Go Large!

Go Large!

The notion that “bigger is better” is as rock solid an American marketing truism as you’re likely to find. From our waistlines, to our SUVs and McMansions, people respond to big.

 So it’s only natural that photographic output jumps on this over-sized bandwagon. Thanks to improvements in image quality and ease of use, large-format imaging is more accessible to photo retailers, opening up a new universe of big photo products.

Market Potential
Photo retailers are no strangers to large-format output, but as the country drags itself out from under the weight of the economic downturn, retailers of all stripes are poised to take a fresh look at lower-cost inkjet platforms, noted Frank Baillargeon, Director of Retail Imaging Markets, InfoTrends. “Costco has installed wide format and they’re doing extremely well,” he said.

“They’re beside themselves with the outlook for its future growth,” he added. Other mass-market chains, such as Walgreens and Walmart, have added 24-inch Epson printers to their lineup to capitalize on the potential for larger prints, while Office Depot has rolled out Canon printers and HP has sold large-format DesignJets into Meijers, among other retailers. 

“We started looking seriously into this space eight years ago with Ritz Camera. They were one of the first retailers to take up the banner on this and realize the profitability there,” said Reed Hecht, Printers and Professional Imaging Division Product Manager at Epson. “Since then, large format has spread both at the mass-retailer level and to smaller dealers as well.”

Bob’s Photo in Bismark, North Dakota, hopped on the large-format bandwagon at roughly the same time that Epson made its move, in 2002. “At the time we saw a need for digital larger than the RA4 labs would do and the cost of entry was low versus an RA4 printer,” said Lab Manager Chris Dolajak.

“And as soon as you get in it, you see the possibilities, in terms of different media and different output.”

Most retailers, Hecht said, have gravitated toward 24-inch printers and not the 48-inch-and-larger units found in more commercially oriented print shops. “Twenty-four inches is really the sweet spot for retail. You have the flexibility to create a 24 x 30-inch print, which is about the largest you would see in a customer’s home.”

Looking ahead, the growth in large-format output will be propelled by two engines, Baillargeon said. The first is consumer demand for “really affordable, frame-able art.” Second, and equally important, is small business demand. “A lot of small business owners are discovering that they can use their own digital files and make their own signs for $10 a pop, which is very attractive for them,” Baillargeon said.

Photo retailers can definitely capitalize on both engines, especially since the install base of DSLR owners continues to expand. With even point-and-shoot cameras at 10-megapixels and higher, consumers increasingly have the option to make truly large enlargements, said Eric DuPaul, Business Development Manager, HP.

“We’d like to do more commercial work and we’re going to be looking into ways of capturing that business,” Dolajak said. “What’s nice is even if we’re doing 16 x 20 prints all day long, I can throw commercial posters into the workflow just as easily.”

Evolving Technology
Large-format inkjet printers have made considerable strides in terms of ease-of-use, image quality, the quality of the ink, particularly for black-and-white prints, and the speed of operation, said Rich Reamer, Director of Large Format Product Marketing, Canon.

“When we first incorporated wide-format printers into the shop, they were not as robust as they are now, there was a bronzing effect on some black and whites,” Dolajak said. “We dealers saw that and weren’t happy with it, but frankly consumers, our customers, didn’t bat an eye.”

Nor was the learning curve particularly steep, he said, especially compared to other output alternatives. “It’s not exactly like a desktop printer, but it’s not terribly more difficult to operate once you get going,” he added.

The pigmented inks used by photo inkjets have improved as well, not only to hit wider color gamuts but to better light fastness and scratch durability, Reamer said. While most retailers use aqueous ink sets, “eco-solvent” technology (a less odorous variant of the solvent inks used by commercial printers) have narrowed the quality gap while also offering a greater range of printable materials, said Robert Ozankan, Senior Product Manager, Roland DGA Corp.

“In addition to posters, portraits and gifts, many corporate/business clients of a photo business have a need for banners, labels, stickers and apparel items such as t-shirts and canvas bags. These applications are ideally suited for eco-solvent printing,” Ozankan said.

Media Matters
Until now, inventory management challenges have tended to limit the media assortment that a retailer is willing to stock so they tend to stick to glossy media as their substrate of choice since it’s popular, observed Baillargeon. That, he thinks, is going to change. “I think we’re going to see a proliferation of products driven by untapped demand for frame-able art—canvas prints in particular will rise in popularity as awareness grows.”

Baillargeon is not alone. “One of the biggest areas of growth that I see is large-format canvas prints because today’s technologies have reduced the costs for these prints to the point where they are affordable for most of the market,” DuPaul seconded.

At the retail level, amateur artists and pro photographers have been responding well to prints on canvas and other artistic media, Dolajack said. “We’ve been really successful with canvas.”

Into the Great Wide Open
To hear Dolajak tell it, the decision to invest in large-format output, while not without its downsides, was worth it. “There is a tradeoff—the consumables can be expensive—but it has really opened up new niches for us. We know the 4 x 6 print is not the end product that everyone desires today.” To get the modern customer, he said, “you have to make them a print that they can’t make at home.”

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