We’re all familiar with the industry’s favorite consumer—Jennifer the soccer mom. She’s the one in charge of family photo albums, photo gifts and photo archiving. Retailers know to target her when selling books, calendars, frames, prints, CDs, etc.
However, most retailers forget, or don’t realize, that Jennifer more than likely also has a job outside the home. Jennifer the soccer mom may also be Jennifer the real estate agent or Jennifer the public relations pro—and that Jennifer has photographic needs too—and even she may not realize it.
Savvy retailers know many of their “soccer mom” services can also be used for a variety of business applications. Some of the more progressive photo retailers such as Dan’s Camera, Fullerton Photo, Lakeside Camera Photoworks, and Bedford Camera and Video, have successfully tapped into this market; but not everyone has caught on.
“The reason,” states Rohit de Souza, Vice President, Retail Publishing Solutions, HP, “is many of the people in the photo retail business started in the film retail business. They haven’t realized that this is more about publishing—putting the fun (or business) back in photos by adding text and/or doing something that’s broader than producing a 4×6” or 5×7” print.
“If you look at the majority of photo retailers today,” explains de Souza, “their existing footprint in retail looks remarkably similar to the way it did when it was a film lab and consumers just dropped off and picked up work. Today, you have to create an interaction center, which is a very different notion than a film lab.” In other words, retailers need to change their mindsets from classic film lab mentality (drop off/pick up), to something more interactive, creative, and diverse (I’m coming in with my media). Only then can business take on a whole new dimension.
“Many of the larger retailers like Long’s, Staples, and Walgreens, have started to get it, but the trickle down affect has not completely happened yet,” explains de Souza. “(Those retailers) realize the value they can get by educating their customers about what they can do with their photos. The key thing is building awareness that there’s a huge value proposition here for the retailer. This category can help revitalize and accelerate store traffic.”
When asked if most of imaging retail has caught on to this, de Souza explains, “Not yet. But it’s where we’d like them to go. Retailers may not understand this can be produced at retail. It really depends on the store manager. Unless you have someone that appreciates the value this category can bring, and that it attracts 60-70 percent gross margins, you’ll get different reactions and results.”
To help retailers get started, HP has created its Retail Publishing Solution, which enables retailers to merchandise relevant, customized materials—from posters to marketing collateral to event signage—to a variety of customers ranging from families to small businesses. “By creating these new venues for publishing,” says de Souza, “retailers can find new market opportunities and generate increased revenue streams, while customers like Jennifer discover new ways to create, access, manage and publish their content.
The Next Big Thing
Dimitrios Delis, Director of Marketing Research, PMA, agrees that some retailers are capitalizing on the business-to-business market while others are still thinking it over. He believes that as an idea it’s appealing to them, but they’re stuck in their old business model habits, which prevent them from changing the way they do business. “The retailer is looking for the next big thing as opposed to what he can do better, faster, and cheaper than existing industries out there,” states Delis.
Retailers don’t need to offer something entirely new to capture new markets. They can simply develop solutions that combine one or two products consumers are familiar with, and then do it in less time at a lower cost. “For example, (the industry) sells more than 500 million photo greeting cards a year—and there’s a market for more than 5 billion cards that don’t necessarily get personalized. It’s an area that Hallmark is moving into now, although they were a little slow in transitioning into that. Hence, the photo industry has been able to grab a big share of that market.
“When it comes to greeting cards, announcements, invitations, etc., the industry will find a way to print them on demand and customize them to the specifications of the consumer,” predicts Delis. “Photo retailers have to understand they’re not just competing in the photo space anymore; they’re competing in the photo, gifting, and expressions industries. And those markets have their own dynamics and marketing approaches. Photo retailers have to market the products as such and get the infrastructure prepared to address those markets. If photo retailers don’t adjust to this market we might as well hand the business over to stationary and gifting stores. Hopefully, photo retailers will grab the opportunity.
“A lot of work now has to be done on design and marketing as opposed to the product itself,” stresses Delis, “because we don’t know what a photo book means to people yet. Consumers don’t necessarily make the connection of a book being a gift or a business tool. It could just mean an album alternative. So retailers have to spell it out and back it up with displays, which play a big role in letting consumers know what’s possible. Since the consumer can’t possibly visualize everything that’s possible, retailers have to offer them the solution. Plus, after they’ve seen what you have to offer, they’ll want to see something new, so rotate and change displays often.”
Delis thinks some retailers haven’t stuck their toe in the B2B waters yet because of equipment issues. “If retailers want to offer customized designs and add a personal element they may need to invest in new equipment. Some retailers are having trouble justifying that purchase. They need to see the potential of the product,” says Delis. “If they see the full array of products they can offer to businesses and consumers in gifting, expressions, and so on, then they can justify it.” Finally, Delis says retailers should identify a market, produce a product specific to that market, advertise and grow it. “Once retailers have two, three, or four products to grow, they’ll see more opportunities.”
Thanks to the availability of retail oriented devices with small footprints that can produce the same quality output as a central fullfiller, this market is growing dramatically. In fact, it has gone from a $36 billion retail publishing business to a $76 billion business, and growth is expected to be 15 to 18 percent in the next three to five years.
