Written by Brian Segnit
The Xerox Photo Guy
Xerox Corporation
…Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. With respect to Mel Tormé and Bob Wells, it’s just about that time of year again! As we turn the calendar over to December, the countdown to the holidays has officially begun. Every station on your radio dial had already been playing holiday music since you found your kid’s candy wrappers spread across the living room floor the day after Halloween, but it’s different now that we’ve entered December.
Putting holiday shopping, family gatherings, and colder weather aside, let’s turn our focus towards your business for a moment. What are the holiday times typically like for you? Is it manically hectic or are you experiencing a year-end lull?
In today’s marketplace, opportunities are everything – especially ones that have the potential to reap huge financial gains. With the holidays in full-swing, now is a very opportunistic time to consider expanding your business to include photo offerings, namely greeting cards – a market that recorded more than $7.5 billion in sales this past year.
According to research recently conducted by InfoTrends, the photo merchandise market is forecasted to reach $2.2 billion in revenues by 2015. On top of that, this market represents a space full of opportunity that is largely unscathed – as a survey revealed that only 32% of respondents had purchased any type of photo merchandise in the past year.
Want more proof? Paperless Post, a $12.3 million company who makes their living by specializing in eCards (sending 60 million to date), received requests from 50% of their customer base asking them to begin offering printed versions of their cards, despite a price point 10x more costly than their eCards. Talk about a lucrative business proposition!
How many greeting cards do you personally send out around the holidays? How many of your existing clients do you think would be interested in sending holiday cards to friends, family, or business prospects? Now think about your business and the potential profit that exists by offering this service to your clients. Even outside of the holidays, opportunities exist for announcement, save-the-date, and congratulatory cards. These are all perfect applications for your Xerox 770 Digital Color Press, and can be run efficiently, productively, and profitably.
If you are interested in how you can get involved in the greeting card market, along with important considerations for media types and finishing capabilities, you’ll want to be sure to check out our video at http://xrx.sm/DsE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsWAmyJR6h8&feature=youtu.be
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5 Comments
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Great stats, Brian. Beyond greeting cards, calendars and photo books present a huge opportunity as well. We already have the largest selection of calendars in the world and now we’ve introduced personalization products too. With our Custom Photo Wall Calendars app http://www.calendars.com/personalcalendar , customers can easily create a full-sized wall calendar with their own photos, professional images from our gallery, or a mixture of both. Plus, they can add their own events and reminders. Each month features one, full-bleed photo, and they are printed on a Xerox iGen4 press with 26” capability. Today we launched Personalized Social Photo Books http://www.calendars.com/photo-book/ where customers can instantly transform photos from their Facebook, Instagram or computer into an 18-page, 5×7 photo book. It’s all very exciting for us at Calendars.com! Thanks for the post.
Robert, thanks for the comment. Love your calendar sites. Now I know where I can do my Christmas shopping for some iGen printed calendars. I read that American’s buy 52 million calendars a year – hope you get your share of personalized photo calendars this holiday season. A personalized photo calendar makes an awesome gift – something that tells your family, friends, and even customers that you really love them. Hey, ‘the medium is the message’, tell it in a way with photos that lasts 365 days! Good luck and Happy Holidays! Brian (brian.segnit@xerox.com)
Brian, nice job of explaining the opportunity. So interesting how paper based products such as those mentioned above, can really help someone scream out ” you are special to me” in today’s impersonal social media world that we live in. Whether your objective is personal or commercial, being heard among all the electronic distracting chatter can be the key to success.
Ed
PS: I have already built my 2013 “Best Grandpa Calendar” for my grand kids, that will be proudly stuffed in their Christmas stockings.
Season of Wishing Cards has been started.. i just love your Personalized Social Photo Book as it will be a surprising gift.
Folder Printing – the season has begun! Hope you are finding success and opportunities in the photo market this season!
In regards to the Personalized Social Photo Book you mention – we did produce a personalized calendar for attendees at Graph Expo and drupa, featuring content from their Facebook account. To read more about that solution, you’ll want to check out: http://xrx.sm/DtM
Happy Holidays!