Putting the Sizzle into Holiday Sales

Add Personalized Photo Products to Your Kiosk Offerings

They communicate through text messaging and social–sharing websites like Facebook and Twitter. Their phones double as still/video cameras with fast access to the Internet. They are more likely to browse through an iPad than a photo album. They are the Millennials and the Internet generation. So how do photo retailers appeal to these digitally astute generations? 

Most experts agree that the profit center in photofinishing is with personalized photo products, which offer significantly higher profit margins than prints. And like digital photography, personalized photo gifts continue to evolve—adding sophisticated new looks, faster, simpler ordering processes, and new product categories that appeal to the digital generations.

Today’s photo products are divided into three main categories: personal publishing; photo lifestyle; and photo novelty. Many photo retailers offer personal publishing items with a basic kiosk setup—products like the increasingly popular photo books, greeting cards, stationery and other paper-based gifts that can be printed in-house. Photo lifestyle products are “functional” gifts that are likely to be found around the home or office and likely to require off-site printing—i.e., clothing, desk accessories, kitchenware and home furnishings. Photo novelty items are also likely to be printed off-site and include more familiar items, like photo snow globes, mugs and Christmas tree ornaments.

Steve Giordano, Jr., president of Lucidiom, notes that photo retailers who offer both photo lifestyle gifts and personal publishing products typically realize the greatest success. “Sales data show that the appeal of one, whether a photo gift or creative product, has a ripple effect on the other, so retailers offering both gifts and creative are coming out on top.” 

Indeed, the competitive kiosk companies like HP, Kodak, Fujifilm and Lucidiom have leveraged the convenience of in-store photo kiosks with the power and reach of the Internet—providing consumers with direct access to the company’s own photo gift site, like Kodak Gallery, or partner fulfillment companies like Liberty Photo (see sidebar “Photo Gifts: What’s Online”).

HP links its kiosks to one of the earliest and largest online photo gift sites, Snapfish. Customers can choose from hundreds of products—from greeting cards (English and Spanish) and photo books to specialty gifts, like personalized notebooks, kitchen gadgets and custom skins for popular electronics, such as cell phones, laptops and MP3 players.  Products can be shipped to the customer’s home or to a local affiliate retailer for pickup. 

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