Stand and Deliver
For those retailers that have decided to go after new markets (and those that eventually will), it’s vital they deliver product and service in a timely, professional manner. According to Bill McCurry, Chairman, McCurry Associates, the bigger your client, the more important it is to be at the top of your game. “It’s really, really important. If you’re working with a large company and you screw up, somebody in that company is going to take the fall,” he states. “But, in reality, they’re not going to take the fall, they’re going to stand up and tell the whole world it was your lab that messed up.
“It’s really important that you and the customer have an understanding of what the dynamics are when you take an order. It’s not an option to miss the deadline,” says McCurry. For instance, if a customer needs a piece of equipment on Friday, and you call the manufacturer who says they’ll ship it ASAP, but they don’t, it’s still your responsibility to deliver, not the manufacturer’s.
“That’s a piece of the B2B that we need to understand—what are the ramifications if this isn’t done? We’ve all seen what happens at trade shows when product doesn’t arrive on time—a guy sitting in a chair with four walls around him and no product.”
When somebody asks, ‘How long will this take?’ The correct answer is, ‘When do you need it?’ And then, ‘How important is it to have it by that day?’ Also, says McCurry, don’t take advantage of people because they need something in a hurry. Instead, let them know that what they want is ahead of your normal schedule but you can bring in an emergency overtime crew for them if they’d like. When you say “emergency overtime,” immediately the customer knows two things. One, they’re going to pay more, and two, they can’t argue with overtime because, as McCurry adds, “that’s a God-given right.”
Instead of charging a rush fee, which is offensive to most people, charge for overtime., he explains. “A rush charge sounds like you’re taking advantage, overtime doesn’t. We have a lot of talent in our organization that needs to be unleashed,” concludes McCurry. “Many will rise to the occasion, and some won’t, but we’ll learn from that.”
Repurposed Product
“It’s a transition process,” states Michèle Tamplain, Director of Corporate Sales, Lakeside Camera Photoworks/Printworks(www.lakesidecamera.com/business), who says making consumers aware of the additional products and services available for their businesses, as well as their personal use, takes time.
“A lot of the equipment we’ve acquired and products we developed for the consumer market just need to be repurposed for business applications. We’re geared toward the small and independent businesses and have achieved good success in the short term,” says Tamplain. “Right now we’re trying to project and grow into the future. At this point, it’s just a matter of customer education.”
Back in March, before Tamplain joined Lakeside Camera to develop a business model, the store serviced a handful of business clients on a sporadic basis.
Part of Tamplain’s plan included repurposing products the store already offered. “We have an HP Indigo 5000 Digital Printing Press, which we purchased primarily to produce photo books and similar types of products. But that equipment can also print business cards, brochures, stationary, and postcards—and we can do direct mail variable production. All our materials are printed in-house; it’s just a matter of putting product in (business owners’) hands, making it easy for them to access, and getting really involved in communicating that.”
The retailer also completely redesigned its Web site. “It was designed with each of our market segments represented, including the business market, which is new. For that part of the Web site,” explains Tamblain, “we repurposed product and services and directed it toward small business owners and some larger companies in our marketplace.”
Change Your Mind, Change Your Business
Fullerton Photo in Fullerton, Calif., is one retailer offering products and services to the business community. At first, owner Gabby Mullinex wasn’t keen to the idea. “After the last PMA we brought gifting in-house and started creating all those things you read about (mugs, books, calendars). I never wanted it in our stores because it didn’t look and feel like us,” admits Mullinex.
“One of my good friends in the business pointed out that it could look and feel like us, we just had to put the Fullerton Photo spin on things. Once I got that concept in my head, I was able to move forward and purchase equipment to do in-house gifting.”
The retailer had recently expanded its Click Cafe footprint to include six new HP kiosks that are on the forefront of creative suite products. “That combination of in-house gifting and in-house creative resources to make books, cards, and calendars, brought together a product mix that was something we never, ever offered before. Our ‘stamp’ was not just dropping a photo onto something.” For example, Mullinex used a business logo instead of a photo on a mug.
“One of the key products that we’ve been successful in marketing actually comes from a template within the HP software—a Year-at-a-Glance Calendar that has a space for a photo. We’ve been dropping business logos or websites in that space and businesses have been purchasing these items to give to their clients, patients, etc. It’s been a nice little add-on since the products are easy and quick to generate. That’s a spin that’s a little bit different,” says Mullinex.
“Not using a photo, but something more important to our business clients like their logo, name, or website.”
In terms of gifting in general, Mullinex says she won’t just slap a mug on a photo, but instead, prefers to create a collage of photos and add some text via Photoshop. “I’ve even taken a collection of words to describe a business, such as a client that’s a dermatologist.
We put ‘wellness’ words on a mouse pad along with the business name and website address. The dermatologist loved the idea and I’m looking forward to a big sale of mouse pads for her business. I think about the things I might like to do in my marketing and move that thought forward to other local businesses.”
