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Photo Merchandise is the Gift that Keeps on Giving... Profitably!

Photo merchandise items such as photo greeting cards, photo books, and photo calendars have caught the attention of consumers and retailers alike. Consumers like photo gifts because they are thoughtful, emotional, and can take the place of more expensive merchandise. Retailers like photo gifts because they command a higher price than traditional photo prints and represent a growth market. This article discusses how Fullerton Photographics, a photo lab and studio in California, is using photo merchandise to increase its profits.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Photo merchandise includes items such as photo greeting cards, photo books, photo calendars, enlargements, and photo specialty items. These items have caught the attention of consumers and retailers alike. In the face of a challenging economy, consumers like photo merchandise. Photo items can serve as thoughtful and emotional gifts that may take the place of more expensive merchandise.

From the perspective of print service providers, photo retail outlets, and photo labs, photo merchandise means higher margins. InfoTrends' latest forecast data indicates that the photo merchandise market will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.9% between 2009 and 2014, surpassing $2.2 billion by 2014. Service providers of all types are seeking a double-digit growth opportunity in this market, and photo gifts might be the answer.

In December 2009, InfoTrends published a research report entitled 2009 Photo Merchandise End-User Survey Analysis: United States. Of the 1,915 end-user respondents to this survey, about 25% had purchased photo merchandise in the past year. As outlined in the Figure below, there is a clear correlation between age and the propensity to purchase photo merchandise. Within the age demographic, respondents under the age of 35 were considerably more likely to purchase photo merchandise than their older counterparts. In addition, 44% of respondents with children under the age of 4 had purchased photo merchandise in the past year.


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About Barb Pellow

A digital printing and publishing pioneer, marketing expert and Group Director at InfoTrends, Barbara Pellow helps companies develop multi-media strategies that ride the information wave. Barb brings the knowledge and skills to help companies expand and grow business opportunity.

Please offer your feedback to Barb. She can be reached at [email protected].

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