n an industry that is all about telling stories in the form of picture books, we thought we’d borrow a page, so to speak, from that mission statement and put together a little visual tale of our own.
With the Picture Business Retail Look Book, we have gathered stories and pictures from retailers around the country that focus on what they do best—catering to their customers. For some it’s all about merchandising, while others may excel at promotion. You’ll see that great customer service still reigns supreme as well. In many instances it’s technology from the manufacturer that spells profit for the dealer. You’ll see all that and a bit more on the pages that follow.
While putting this issue together, one thing became abundantly clear and that’s the already well-known fact that there are many facets to correctly running a retail business and it’s important to tend to all of them. Also, it’s sometimes the simplest ideas that yield the greatest gain, so you don’t always have to shoot for the stars with your thinking.
So then, have a "Look" and hopefully you’ll take away a few ideas that you too can implement.
Bartell Drugs
Howie Cohen is the General Merchandise Buyer of The Bartell Drug Company, a chain of stores located in the state of Washington. "We’ve have had great success with Kodak’s Apex as it has helped our business by letting us offer all of the traditional skus that a wet lab has, including slim line greeting cards, CDs, 8x10s, and 4×6 prints in glossy and lustre finish at a fraction of the cost of a new wet lab. The other big benefit for us is the savings in labor on maintenance of the machines. Our G4x kiosks let us offer instant in-store photo books with our Unibind binding and also instant Picture Movie DVDs. We try to differentiate in store with photo gifts and knowledgeable store clerks that can make them."
Crown Camera Touts YouTube
Redding, Calif., Crown Camera has always tried to embrace new technologies, and this includes social media outlets Facebook, Twitter and most recently YouTube. Store Manager, Frank Tona, took a 4×4 flip book from Lucidiom that walks consumers through the company’s white-label photo site, Photo Finale Web, and converted it into a YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlEMlmm1zqE&fmt=18. Now his customers can learn more about the Web site’s features—RSS, sharing, editing, member benefits, etc.—simply by watching a brief video.
"We have put some of our manufacturer videos from YouTube on our Web site in the past, but this was the first time I took a printed marketing piece and converted it to video," said Tona. "We simply used Proshow Gold to input the slides and add music and then converted it to a YouTube video. "With the current business environment, we need to take advantage of any media that might drive more business to our store. The more your store becomes a destination, the more likely you will survive a downturn. With that in mind we are offering more classes on more subjects. We’ve also had several Ladies Nights that have been very successful."
Dan’s Camera City is Kiosk Krazy
Dan’s Camera City has truly been a champion at going the extra mile with customer service by providing every possible convenience for their in-store kiosk customers. They opened a DigiPrint Lounge four years ago, which is a coffeehouse kiosk setting complete with 20 Lucidiom APMs, a children’s play area, free wireless Internet access (WiFi), wheelchair accessible ordering stations and complimentary beverages. Dan’s even supplies question cards at each DigiPrint Lounge kiosk, which allow customers to let sales staff know they have a question without even having to leave their work station.
"We’ve had the question cards at our kiosk stations since the start and customers love the convenience of not having to go looking for assistance; we come to you, which is how it should be," said Dan’s Camera City CEO Mike Woodland. "We simply took laminated cards with a question mark on one side and "O.K." printed on the other and attached them to a metal rod inserted into a hockey puck. It’s simple, effective and reminds your customers that you want them to bother you."
Dan’s Camera City also stays ahead by keeping its merchandise fresh, offering the latest custom photo creative gifts like playing cards.
"We added poker and pinochle decks to our creative products for the 2008 holiday lineup and it was the season’s smash hit. Notepads were the homerun the year prior. Each year we just try to keep the excitement going for our customers by showing them variety and new gift ideas. The gifting market offers endless possibilities," he added.
ScanMyPhotos.com/30 Minute Photos Etc. & The Social Scene
Mitch Goldstone, owner of ScanMyPhotos.com and 30 Minute Photos Etc. in Irvine, Calif., has become a big fan and user of social network vehicles.
