The all-new Shapes Defined Content Platform simplifies local and global content creation
Given that the e-commerce landscape globally has completely transformed the content creation industry, Shapes Defined, founded in the UAE in 2017, remains ahead of the curve as the largest studio and leader in digital content creation in the Middle East.
Market changes created the need to automate the process from physical to digital, as customers, SMEs, and large enterprises required faster responses and turnaround times to take their products online while maintaining top quality, digital inventory, cataloguing, editing, and copywriting. This in turn has led Shapes Defined to innovate the entire content creation process.
Shapes Defined has successfully addressed the rising demand of client content needs by delivering streamlined and seamless product cataloguing as the only fully automated studio in the Middle East, able to handle large volumes of products by using their proprietary Shapes Defined Content Platform to create the highest quality images quickly and efficiently.
The facilities are fully equipped with the latest technology in lighting and software, complete with a highly skilled and capable team to assist and simplify the entire process for local and global clients. Through the use of the Shapes Defined Content Platform, clients benefit from the ease of providing immediate feedback on uploaded images. Additionally, designers can simultaneously modify the images in real-time rather than wait for the standard 8 of 10 days to 2 weeks turnaround time before receiving the photos, saving the client both time and money with the elimination of operational inefficiencies, and high-priced content creation. The service can be stepped up with Shapes Defined Copywriters for integrated solutions to their e-commerce requirements. Real-time responsiveness is crucial for businesses to increase their turnaround time and have ready content to suit their needs.
The platform truly addresses the end-to-end needs of all stakeholders, providing images of superior quality and colour, and detail, to fully immerse the end-user in the product and its attributes before purchase, as though they were actually in the store. This is all achievable through the latest technology used by Shapes Defined.
Through the platform, Shapes Defined sells images, videos, and content writing to e-commerce businesses in a convenient, fast and automated way globally while retaining quality with an unparalleled ability to handle a high volume of products.
Within less than 48 hours after booking a session, the products are delivered or picked up, shot, edited, and sent to the client for approval along with any changes. Shapes Defined has revolutionised the process to be fast, simple, and efficient.
Shapes Defined Co-Founder, tech entrepreneur and influential female business leader Muna Salah, is on a mission to democratise access to e-commerce in the region and beyond. She started early building her career at Microsoft and Goldman Sachs paving the way for women in technology. With over 10 years of regional start-up and technology experience, she has also founded several businesses in various industries. In 2017, Muna founded Shapes Defined anticipating the growth of global e-commerce, and with the intention of becoming a pioneer in product cataloguing around the world.
Capitalising on her team’s industry expertise, 40 highly talented and technology-savvy members have learned valuable lessons from the inherent workflow challenges during Shapes Defined’s first year in business, where Muna constantly prioritised client feedback above all. With this in mind, she brought on board a team of world-class developers, to both visualise and create a factory-like studio for photography solutions with a built-in automated workflow. Her keen eye for trends combined with her entrepreneurial spirit helped her recognize the emergence and importance of this fast-growing industry 5 years ago. She then catapulted Shapes Defined studio towards unprecedented growth during the pandemic, establishing the company as the first organisation to use fully automated studio technology in the Middle East.
Muna said: “We are the only integrated platform with a comprehensive library of solutions built to support E-commerce digital content delivery processes at high quality. With over 600 clients within 12+ industry sectors, from fashion, jewellery, and cosmetics all the way to furniture and larger items, we are experts at capturing products of any type, size, shape, and category. Generating monthly over 150,000 images, videos, 360 animations as well as 3D imagery combined from an average of 30,000 products, all we care about is giving our clients an immersive buying experience through our content and variety of scopes. Their success is our success. We see ourselves as enablers.”
“Throughout the years of dealing with our clients, we noticed that businesses find it extremely difficult to digitise their products. There are a lot of different steps until the product is online.” Muna continued. “We identified the struggles when dealing with large volumes and streamlined all the process, making it extremely simple to use by bringing the best parts of the physical customer experience into the digital realm in the simplest manner with no headaches for the clients or the studios. We want to take our practice and give it to the other studios to adopt as part of our expansion and are currently working on implementing meta projects, upgrading all flow from physical presence to the world wide web.”
Shapes Defined proprietary software is incomparable, providing quick turnaround and consistent quality which is the most beneficial for e-commerce clients. The magic behind the scenes includes closely working with each and every client to meet their individual needs while delivering products of superior quality with an exceedingly fast turnaround time thanks to the latest technology providing superior picture quality. With clients including the largest e-commerce giants in the region such as Amazon and Majid Al Futtaim, more businesses are recognizing the need for this seamless service to better showcase their product offerings and better connect with their consumers.
Shapes Defined has completed a seed funding round led by Access Bridge Ventures recognized the potential and is powering its expansion regionally starting with KSA with a mission to make digital content available and accessible to all. This is still the beginning of the journey for Shapes Defined with plans for additional regional & global expansion. Starting in 2023, the brand’s growth across the GCC and MENA will further define them as pioneers in the phygital (physical & digital) world. Stay on the lookout!
