Boston, MA—The photo merchandise market in the United States has had an uncharacteristically down year in 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, according to Rise Above Research, photo merchandise product sales will recover quickly and return to growth in 2021.
“Photo merchandise product sales were certainly impacted by Covid-19; however, the market has shown its resiliency amid significant challenges,” said David Haueter, director and founder at Rise Above Research. “The pandemic has led to a better appreciation of the value of printed photos; it has also caused some people to create and order photo projects that they may not have had time to do before,” he added
Photo Merchandise Market Projections
Moreover, 2020 will see an overall decline of 13% in unit sales, driven mostly by a sharper decline in photo cards. However, other product areas such as photo books and wall décor will only see mild declines.
In addition, the research firm expects a rebound in sales in 2021. This is based in part on an expected economic recovery from Covid-19 as well as an increase in events and gatherings that typically generate photo output. What’s more, sales of cards, books, calendars and specialty photo prints/wall décor are expected to generate over $2.3 billion with unit increases of around 5%.
These findings are based on Rise Above Research’s 2020 US Photo Merchandise Forecast. The study provides a five-year forecast for the products mentioned above; it includes units, revenue, average selling prices as well as breakouts of online versus retail order channels. The report also provides commentary on key drivers and barriers impacting the market.
Rise Above Research, LLC
Rise Above Research is an independent market intelligence and strategic consulting firm; it supports industry vendors, service providers and retailers. It provides them with actionable intelligence to make effective decisions in fast-paced digital photography and imaging markets. 
Industry veterans Ed Lee and David Haueter founded the company in 2020. They both have extensive experience providing market research and strategic consulting for the digital imaging industry. The company’s industry analysts have a combined 40+ years of covering a wide variety of imaging markets.
