PMA Data Watch: Majority of professional photographers work out of their residences
According to the PMA 2008 U.S. Professional Photographers Survey, the majority of photographers are full-time photographers owning their own studio, as well as, full-time and part-time photographers working out of their residences. Twenty-six percent are full-time photographers owning their own studio/store front, and 66 percent are full-time or part-time photographers working out of their residences. Firms were most likely to concentrate in the general family, wedding, and high school senior photography markets. Typically, a studio operates in 2.6 different markets, and very few studios concentrated on just one market, according to PMA Marketing Research.
Studios/photographers now have a wide variety of offerings in addition to prints, as more than half of the responding studios offer CDs, DVDs, canvas wraps, quality photo albums, photo greeting cards, and photo books. More than 40 percent of respondents believe that better marketing would have the biggest positive impact on their profit, while only 16 percent feel they are taking advantages of all opportunities under the circumstances. Quality is hands down the most important element/attribute photographers consider when looking at an outsource partner, followed by price, according to the survey.
More than half of photographers that responded to the survey allow their customers to orders prints and products from their portraits online, and this was most pronounced for full-time photographers working out of their residence. Full-time photographers working out of their residences also reported the highest percentage of customers placing orders online, with about one-third of customers doing so. Part-time photographers working out of their residences reported the largest percentage of revenue coming from online orders.
For the complete report, visit the Marketing Research page of the PMA website.
For questions and comments, visit the Marketing Research blog PMA Foresight.
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PMA Monthly Printing and Camera Trends Report – November
PMA Marketing Research, Jackson, Mich., has released the PMA Monthly Printing and Camera Trends Report covering highlights and overviews through November 2008. According to the report, the volume of prints made from digital-still camera images increased by 10 percent and home printing grew by 2 percent. Statistics from the NPD Group Inc. showed that overall demand for digital cameras decreased 16 percent in November. The PMA monthly printing and camera trends report, for the month of November, in PDF format, is available to members here.
An unexpected picture event
Annualized retail and online digital printing growth slowed significantly for the year ending November 2008 – according to the PMA Monthly Printing Survey – meaning consumers printed fewer images in October and in November of 2008 than the year before. A sign that even the relatively recession-proof – due to a small portion of income being spent on photo prints – digital photo printing industry has been affected by the negative economic climate. Typically there are few major picture taking occasions between the turn of the year and graduation time to look forward to, such as St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. But this year a historic turn-out at the Presidential inauguration unexpectedly produced millions of photos and could help the industry get back some of the lost opportunity. People who attended the inauguration – as well as those attending thousands of local celebrations – will most likely be interested in commemorating the historic event by printing and framing their photos. Commemorative framed collages could be just what they might be interested in. At least one website is already capitalizing on this year’s inauguration. Inspired by Shepard Fairey’s iconic poster – that became synonymous with the Obama campaign – Paste magazine partnered with Zazzle to let consumers create T-Shirts, mugs and other posters with their personal “Pop Art” pictures.
And remember, those presidential portraits, taken by federal employeed photographers are your property, too, so anyone can use them to create commemorative products. For more information on free government photos, visit http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml .
PMA Data Watch: Custom photo product market continues special offers
PMA Marketing Research recently reviewed a handful of online photo sites in search of the latest prices and other special offers taking place this quarter to report in Newsline International. Even in a weak economy, custom photo products remain important as spending was expected to reach nearly $1.5 billion in 2008. Custom photo products are affordable in relation to other gifts and retailers should be stressing this to consumers.
Greeting cards were a primary item on most of the websites as the holiday season just came to a close. They are perfect for belated holiday wishes and as thank you notes. Shutterfly even offers non-photo thank-you notes and invitations. As usual, photo books were also highly emphasized as the ideal way to showcase the past year in photos. There certainly are enough sizes and styles to match any need. Some sites even allow the user to customize the book from start to finish rather than listing standard options.
