When the budget only covers one, the honest answer is that photos and video do different jobs. Which to cut depends on where your buyer currently stops, not on which format is fashionable.

What photos still do best

Sell the shelf and the grid. A product page, a marketplace listing and a category page all need clean stills, and video does not replace them. Photos also survive resizing, cropping and reuse in ways video does not.

What only video can do

Resolve a doubt. How big it really is, how it moves, how it opens, what it sounds like, whether it fits a small apartment. Every one of those is a reason somebody does not buy, and no still image answers them.

Look at where the drop happens

If people reach the product page and leave without adding to cart, the problem is a doubt and more photos will not fix it. If people never reach the page at all, the problem is upstream and video for advertising is the lever.

The marketplace factor in Mexico

Mercado Libre and Amazon listings live or die on images, and the image requirements are strict. A brand selling mostly through marketplaces has less freedom to cut photography than one selling through its own site.

The pragmatic split

Photos for the page, video for the ads and for the two or three doubts that cost you the most returns. That covers both jobs without pretending either format can do the other's work.

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Frequently asked questions

What do photos do best?

Sell the shelf and the grid.

What can only video do?

Resolve a doubt that blocks the purchase.

How do I decide what to cut?

Look at where buyers actually stop.

Does selling on marketplaces change it?

Yes, image requirements are strict there.