Photographing multiple retail locations for one brand: the Lush example
A brand with several stores faces a challenge that’s simple to state but hard to pull off: getting consistent photos of every location, despite very different setups from one site to another. In 2022, Lush entrusted BMAX with the real estate photo report of its stores across southeastern France, including Nice, Aix-en-Provence and Marseille.
In this article:
- The challenge of a multi-site photo report
- What it brings to a retail brand
- Timing, cost, coverage area: your questions
- What to remember
The challenge of a multi-site photo report
Each Lush store photographed had its own setup: a downtown storefront in Nice, a downtown storefront in Aix-en-Provence, a store located in a shopping mall elsewhere in the region. A simple set of smartphone photos would give a very inconsistent result, hard to reuse together in national real estate or retail communication.
The challenge of the report was therefore to keep a consistent photographic treatment (framing, light, color grading) while adapting to each location’s constraints: narrow shopping street, mall corridor, very different natural lighting depending on the site.
What it brings to a retail brand
For a multi-site brand, having a consistent photo report of its stores serves several purposes at once: real estate communication with landlords and property companies, internal documentation for headquarters, local communication materials for each store. According to a Procos study on specialized retail (2024), 74% of multi-site brands that have their store network audited by an external photo provider go on to reuse those visuals across at least three different channels (website, social media, real estate materials).
An often underestimated benefit: these photos also serve as a reference over time, to track how a storefront evolves or to document its condition before renovation work or lease renewal.
Timing, cost, coverage area: your questions
How many stores can be covered in a single trip?
It depends on the distances between sites, but several stores in the same region can generally be covered over a few days.
Does BMAX work with other multi-site retail brands?
Yes, this type of assignment suits any brand or franchise that needs to showcase multiple locations with a consistent photo treatment.
Are the photos only useful for real estate purposes?
No, the same visuals are usually also used for retail communication and each location’s social media.
What to remember
A well-executed multi-site photo report gives a brand a consistent image, regardless of each store’s format or location. See our full report for Lush and our work for Coeur de Cigale.
This assignment is part of BMAX’s photography offering, within BMAX Studio.
Une version francaise de cet article est disponible : Photographier plusieurs points de vente d’une meme enseigne : l’exemple Lush
Does your brand have several stores that need photo coverage?
Let’s talk for 30 minutes, BMAX supports brands and retailers across the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region and Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur with their digital communication.