"More than ever, photo entrepreneurs need to reinvent and redesign how they do business. Ease-of-use, customer-friendly workflow and smart eco-friendly labs [he uses Kodak’s new APEX unit] and kiosks are in. We also use Twitter, YouTube and social-network marketing to creatively excite picture-takers and show how easy it is to make creative photo gifts and have fun with their digital photo memories," Goldstone said. "The social network sites are a great way build awareness and connect with your customer base."
Move to Mobile Saves Camera Case
32 years ago Bob Stumpner, photographer, bought a small camera store in Wisconsin and promoted himself to small business owners. He called the business Camera Case and slowly and steadily grew his retail business, eventually buying a Kodak mini-lab and getting into the finishing end of the biz.
Business was pretty good in his town of 8,000, but things started to change. Digital cameras killed the film and processing business and profit margins weren’t as robust as in years past—a familiar tale.
One of his long-time customers asked him to sell her a camera phone. "I’m sorry, but we don’t carry them" was his response. She persisted, saying that she knew if she purchased it from them, that they would take care of her and show her how to properly use it. That was the start of the cellular story for Camera Case. Stumpner claims it was THE most profitable decision he ever made as it, "saved my camera business and showed me how to focus on making more money versus just trying to make more sales of low-margin products."
He adds, "Without cellular, we’d have gone out of business long ago. The imaging business has changed. Film and development services have all but disappeared and the margin on cameras is pitiful. We also found that we made more profit selling cellular car cords than we made on all the point-and-shoot cameras we sold for the entire year."
Citing some recent statistics to further his point, Stumpner added, "We sold over 100 cameras out of our main store back in December of last year. We sold 571 camera phones in the same month."
Wairarapa Camera’s Magic 100
Wairarapa Camera Services in Masterton, New Zealand, has come up with a clever pre-pay system for their photo-printing business that keeps customers coming back into the store.
According to Wairarapa’s Tony Scott, "We operate a pre-pay voucher system of 100 photos. With the voucher, the customer can come in at any time and print any multiple of 5 photos on our kiosks (Lucidiom APMS). So, she might print 5 today, 10 tomorrow and 25 the next week until all 100 photos have been printed. We sell this option at the same price it would cost her to print all 100 photos at one time. We’ve found this is a very popular printing option for our customers and it keeps them coming back to the store, which gives us additional opportunities to let her know about our other products and services."
Bryn-Alan Goes Large in the School Market
Bryn-Alan Studios, a school portrait lab/studio, decided big truly was beautiful a while back and the school market they service apparently agreed. States Kevin Steffey, Vice President of Operations, "We photograph everything from kindergarten to twelfth grade to proms and sports teams and other campus events—on location as well as in the studio. "Historically," explains Steffey, "we printed everything from film on optical printers. Last year, we were producing about 40 percent of the high school senior images digitally. Now it’s 100 percent."
Bryn-Alan Studios has 22 locations across the country, and during its busy season they photograph close to 4,000 school portraits per week. One very busy lab prints the images from all those studios. It uses the Noritsu LPS-24Pro to print senior portrait packages and event photography images. The main reason the Bryn-Alan installed the LPS-24 was to print 16"x20" and 20"x24" large format images as these sizes are gaining in popularity every year they claim.
Turning Crop Parties Into Profit Parties
What does a custom framing business, a photo studio and a Noritsu QSS-3211 have to do with scrapbooking? Everything, if you’re Gabriel Arango, owner of In and Out Photo of Cumming, Ga.
Arango has been growing his business since he first opened his custom framing store about seven years ago by adding a photo lab (and a Noritsu QSS-3211) and then a photo studio. His goal? "For the customer to leave with something they can hang on the wall, not just a box of pictures."
A few years ago Arango began opening his store after hours for crop parties (gatherings where crafters get together and create scrapbook pages).
"You have to know who your customers are, especially if you see them on a regular basis," advises Arango, who always greets his customers by name. He goes on to say that if they’re taking or printing a lot of pictures, you know they’re "into something and primarily it’s scrapbooking."