There was not much variation in the prices of similar products this quarter compared to this past October, but there were numerous promotional offers available. Determining average prices is becoming increasingly difficult as there are so many different, yet similar, sizes and styles available. For instance, Kodak EasyShare Gallery has standard size books that are 9-by-10 rather than the typical 8-by-11 offered by the rest of the sites. Dan’s Camera City has books starting at 10 pages whereas most sites use 20 pages as a starting point. Greeting cards are another item that come in many different similar styles and can be purchased in different amounts causing prices to vary. In any case, changes in average prices documented were minimal this quarter. In some instances, price differences are just a reflection of new and improved product offerings or the addition or subtraction of other offerings. There are numerous sites that were not included that also have custom products available as well, therefore, the averages mentioned do not necessarily represent the entire population of custom photo gift products. Many of the sites had sales on at least some of the products they offer, however, this was not reflected in the average prices.
A more detailed report of January custom product prices is available on the PMA Marketing Research website.
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Two-thirds of photographers work from home, according to 2008 PMA U.S. Professional Photographers Report
PMA, Jackson, Mich., announces the availability of the 2008 PMA U.S. Professional Photographers Report, providing professional photographers and studios with an idea of what is going on in the industry. According to the report, two-thirds of photographers surveyed work either full time or part time from their residence, and on average, each photographer specializes in 2.6 portrait types.
The report is derived from an email survey, distributed in August 2008 to 3,430 professional lab customers — part-time photographers and studio owners. The main objectives of the survey were to gather information about: products and output offered by photographers, methods for producing various products, factors that can boost profitability the most, and online ordering and copyright handling.
The report is available from the Marketing Research area of the PMA website. The basic version, $99 for PMA members, includes an overview of the professional photography industry. Non-members of PMA may buy the basic version for $199.
PMA Data Watch: Online print prices — how do they compare?
PMA Marketing Research looks at various online photo sites on a quarterly basis to keep tabs on the latest online digital print prices and site updates. Print prices remained steady this quarter compared to October but, as usual, there were a few fluctuations that took place. A couple of the sites lowered prices on standard prints. Six of the twenty-four sites surveyed continue to offer standard prints for less than 10 cents per print.
The average price of a basic 4-by-6 inch print based on the sites surveyed dipped slightly from 15 cents in October to 14 cents this quarter. Several of the sites lowered prices while only one increase was implemented. The average prices for 5-by-7 inch and 8-by-10 inch prints also fell slightly this quarter while the average price of the 11-by-14 inch print inch up slightly. A few increases and decreases were implemented in the shipping category causing the overall average to creep up. Costco continues to offer free shipping on basic prints along with a new lower base price.
The New Year has many sites advertising print discounts and annual prepaid print plans to really encourage printing all of the past year’s photos as well as the current ones. Some sites were also offering limited time discounts on prints, especially for larger quantities, but there was no need to sign up for a particular plan to claim the discounts. Photofun.com offers standard 4-by-6 inch prints at an everyday low price of 5 cents per print. AOL discontinued the AOL Pictures online photo service and pictures can no longer be accessed through AOL Pictures. AOL has however partnered with American Greetings PhotoWorks which also provides unlimited storage as well as many photo creation and sharing options.
A more detailed report of January online print prices is available to members only on the Marketing Research website.
For comments or questions please visit the Marketing Research blog PMA Foresight.
PMA Data Watch: Shopping habits of scrapbookers
According to the PMA 2008 U.S. Consumer Scrapbooking Report, 79 percent of U.S. households that made scrapbooks in the year ending April 2008 also shopped for scrapbook related items in that same 12-month period. It is likely the remaining 21 percent had the needed supplies on hand. They may also be less involved in the crafting aspect of the scrapbooking process, but see it as a way of storing and sharing photos. Some popular scrapbooking items purchased in the year ending April 2008 were paper and cardstock, stickers, adhesives, and albums. While computers are becoming increasingly popular in scrapbooking, only 15 percent of households that purchased scrapbook-related items purchased software.
Consumers were most likely to shop for supplies at craft stores (65 percent), followed by general merchandise stores (41 percent), and specialty scrapbook stores (23 percent). On average, craft stores were visited most frequently throughout the year, followed by mail-order, and online stores. The average spending per household for the year was highest through mail-order and online stores. Based on what they recall, scrapbooking consumers said they spent an average of $122 in a typical year on scrapbooking supplies.
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