One catalog, 30 plus brands, consistent store

A major multi-brand retailer managing 30 plus labels turned to PixelPhant for one thing: make the entire catalog look like a single, premium store while keeping their photographers and workflows intact. We created a production-grade image pipeline that standardized edits, automated intake, enforced QC, and consolidated billing. The result: predictable quality, far fewer reshoots, and one monthly invoice.

Executive summary

An anonymized retailer with 30 plus brands and a high monthly image volume came to PixelPhant with a familiar problem made worse by scale. Each brand used its own photographers, file conventions, and shot preferences. The catalog looked inconsistent, reshoot rates were high, order tracking was fragmented, and accounting faced dozens of micro invoices daily.

We designed a production-ready image operation. Core components: modular editing specs, automated intake and manifest validation, a color and consistency pipeline, multi-step quality control, deduplication, SKU mapping and store-ready delivery, plus consolidated monthly billing. The retailer kept their photographers and creative teams. PixelPhant became the invisible operations layer that turned distributed inputs into one predictable output.

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Client profile

• Retailer type: multi-brand ecommerce and marketplace seller.
• Brands under management: 30 plus distinct labels, covering apparel, accessories, footwear, and seasonal goods.
• Monthly image volume: high thousands of images per month (varied by season).
• Image mix: packshots, flatlays, on-model editorial, detail shots for product pages and marketplace feeds.
• Stakeholders: merchandising, creative directors, in-house QA, finance, and multiple contracted photographers.

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Problems we were asked to solve

• Visual inconsistency across the catalog. The same product style looked different by brand or photographer.
• High reshoot and rework rates because uploads failed marketplace or site requirements.
• Fragmented order flow. The client placed many small daily orders, with duplicates and partial manifests that caused overlaps and processing errors.
• No clear traceability. It was difficult to map a final file back to a shoot, SKU, or photographer.
• Accounting overload. Dozens of separate invoices and micro charges each month created reconciliation friction.

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What we delivered – the system overview

We delivered a full, operational image platform that includes:

• Modular editing specs per brand and per shot type.
• Flexible intake: SFTP, dashboard upload and API.
• Manifest validation with required fields and automated filename and resolution checks.
• Visual hash based duplicate detection and checksum verification.
• Brand-specific color workflows, ICC profiles and LUT support.
• Non-destructive retouch stacks and preset actions for common defects.
• Two-tier quality control: automated checks plus human spot reviews.
• SKU mapping and store-ready exports matched to client CMS fields.
• Centralized dashboard for order management and live collaboration.
• Monthly consolidated postpaid invoice with line items grouped by spec and order date.

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Detailed work flow

Phase 1 – Audit and discovery

We audited a representative sample of 1,200 to 2,000 images across brands and shot types to build a practical baseline. Audit findings included:

• Distribution of formats and capture resolutions.
• Photographer specific color shifts and lighting patterns.
• Recurring defects such as lint, glare, background spill, misaligned crops and inconsistent shadows.
• Typical retouch requirements grouped by shot type.

Deliverables: visual inconsistency map, prioritized defect log, and a recommended spec matrix that balanced brand identity with marketplace rules.

Phase 2 – Spec design and profile creation

We designed a two-layer specification system:

• Brand profiles: target white balance, texture handling, contrast curve, shadow depth and background tone tuned per brand.
• Shot-type modules: packshot, flatlay, on-model, editorial, and close-up detail modules with clear actions for each.

Each job is a composition of a brand profile and a shot module. Clients select the profile and module, add micro-requests such as crop ratio or export sizes, and upload.

Phase 3 – Automation and integrations

Intake options adapted to the client tech stack:

• SFTP drops with CSV manifests, direct dashboard upload, or API push from client DAM.
• Manifest validation requires order_id, sku, filename, shot_type, brand_id and spec_id.
• Preflight checks include file type normalization, automatic ICC application when available, resolution and DPI checks.
• Duplicate detection via visual hashing prevents identical images from being reprocessed and double billed.

Phase 4 – Color and consistency pipeline

We built the technical backbone for visual cohesion:

• Brand-specific ICC profiles and LUTs created from camera patch charts and client approved references.
• Softproofing stage for web and marketplace export profiles.
• Non-destructive retouch stacks and preset actions for dust removal, reflection control and texture preservation.
• Shadow rules to generate consistent contact shadows for packshots and store-ready derivatives for on-model images.

Phase 5 – Quality control and human review

Two-tier QC prevents downstream waste:

• Tier 1 automated checks: file integrity, crop and aspect ratio, resolution, metadata, color gamut clipping and duplicate detection.
• Tier 2 human checks: sample-based visual review against brand references. Reviewers rotate to avoid approval bias.
• Acceptance checklist includes naming, metadata, artifact free backgrounds, consistent color, correct shadow placement, and no missed defects.

If a batch fails QC it is routed back with annotated feedback for rework or flagged for reshoot when necessary.

Phase 6 – Delivery and store mapping

Delivery is automated and structured:

• Generate all required derivatives and aspect ratios in a single run.
• Apply naming conventions that map to client CMS SKU fields.
• Auto-upload to client S3 and provide CSV feeds mapping final filenames to SKU for quick bulk import.

Phase 7 – Billing and reporting

We simplified accounts payable:

• Order-level tracking records each image and spec used.
• Visual hash deduplication prevents double billing.
• Single consolidated invoice at month end showing grouped line items by order date, spec, and image count.
• Weekly production CSV and monthly visual consistency report with before and after samples and a record of issues resolved.

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Special workflows and guardrails

• Photographer guidance packet with compact rules: include a color chart for difficult fabrics, consistent naming convention, exposure bracket recommendations and capture angles. This reduced avoidable fixes.
• Repeat image policy: identical uploads are linked to previously processed assets rather than reprocessed.
• Partial order handling: dashboard retains open order ids so missing files can be appended to the same job without fragmentation.
• SLA model: standard and express lanes depending on priority with clear turnaround windows and escalation points.

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Security, governance and traceability

• Role based access control in the dashboard.
• Audit logs for every upload, edit, approval and export with timestamps and user ids.
• Encrypted transfers and secured S3 delivery. Cold archive only on client confirmation.
• Version history and clear mapping from final file to original photographer id and order id for dispute resolution.

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Real outcomes

These are the results the client observed within the first 90 days of the program:

• Visual coherence: catalog pages now read as one store rather than a patchwork of brands.
• Reshoots: reshoot requests dropped by 60 percent through capture rules and improved QC.
• Throughput: processing throughput increased threefold during seasonal peaks while maintaining quality.
• Finance: accounts payable workload for image invoices reduced by roughly 80 percent thanks to a single consolidated monthly invoice.
• Traceability: every published file can be traced back to photographer, order id and spec, cutting resolution time for disputes by hours.

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Key takeaways

• Modular brand profiles and shot modules scale across dozens of brands without losing brand nuance.
• Manifest discipline and visual hashing eliminate most duplicate processing and billing errors.
• Centralized dashboards turn chaotic daily uploads into auditable, trackable batches.
• Consolidated billing removes a major operational friction point between creative operations and finance.