With average attendance around 18-22 people, he’ll see about 5-6 new faces each time, which translates into potential new customers—some of whom admitted that "I never knew you were here." To generate interest in the initial gathering, he offered 100 free prints and continues to offer incentives to the scrapbookers who come to the meetings.
Wireless Memory Fits in Well
Workflow has been a big issue for photographers since digital burst on the scene over a decade ago as the ability to "shoot, see and save" has added quite a few extra layers to editing and post capture process.
For professional photographer Jeff Sockwell, Eye-Fi’s new Eye-Fi Pro wireless SDHC memory card has not only addressed his workflow issues, it has enhanced his offerings.
"The Eye-Fi Pro has streamlined my workflow. It lets me quickly upload files in the background while I continue my photo shoots. My clients can choose their best shots in near real time," said Sockwell. "I also have assurance that photos are automatically saved both on my computer and on the card."
The new Eye-Fi Pro includes RAW image support and peer-to-peer connectivity for a direct connection between the camera and a computer, no router or Internet connection required (also known as ad hoc).
Duane Reade Redesigns Photo Centers
The "uniquely New York" drug store chain has redesigned it’s NYC locations to better reflect their commitment to "Photo Publishing" and to better utilize the limited space many of the stores have to deal with.
The Duane Reade stores that have made the changes have achieved up to 50 percent year-over-year improvement versus the chain-wide average within the in-store photo category. So to say the changes are working would be an understatement.
At the heart of the redesign are many new HP Photo Center solutions with a major focus on the photo gift market such as photo books, calendars, greeting cards and posters—all while they shop for everyday items to make their lives easier.
"Our brand is all about New York living made easy," said Joe Magnacca, chief merchandising officer, Duane Reade. "Making this level of quality digital photofinishing convenient across 200 of our stores is one more way we can be relevant and helpful to our customers on a daily basis."
Elm City Photo
Waterville, Maine’s Elm City Photo has invented a creative kiosk tool that saves customer’s arms from aching, while also reducing the spread of finger prints and germs on the kiosk screens—it’s called the Elm City Klick Stick.
Owner John Goodine says, "The idea of the Klick Stick was born when a customer said she would have to quit ordering for the day because her arm was aching from sorting through about 2,000 images on one of our kiosks. We determined a 12-inch dowel with a soft rubber tip would be ideal solution to this problem. We went online and found a school teachers supply store that sold exactly what we needed—a lightweight pointer stick complete with smiley faces and rubber tips.
" We also find them extremely handy when pointing out the kiosk’s features and products to a customer. It makes the instructional session look more professional and you are not invading their personal space by leaning over them," he added.
While the inventive Klick Stick impresses consumers, Goodine says absolutely nothing beats good old-fashioned customer service.
"When a customer sits down at an APM, I have a clerk greet the customer within 10 seconds and check on them again after a few minutes. I find that is the Achilles Heel of my competition and I am not about to let them top me in customer service," Goodine explained.
Porter’s Digital Camera and Imaging Web Deals
Stu Eddins, director of sales and marketing at Porter’s Digital Camera and Imaging in Cedar Falls, Iowa, is using the utility of the store’s Lucidiom Photo Finale Web site to promote cameras and accessories in addition to printed products and online sharing.
"We have discovered just how powerful the ad spaces on the Photo Finale Web pages can be. We simply changed one of the ad spaces on our Web site to promote close-out cameras with a hyperlink to the clearance sale page (porters.photofinale.com/default.aspx). Our analytics tell us this button ranked number two out of 6 in driving page views—second only to our homepage clearance button. We love the ability to promote equipment right alongside all the popular personal publishing products that are drawing more folks to the web.
"We have also discovered that we can run very effective, yet quick-and-dirty ‘members only’ specials. Since the members’ page has its own set of ad badges, we change one of them out and replace it with an ad containing a discount coupon. We typically run a special of this type for four or five days. If the member has shared their images, then the invited person also sees the coupon, which is the ideal scenario. We love it when members recruit new members!"
The Zeff Photo "Red Box Deal"
We’ll delve into Bill McCurry’s always-enlightening Idea Exchange (www.photoimagenews.com) in the next Look Book entry.
