PHOTOBOOK

It's a testament to how quickly digital photography has taken hold with the average picture taker. Already, almost half of the U.S.household population owns a digital camera. In the near future, it will likely be every household. But for all the gains digital technology has made, people still want truly special photos and memories in print. Increasingly, they're willing to pay a premium to turn their digital pictures into lasting memories in the form of finished memory books. Photo memory books combine charming design, high-quality papers, and a consumer's own photographs and thoughts into a valuable showpiece that goes far beyond the shoebox or a 4" x 6" print.

As a printer, photo memory book opportunities that were previously out of reach are now easily within your grasp. Being able to print-and profit from-even a small percentage of the number of digital pictures that are taken each year can mean substantial growth for your business. With the right solution, you can supplement your existing digital print volumes with the high-value pages that photo memory books represent. While traditional digitally printed pages sell for pennies, digital photo pages can sell for several dolla

Photo publishing is a bright spot in today's competitive market, with the potential to add print volumes and generate new applications.

The demand for photo-rich documents continues to increase for consumer and business-to-business applications. And, unlike the declining traditional photo market for 4" x 6" prints, there's dollar potential here as well

Snapshot of the Photo Market It's not about photos, but photo applications: with the exponential growth in digital photography, there's been a related decline in photo printing. But when it comes to using digital photos in applications, such as calendars, greeting cards, photo books and more, potential may only be limited by your imagination. Consider this: the profit from a single photo book can be greater than that of 400 individual 4" x 6" prints (PMA Market Research 2009). Put another way: while traditional digitally printed pages sell for pennies, digital photo pages can sell for several dollars. A lucrative opportunity-regardless of economic conditions-consumers continue to spend on special events like graduations and weddings, and to use photo applications to celebrate and remember those events. Likewise, an increasing number of businesses are using customized photos to deliver more powerful and relevant marketing material as well as publishing digital yearbooks and directories.

Being able to print-and profit from-even a small percentage of the number of digital pictures that are taken each year can mean substantial growth for your customers through high-value photo applications. The opportunities are out there. Some of them are with the customers you already service. And by adding photo printing to your business, you create new opportunities for yourself as well-in the consumer, publishing and business-to-business market. The common denominator is the opportunity to joint Konica Minolta Photobook-to grow and thrive. Understanding the photo publishing market- and using that knowledge to gain new customers and new business-can add up to lucrative sales for you. Photo applications drive revenue and are an innovative print offering that will increase volume and relevance with existing customers.

Photo Lab is dying industry

Film users capture 240 images annually, making 340 prints from those images. Digital camera users capturing nearly 400 images annually but print significantly less.
Charge-for a print is also dropping.
Today digital minilabs are operating at just 16% of capacity
In order to make money in this market, digital minilabs must make 750-1,000 prints per day. How many retail locations enjoy this kind of volume?

From year 2000 to 2009, people print their photos greatly decreasing. According PMA research, customers print 29.9 billion in year 2000 and decreasing in to 3.4 billion in year 2009. There is no denying that revenue from film print services keeps declining. In today world, consumers are increasingly using digital cameras and that activity will only increase as more and more people put their photos from their digital camera into social networking website like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and photobucket. In fact, there are an estimated 4-5 trillion pictures in the world with more being taken everyday. However, only few of those people are still interested in old conventional photo album.
What actually do the customers want?

They want to print many photos but don't want to spend too much
They want nice looking album, but they don't have much time to arrange all the photos
They want to be different and they need personalized product

What should we do then? Do we have to stay the same and dying slowly or to change for better future?
Photobook is the answer to what the customers want.
What is Photobook?
A photobook is a professionally printed book containing your pictures. A custom photobook can be produced from your digital or film photos, put together in a creative design and printed for your memories (similar to a book you would find in the bookstore)