Innovate Magazine - Spring 2008 - (Page 34)

converging digital photography and digital printing PROCESSING PHOTOS TRANSFORMING THE BUSINESS OF The most popular today are photo cards and specialty prints, such as enlargements, framed photos, and collages. Driven by increased use of digital cameras, the new market space cuts across traditional industry segments, such as retail and professional imaging services, commercial photography, and commercial printing. It addresses an opportunity for specialty products in North America that is projected to grow at an impressive compound annual growth rate of 24.5 percent through 2010, according to InfoTrends. A closer look at the transHarold’s Photo Centers’ eight retail formations locations—including this one in Sioux Falls, South Dakota—are “going digital.” underway at Harold’s, Filmet and Barksdale follows, offering insights into this rapidly developing opportunity. Retailer Becomes Printer Traditional ﬁlm processing peaked at Harold’s in 2003, according to Bob Hanson, President, and fourth-generation family owner of the Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based chain with stores in South Dakota and Iowa. “The transition to digital happened more quickly than people predicted,” he says. Filmprocessing revenue subsequently has dropped by about 20 percent annually, to less than half the peak volume. But Harold’s had a head start on producing the specialty products customers now demand. Having long relied upon photo ﬁnishing as its cash cow, supplemented by portraits and merchandise sales, Harold’s expanded its ﬁnishing services in the mid 1990s by experimenting with xerographic digital printing of greeting cards. When ﬁlm processing nose-dived, Hanson explains, “We jumped in [to digital printing] with both feet.” From 2005 to 2006, digital print volume doubled, leading Harold’s to add a second Xerox DocuColor 250 Digital Color Printer/Copier, invest in a variety of ﬁnishing and binding equipment, and remake a warehouse into a print production facility. “Now we’re a short-run print shop,” he says, as well as a retail photo center. Convergence of digital photography and digital printing creates an exciting, high-growth market space for digitally printed photo products By Brian Segnit H Innovate spring 08 BY BRIAN SEGNIT arold’s Photo Centers, Inc. began printing photobased greeting cards on xerographic digital printers in the mid 1990s, to advance the eight-store chain’s regional photo ﬁnishing leadership. Barksdale School Portraits acquired its ﬁrst xerographic digital press last year to expand its yearbook printing business as a complement to traditional school portrait business. And just this year, Filmet brought in the ﬁrst xerographic digital press for its professional image processing business, to broaden its line of photo specialty products. These are just three of the many, recent local decisions that quickly are creating a new market space for digital color printing of photo specialty products, which include just about any alternative to a standard, one-sided print on photographic paper. 34

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Innovate Magazine - Spring 2008

Innovate - Spring 2008 Table of Contents 10 Tips for Successful Open Houses The TransPromo Path Escape the Complexity Putting a Price on Value A Welcome Boost to Hospitality Team Approach Earns Accolades Bound Together New Highs in Image Quality Transforming the Business of Processing Photos Predictive Maintenance Making the Right Choice Diving into Digital Book Production Doing More With Less Distributed Document Creation

Innovate Magazine - Spring 2008

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