But first off, we give you David Gordenstein of ZEFF Photo in Belmont, Mass., who explains how he loves to offer value in a red box, even if it isn’t actually packaged in a red box.
"For each new digital camera we sell, we offer our customers a package of extras with a retail value of more than $200. I originally thought I would put all this stuff into a red box that would contain the camera as well, but have you ever tried to find red boxes at a reasonable rate? Someone once said, ‘Continual improvement beats delayed perfection.’ So we use red envelopes stuffed with these goodies: 50% off our two most popular classes at Zeff U; 10 free prints a month for 12 months from our in-store photo kiosks; 25 free online prints; Photo editing & ordering software; A Zeff magnet for the refrigerator; and a one-year extension of manufacturer’s warranty," Gordenstien explained.
"Over $200.00 in value. The extended warranty feature often closes the deal," he added. "And the processing and class offers help bring people back into the store. Having this package of ‘extras’ also gives us an answer to people who say they can find a camera for less at a big box store or online."
Clarion Call…for Film?
Rare is the idea in photo retail today that revolves around generating revenue through film developing. Well, leave it to the McCurry Idea Exchange once again to uncover one such idea—shared by two retailers a world apart.
To set the stage we’ll simply say, and I’m sure most of you will agree, there are undoubtedly lots of undeveloped 35mm rolls of film out there—hidden in draws, tucked away in closets, forgotten in armoires.
Well, using McCurry’s Idea Exchange, Tim Jones, of Perfect Prints Camera Centre in Hobart (the capital of the Australian state of Tasmania) posted his Film Amnesty promotion idea a while back. The basis of the promotion, as Jones posted, was this, "I reckon every household has a few unprocessed films and I know of somebody who has 200!" Jones began promoting, in-store and in local ads, his idea of Film Amnesty, urging his customers to bring in their unprocessed 35mm rolls of film and he would develop them at some gangbuster prices.
The idea caught fire.
"People have always felt guilty about having these rolls at home and once they get them processed they can’t wait to tell everybody!" he exclaimed on The Exchange. Jones also explained that he basically promoted the idea with a, "public service point of view and initially sent out a press release. I followed that up with a sort of advertorial in the local paper."
Here’s where McCurry’s Exchange kicked this into high gear. Chris Lydle, the editor of Exchange, who coined the phrase, "I will steal no idea before its time," jumped on this one for his own store, Chris’ Camera Center South in Aiken, S.C. Lydle took empty 35mm cartridges from his processing area, threw them in a drawer with an old camera and used that to illustrate his signage and advertising.
Then, Artcraft Camera location in Kingston, New York, tweaked it a bit and ran with it. "Customers were wearing a groove in my floor bringing in their 35mm rolls again," said Todd Fitzgerald, Artcraft’s Vice President.
As others continued to add elements to this original seed, the idea took on a different form for each. For Artcraft Camera, as Fitzgerald explains, the thought process was, why stop at film?
"We did a little different spin on it. Not only did we offer the film in the program, but we included slide scans and shoebox scans as well," Fitzgerald explained. "Our intent was to get very large quantities. For film there is a five-roll minimum, this way we don’t give up the profit from our everyday customers. For slides we did an 80-carousel minimum and shoebox scans started at 200 photos."
The "Skinny" From H&H
Raytown, Mo.-based, H&H Color Lab is an imaging retailer that offers a complete product catalog for optical and digital printing and finishing services. To help consumers and businesses alike, the company developed Skinny Mini Cards. The unique 2.75" x1.12" cards are printed with static information on one side and variable images on the reverse, using the Xerox 700 Digital Color Press and DocuColor 250/252.
Many of the company’s wedding photographer customers use the Skinny Mini cards as a marketing tool. The photographers take a number of engagement photos for a bride and groom. The photographer prints their business information on the front of the cards and multiple engagement photos on the back. These customized Skinny Mini cards are placed in a fish bowl at the wedding reception table for guests to pick through and find their favorite photo of the newlyweds. Now all of the guests not only had a memento of the evening, but also the photographer’s contact information.
