GS1 Mobile Ready Hero Image (MRHI): challenges, definition and implementation

Consumers are increasingly shopping through their mobile phones. 79% of smartphone¹ owners used their device to make a purchase in 2021.

To adapt to these new shopping habits, the Global Standards organization GS1² designed a set of instructions to help brands improve the shopper experience on mobile phones through « Mobile Ready Hero Image » (MRHI).

Read about the challenges of the growing use of mobile phones in eCommerce and how MRHI can meet these challenges.

The rise of eCommerce on mobile phones

Shoppers now see their smartphones as an essential means of researching products before purchasing. 49% of shoppers³ use their device to compare prices and 30% to find out more about a product.

Despite this increased use of smartphones, shoppers often come across problems of poor‑quality display on the mobile versions of eCommerce sites. 67% of shoppers¹ say that the links on these websites are not clickable and 20%⁴ that these links do not provide access to detailed product information. The main causes mentioned are screens that are « too small » (12.9 cm or 5 inches on average), the possibility of scrolling faster⁵ than on other devices (PC, tablet…) and difficulties linked to navigation¹.

Problems of display make it difficult for shoppers to research products and can lead to purchasing errors. For example, they may misidentify a product or choose the wrong volume or quantity⁶ : 5 OZ (150 ml), 8 OZ (250 ml) or 2 x 5 OZ (150 ml).

GS1 Mobile Ready Hero Image: definition, characteristics and implementation

MRHI: definition

MRHI are the type of visuals that resolve readability problems on mobile phones and help shoppers to research products.

These visuals allow businesses to improve a brand's global consistently¹, to make it more visually appealing and to improve sales: with MRHI, businesses see an average increase in sales of close to 25%⁷.

What is MRHI?

The MRHI should answer these 4 questions (4Q) clearly and consistently: Who is the brand? What is its offer? What is the important product information? hoW much is there? The answers to these questions provide essential information⁸ for shoppers including the brand name, product type, volume… and should be identifiable at a glance⁹.

To get it right the brand needs to rework the original product image. For example, you could remove some non‑compulsory elements to create space on packshots⁹ or zoom into specific information such as the brand name. On some products, this zoom can be up to 150%⁸ if the product is still recognizable for shoppers in terms of shape, color and design¹.

Guidelines to implementing GS1 « Mobile Ready Hero Image »

On September 10, 2018, GS1 announced the validation of the MRHI implementation guidelines.

These guidelines complete the existing GS1 standards and provide recommendations for indicating characteristics specific to MRHI¹⁰. Valérie Mazzonie, Marketing and Innovation Director for GS1 France¹⁰ highlights the importance of these guidelines that promise « to facilitate online shopping » and improve « the conversion tunnel by making product images more consistent between brands and distributors ».

The guide helps brand owners¹ to present the right information on MRHI:

• Identify key information required by the shopper to make their purchasing decision
• Change the packaging design to make essential information immediately visible
• Present multi-packs correctly

The guide helps retailers¹ to optimize their product presentation:

• Work with brand owners to present products correctly on mobile devices
• Ensure that products presented on the Digital Shelf correspond to those presented in‑store
• Present information that is not on the packaging consistently

The benefits of MRHI

MRHI allows businesses to get the best sales results. With just one MRHI image, DELL reduced their bounce rate by 27%¹² and increased conversions by 36%¹².

This format also helped well-known eCommerce brands to boost their mobile sales: Ben & Jerry's increased their sales by 3.6%¹³, Dove by 22%¹³, and Magnum by 24%¹³...

Manage your MRHI with PIM

Product Information Management (PIM) with integrated DAM (Digital Asset Management) functionalities help businesses to guarantee the compliance of MRHI with GS1 standards.

PIM solutions with an integrated DAM guarantee the quality of product information and allow you to manage a multitude of digital resources relating to products including MRHI. PIM also allows you to adapt digital assets (crop, pivot, improve focus…)and link them seamlessly to product information such as brand names, product types, volumes or capacity…

Goaland PIM has an integrated Digital Assets Management system (DAM) and can also connect to existing DAM solutions such as EPHOTO DAM, Phraseanet or Xinet WebNative Suite.

¹ Joshi, S. (2024, January 18). 39 Smartphone Sales and Usage Statistics.
² GS1 France. A propos de GS1 France.
³ Sapardic, J. (2024, March 7). Top 10+ Mobile Commerce Statistics for 2024 [Report]. Tidio.
⁴ Skim. (2017, November 22). Mobile Ready Hero Images : Optimizing eContent for faster, easier online shopping. SlideShare.
⁵ Digital, N. W. (2020, September 14). Mobile ready Hero Images — the ingredient for explosive sales growth (Exclusively for online retailers). Medium.
⁶ Product Image Standards and Guidelines. GS1.
⁷ Bradley, O. (2016, September 7). What is a mobile ready hero image ? LinkedIn.
⁸ GS1 Mobile Ready Hero Images Guideline. (2022, October). gs1.org.
⁹ Smolinski, D. Best practices for creating Mobile Ready Hero Images on Amazon. Best Practices For Creating Mobile Ready Hero Images On Amazon.
¹⁰ Saegeman, P. (2019, August 16). Are your products sold online ? You need optimized pack shots. CHILI Publish.
¹¹ Nation, E. (2023, January 20). Les packshots : comment améliorer vos fiches produit ? E‑Commerce Nation.
¹² GS1 France. (2018, September 11). GS1 annonce la diffusion du guide de mise en oeuvre « Mobile Ready Hero Image ».