Digital cameras have revolutionized the personal photo experience at every level, including the introduction of new printing options for consumers. PMA reports almost 4 billion photo prints were made on home printers in 2005, up 24 percent from the previous year. The volume of home prints is expected to reach 4.6 billion in 2006, a 20 percent increase.

The majority of home prints are created on inkjet printers. Increasing numbers of consumers now bypass their computers and directly make prints from their digital cameras on specialty home photo printers. Convenience-oriented consumers buying digital cameras today favor these printers to traditional printers for two main reasons: (1) their ability to connect directly to their digital cameras without computer assistance, and (2) their standard output of 4 x 6-inch prints needs no cropping.

Initially, specialty photo printers with these qualities used dye-sublimation printing technology. Now inkjet printers that make standard-size prints and directly connect to digital cameras are also available. New models introduced by Canon, Epson, HP, Lexmark and others continue to fuel this category.

An important driver behind today’s photo printer sales and home print volumes is the growth in digital camera market. As PMA reported, digital camera sales grew 39 percent in 2004, and 13 percent in 2005. Home printing growth in the same periods was 24 and 20 percent, respectively. New camera users are attracted to photo printers as their means to the 24/7 access to printing services at home. Late adopters of digital cameras (less technology-oriented users) also like the ease-of-use offered by specialty small format printers, such as the Kodak’s popular EasyShare Printer Dock.

Since new camera owners help generate printer sales, the softening of digital camera demand will eventually exert pressure on home photo printer sales and home print volume. Another limiting factor with respect to home print volumes is the limit on the number of prints that can be made at home. This limit is set by factors inherent to the home printing process: primarily, the cost to purchase amounts of paper and ink kept in stock at home by consumers, as well as the speed of printing and the time invested to print them.

Printing Prices Dropping
The price of printing digital photos has fallen considerably with the emergence of competitive retail services and the existence of many established photo printer manufacturers. The average online price per print – as reported by the major retail chains’ websites and online firms in the country – at the end of 2005, was 17 cents. Average prices at retail and online have been sliced in half in the past two years. Home printing costs are not as easy to estimate. Consumer Reports describes costs of about 50 cents per 4-by-6-inch print made at home, with manufacturers claiming costs as low as 28 cents. Larger-sized prints, on the other hand, can be less expensive to produce at home. An 8 x 10-inch print made at retail can cost more than $2, compared to less than $1 on a home inkjet printer. Printing speeds – according to manufacturer data – are upward of 14 seconds for a 4 x 6 inch print depending on the printer.

Printer suppliers are working to address speed and cost issues. Today, home printers hold price advantages in printing large-size prints and do-it-yourself projects, and are available for on-demand printing when retailers and kiosks are unavailable. Retailers try to target these niches by offering more output options and online ordering, while justifying their price with consistency, superior quality and convenience. Growth of printing at retail stores has outpaced, and is expected to continue to eclipse, home printing in the next couple of years. This is reflected in the relative home and retail printing volumes. For the first time since the introduction of digital cameras, retail and online firms were the top destinations for digital printing in 2005 in the United States.

There is enough evidence by now to believe printing is not a zero sum game. Most consumers printing at home also will make prints at retail and vice versa. Home printing is still a big part in the consumers’ learning curve on digital photography.