The Skinny Mini is extremely versatile. H&H Color Lab has had students use the Skinny Mini for senior rep cards, while companies have used them for hosted e-commerce events, business cards where employees have multiple roles and responsibilities and for tailored marketing communications.
Lakeside Camera, Photoworks – Reinventing Your Approach
Perhaps one of the strongest messages we’ve heard from around imaging retail is this, "You can either wallow in despair about the current state of affairs or do something about it." Certainly no one in photo retail today has had more to wallow about than Lakeside Camera Photoworks’ David Guidry, what with the devastation hurricane Katrina tossed his way a few years back.
"What I have seen since we have had to basically start over the business is that we have a communication problem in this industry, not a product problem," he recently explained. "The reaction from consumers to these lifestyle products is that they are way more excited than they ever were over a 4×6-inch print but we aren’t communicating exactly what these products are and how easy they are to do."
Guidry added that he feels the industry, as well as he himself, have been guilty of "over-complicating" some of the newer products and services and likened his new approach to more of a "restaurant menu" marketing scheme, both in store and online. "The customer simply needs to see all they can do in a simple, easy to understand form and then help them pick the product that it perfect for them," he said. A complete redesign that includes much larger and more colorful signage is also carried over from the store to the Web.
Fine Art Photo Hits Event Trail
As digital printing technology continued to evolve many retailers realized there was life outside the walls of their retail locations. One such dealer is Gary Knaub of Fine Art Photo located in Lemoyne, Pa. Shortly after purchasing a Mitsubishi CP-9550DW, Knaub realized the combination of portability and quality the unit offered provided him with the opportunity to begin shooting local events.
With this newfound flexibility, Fine Art Photo was hired by a local union that was conducting a training seminar. The union wished to provide its members a thank-you gift for attending the seminar and thought they might use a Polaroid to provide a photographic memento of the event. Instead, Knaub got the job because he was the only local photographer who could provide them with on-site, high-quality, instantly available digital prints in 4 x 6. Alas, Fine Art Photo’s professional photography services were born.
Pearls From PROs
We ran this sidebar over a year ago after attending the 50th Anniversary Pro Convention down in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. It essentially presented a snapshot of some of the more intriguing and insightful quotes during the four-day event and we felt it was certainly in the spirit of what the Look Book is all about. Thus, we present it here yet again.
"I tell my staff everyday, ‘Let’s have some fun and sell some toys.’ "
— Lenonah Krumanocker, Shewmaker’s Camera & Digital Imaging
"Never stop creating consumer awareness with regard to the new products that are evolving in this space. This entire category is still very new to many of your customers. Don’t assume they know about this stuff…make sure they do."
— Phil Gresham, Fotofast, Brisbane, Australia
U.S. online photofinishing revenues will surpass $1.5 billion by 2012, more than doubling since 2007. Custom photo gifts and merchandise will account for nearly 70% of that total, up from less than 50% in 2007.
— InfoTrends
"Your products are tiny and the world is a huge place. Consider this with your window displays."
— Adam Newman, Zande+Newman Design
"Make sure your salespeople feel a sense of ownership in what they are selling and constantly make sure they know where they stand with regard to bonuses and how they are going to get them."
— Frank Calagaz, Calagaz Photo
"Think about the things you are spending energy on every day. Distinguish between the things you can control and the things you can’t. You should be spending it on positive things in a positive way. Ultimately, you are the king of your own domain…you affect your business, not the competition."
— Chris Dodd, Dodd Camera
"Display has become such a key element at retail and digital imaging products are fun products to play with—let your customers touch, feel and experience your products as much and as often as you can."
— Lori Rupp, Kohne’s Camera & Photo
"When preparing an e-mail marketing campaign think about the e-mails you open and read, and what triggers you to do so, and make sure you’re leading with value for the reader, not simply a strong sales pitch."
— Laura Oles, Author, Digital Photography for Busy Women
"Steal from the rich, go to other retailers like Banana Republic and see how they merchandise…they are really good at it."
— Adam Newman, Zande+Newman Design
