For a long time in history, photo output simply meant small, silver halide prints. Today, a lot of different output options exist, ranging from books, calendars, cards, canvas, or all kinds of photo merchandise. The ubiquity of image capture devices is leading to a constantly increasing number of photos being taken. This is especially driven by smartphones featuring ever-improving cameras. The number of 1.5 trillion photos taken worldwide in 2022 is expected to grow to 2 trillion by 2026. Smartphones will be the major source with 91% of all photos taken in 2022, growing to 94% by 2026.

Only a small portion of all images taken end up as hard copies nowadays but the ones that do fuel an important market for photo prints and merchandise. This market is analyzed by Rise Above Research, a market research and consulting firm that has many years of experience within the photo merchandise, photo printing, and digital photography markets. Lead analyst David Haueter has over 20 years of experience as an industry analyst. The company recently published its 2022 Photo Merchandise Study and is already preparing for the 2023 edition. Having conducted annual studies for many years allows Rise Above Research to track timelines and follow developments in the market. The studies include consumer surveys and forecasts on photo output.

The consumer survey provides some interesting insights. Photo merchandise is of interest to a large share of consumers. Overall, 47% of survey respondents have bought a photo merchandise product in the last year, with the survey further breaking out cards, books, calendars, wall/tabletop décor, or drinkware. Among those, photo cards are the most popular type to be ordered. It is consistently purchased for holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, etc., with flat cards being more popular than folded cards. Photobooks are the second most popular photo merchandise application. The most popular type are 8 x 8-in./8.5 x 11-in hardcover books with a photo printed on the front and 26 pages per book. Photo calendars and photo wall/tabletop décor and photo drinkware rank lower, but still are popular.