, while still delivering on time and on budget. They eventually decided to integrate third-party services with the new platform. These included IMGIX - a real-time image processing and high-availability server solution - and Recurly, which would handle subscriptions.

A source of inspiration

Phase two of the project was to develop the platform from a simple site into a richer experience. Fluxus worked with the RawPixel studio team on new features that would transform the platform into a source of inspiration. These included ‘stories’, which allowed the team to present multiple images from the same shoot in a compelling, narrative. Another feature, ‘collections’, enabled them to group images into thematic collections, making it easier for customers to navigate the image library and find what they’re looking for.

During this period RawPixel recruited developers of their own as planned, having first established the viability of owning their own platform. Working as an embedded team, the Fluxus developers were able to train their counterparts in best practises. This meant that once the project was complete, RawPixel’s team had the knowledge to take control of the technology and lead the business forward. They’re now poised with both the platform and the skills to go live with their ecommerce site when the time is right.

RawPixel now has an inspiring image platform of its own. This is a place where they can connect with their own users and spotlight their brilliant images. Having aimed for 10,000 subscribers ahead of launch, they now have over 11,500. Moreover, this is a strong, engaged audience, as one user commented: “you guys have done a great job and it’s people like you that have improved the digital world.” Now they’re ready to take their next step: into the world of ecommerce.