Filter
Top Products
18
23
rd
SEPTEMBER 2010 Day Three
world of imaging
2010
The New Print Model: Grouped
and Bound into a Photobook
I
n the photo-imaging industry we all talk about photobooks and
assume everyone is referring to the same product. But are they? At
the 2009 International Business Forum in China, Kodak presented an
interesting chart depicting the wide range of photobook opportunities
available across different price points.
events, such as weddings. One reason that the average photobook price
has remained relatively steady has been the introduction of minibooks,
which measure 5x5cm and can be carried in ladies’ purses. Japanese
consumers are very cost-conscious, with consumers picking up 95 per
cent of their Kitamura photobook orders at a retail location to avoid
paying shipping charges.
Acknowledging that signicant
barriers still exist to more widespread
photobook creation, such as the time
and effort needed for the design as well
as the select and upload procedures,
Ohnishi said Kitamura is offering a
photobook design service, initially for
wedding books only. In a reversal of the
actions preceding the introduction of
APS lms, he is advocating that camera
manufacturers save the DPOF data, which
is used by photonishers, as metadata
with each image to simplify production.
On behalf of Kitamura, which is a major
retailer of cameras, he invited 16 camera
manufacturers to participate in discussions about how they can help grow
the photobook business. At the time of the conference in June, he said
that several companies had agreed to this proposal.
If we consider the prints that now are contained within photobooks
as part of the overall photo printing business, the decline in worldwide
photo printing is bottoming out, as shown below. After 2012, we expect
that the “equivalent prints” gure may begin to climb again. Those
readers who have studied our earlier forecasts will notice that we have
tempered our optimism as we witness the relatively slow development
of this exciting market segment.
Each of these categories will have its features: from pages produced
by printer on silver halide photo, inkjet or dye sub media to those made
on digital presses; from soft- to hard- to leather-bound coves; from
single-page arrangements to double-page “lay-at” designs; and from
simple to creative photo/text layouts. The choice will be based in part
on what moments are being captured and what story is being told. From
fairly frequent life events to those once-in-a-lifetime events.
The channels through which consumers can obtain these products are
evolving as well – from mostly on-line ordering to in-store software that
encourages them to quickly to tell their story and express their creativity
while enabling retailer service providers to expand their portfolio to
meet these different needs with options for making them in-house.
Photobooks represent high-value-added products and, as a result, this
growing market segment is attracting new competitors. Established
commercial bookmakers, who have watched their prot margins shrink
during the world’s economic woes over the past two years, are longingly
viewing this opportunity to utilise their equipment and skills to boost
their returns.
In Japan, for instance, Akihiko Ogino, President of Contents Works,
recently told a conference organised by the Photobook Promotion
Association that his on-demand publishing company started offering
photo albums in 2004, and two years ago entered the on-demand
photobook market, adding large-format sizes last year. He commented
that customers for his pocket-size books, buy an average of 2.6 books/
order and 30 per cent order additional books within 12 months. Half of
those orders are for gifts.
During this same conference, Hideyuki Ohnishi, Director of central
lab operations at Labo Network, a division of Kitamura, Japan’s largest
specialty store chain with more than 1,000 outlets, spoke about the
growth of the domestic photobook market from 950,000 units in 2007
to 2.05 million in 2008 and 3.05 million in 2009. The corresponding
retail value was ¥1.9 Billion, ¥4.0 Billion and ¥6.4 Billion, respectively,
putting the average price at around ¥2,000 for each of the three years.
He also categorised the market, saying that those photobooks below
¥2,100 are “content books” to commemorate cultural events involving
babies and children and have soft covers, while those photobooks over
¥3,000 have hard covers because they contain memories of special
Why? Besides the consumer awareness and photobook creation
issues already mentioned, additional challenges for traditional
photonishers entering this market segment are: 1. Learning how to
make books and, for those buying digital presses, how to print in CMYK
rather than RGB and; 2. Developing the necessary marketing skills to
reach the “new” consumers who thrive on social networks. Commercial
printers and bookmakers eyeing this lucrative market segment, who
already possess the skills to make high quality photobooks, also lack