I was speaking to Joanna Wright, Research Consultant at Futuresource Consulting recently around photo book production. Futuresource produces all sorts of photo industry data and operates as an independent consultant to the whole media and photo industry.
According to Futuresource, in Western Europe overall digital photo print revenue is expected to decline 6% during 2009. This is largely down to the decline in digital 4 x 6” photo prints at retail (declining 11% in value in 2009) with digital prints at retail peaking in volume in 2008.
However, online orders for photo prints are relatively stable, growing 4% in volume in 2009 but declining 4% in value.
In addition to this, the photo book market is expected to grow 34% in value in 2009 with the vast majority of books ordered online. The photo book is probably the most profitable application in the photo industry.
In Western Europe only 11% of photo books are ordered in a retail store, the rest are ordered online and sent directly to consumers’ homes or picked up in store.
Interestingly, Western Europe is behind the US Market in terms of retail orders where 30% of Photo books are ordered in the retail store.
I wonder how much longer Western European retailers will give up their valuable floor space for a declining market. Or will they catch on to the growing and profitable application of photo books and follow the US model….?
What do you think?
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11 Comments
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we have seen our photobooks increase at about a 4% over the pastyear. I wish somone would come out with a software that is priced resonable to incorportate into my site like shutterfly has. I know that would increase my sales by alot.
I had a personal response to this blog which I felt would interest all of you – I do not think that Europe is behind, I think we are more advanced in the
quality we expect as customers from photo books. Books ordered (and
made) in store are lower quality and in europe not considered as real photo books.
Answer to Rachel: Just Press Print,
Rachel, I can see you are in Rochester so are close to our team. We have a various US solution that can be hooked into your website. Digilabs and Pixami to name a few, please check out their websites http://www.digilabs.com and http://www.pixami.com. I will organise for someone to contact you directly with pricing information and market positioning.
Thanks for your response and best of luck for 2010!
Regards
Ursula
What does Xerox offer as tools for us to increase sales in this market?
Here is another thought, why not make the software or ProfitAccelerator items available at no charge with the thought that it will increase my sales and volume on my Xerox equipment, therefore increasing how much I send to Xerox each month in maintenance charges?
Dear Craig,
Xerox Europe offer their customers a Point of Sale pack free of charge, this includes a Surround for our kiosks, window stickers and promotional money off coupons for instore first time orders.
In addition to this we have written a return on investment tool which allows you to work out how many photo products you need to sell to cost jusify the solution. This is great as customers quickly realise you don’t have to print many photo products to justify this investment!
Interestingly enough when I spoke to European customers who had expanded into photo. They were against a revenue share model and wanted to keep all the profit to themselves!
I’ll send you details of the Xerox Europe POS kits and ROI tool, it can easily be adapted for your US market.
Happy New Year!
Kind Regards
Ursula
Thanks Ursula! I do have to say that in the 2 years since the install of our DC8000AP we have opened the door to so many new options to further what we can offer or customers. The decision was tough to make since we are a small shop and it was a large investment, but I don’t regret it one bit.
Happy New Year to all as well!
I have been looking for a photobook platform that i could include in my website as well. I looked into Digilabs and Pixami. I also found Ziblio. I talked with them and they seem to have a simple and great solution. I’ll keep you posted on what i decide.
Hey Paul
You might like to look at Imaxel. We sell and promote this solution in Xerox Europe but they have direct customers in the US.
Why not give the CEO Fernando Prunonosa a call on 0034 609 3451 45 or check out their website http://www.imaxel.com.
Good Luck,
Ursula
Hey Paul,
At KoffeeWare (http://www.koffeeware.com/), we provide a complete solution ranging from the creation and customization of photo products such as photo books to the e-commerce solution. We also provide software modules to be embedded into existing web sites.
Our customers use digital presses from various manufacturers including Xerox.
Our web site is currently not fully updated. We’d be glad to provide you with more details.
Carl