The Changing Print Market

With higher resolution images stuffed into their phones, consumers are looking for convenient ways to make prints rather than simply e-mailing photos. That’s good news for retail print services, which felt the impact of consumers’ transition from film to digital film.

Total print volume was off in 2004 to 26.3 billion from 28.7 billion with digital prints comprising 19 percent of total print volume. Digital printing is expected to offset the losses in film prints during 2005, according to PMA, which expects a jump of 51 percent in digital printing to 7.4 billion prints for the year. Total volume from film and digital prints is expected to hold steady in 2005 as digital picks up the slack in film-based printing.

Mass-market penetration of digital cameras is fueling the growth in printing as families seek to preserve memories on paper. Several generations into digital imaging, the majority of images taken with a digital camera still don’t get printed. PMA estimates that 9 billion images remained in digital format in 2004, up from 6.5 billion in 2003. Those findings are partly due to one of digital’s best selling points: consumers don’t have to spend money to print images they don’t want to keep.

Another deterrent to printing has been ease-of-use. The printing process has been daunting for consumers who didn’t want to have to power up a PC and connect a camera to see and print their digital images. New printer designs have addressed the issue and promise to simplify the home printing process.

PictBridge-enabled cameras and printers allow consumers to print directly from a camera without going through a PC. In addition, more printers are coming with built-in memory card slots for PC-free printing.

Consumers are showing an appetite for portable printing, too. Tiny printers capable of 4- x 6-inch prints or smaller from companies including Epson, Canon, Sony and Dell enable consumers to print at parties, while on vacation or from the living room, encouraging spontaneous printing that might not otherwise occur.

The Rise of the Kiosk

Retailer investments in digital printing infrastructure began to pay off in 2004, according to PMA, which says that retail services accounted for 32 percent of prints made from digital cameras in 2004 compared with 16 percent the year before.

The self-service kiosk became a popular tool for consumer printing in 2004, according to PMA, enabling consumers to edit, enlarge and make multiple copies of prints from images stored on CD-ROMs or memory cards. The number of prints made at kiosks jumped 250 percent to represent 14 percent of digital prints made in 2004. Consumers made on average 15.2 prints per visit compared with 6.5 the previous year.

InfoTrends/CAP Ventures forecasts a 12 percent annual compound growth rate for the kiosk market through 2008. Major photofinishing retailers, including Wal-Mart, Walgreens and Costco, now offer kiosks. InfoTrends also expects unconventional locations to account for 4 percent of kiosk placements by the end of 2004. Those include hotels, resorts, amusement parks and consumer electronics stores where consumers have digital cameras close at hand.

Online Services

Prints ordered online via the Internet saw a doubling of activity in 2004 to represent 8 percent of digital prints. Veteran online services including OFoto, Shutterfly, Sony’s ImageStation, PhotoWorks and Snapfish will see more competition in 2005 from direct-to-retailer software services made possible through Microsoft’s My Pictures, OurPictures and other options. The services combine the convenience of ordering over the Internet with the speed of next-day pickup from local print service providers. Among all prints ordered online during a three-week vacation period in 2004, nearly 20 percent were picked up at a store, PMA reports.

Look for more services designed to facilitate mobile printing, as retailers try to take advantage of consumers’ interest in printing quality images from camera phones.

With the rise of online and retail printing, home printing took a hit in 2004. Home printing still accounts for the greatest share of digital print volume, according to PMA, but it declined to 62 percent of digital prints in 2004 from 76 percent the year before. For 2005 printing at retail is expected to experience continued growth as more photo retailers go online.