In light of the ever-increasing popularity of photobook and other photo products, there will of course be many printers who are considering getting involved in this market in the new year. But just as important as having the right print and binding equipment to handle one-off orders is the right B2C online ordering platform. And who better to test these than consumers themselves? Our intrepid photobook software testers put three market leaders through their paces.
THE PLATFORMS
Taopix
Selling points Taopix aims to offer a ‘business in a box’ approach, providing everything needed to set up a photo gift business including design and job submission, shopping cart and production modules. Taopix has until now always been offered as software, which the consumer has to download to their machine, but the company has just launched an online version. Printers can brand different platforms for different markets. According to Taopix, printers are able to launch new products quickly and easily using independent template creation, which requires no programming skills. The platform also aims to provide a powerful marketing engine that supports voucher promotions and gift card purchase or redemption, and, for users, a ‘send to a friend’ sharing feature enabling family and friends to view a digital version of the book and to place orders.
Target audience Those already in the photo gift market wishing to expand their product offerings to photobooks; those with a quality digital press looking for new revenue streams; and those looking to manufacture photo gifts on behalf of brand partners.
Current installs Around 40 customers in the UK, made up of printers and photo labs, and 400-plus customers worldwide.
Service support Support and backup both for pre-and post-sales is available, with the system designed and developed in the UK.
Price This ‘white label’ solution costs from £11,750.
Contact Transeomedia, 0845 643 7490, www.transeomedia.com
Pixfizz Cloud-to-Print
Selling points Pixfizz Cloud-to-Print is a ‘platform-as-a-service’ solution, providing clients with a complete IT and software infrastructure that sits on the Pixfizz private cloud. As a subscription service, there’s no software to download, no servers to install or lease, and no IT resources or maintenance to deal with. Pixfizz allows for the integration of third-party plug-ins such as payment gateways, shopping carts and social media links. Key consumer-friendly features include a fully customisable storefront, collaborative design allowing multiple users to work on the same project simultaneously, integration with external image repositories, mixed carts to enable users to order a photobook, calendar and prints in the same order, and ‘smart’ image uploading with no need to upload in advance.
Target audience Many of Pixfizz’s users are printers who, lacking marketing resources, tend to offer a B2B2C model to their existing client base as channels to end-customers. The company also targets photo labs and photo specialty printers who need their own B2C branding and enterprises, and marketing service providers, including franchises.
Current installs 40% of Pixfizz customers are printers. More than 350 storefronts worldwide use this platform, including three in the UK.
Service support In the UK, Pixfizz sells and supports directly out of a London-based office. Pixfizz also provides new customer training onsite or via webinar. A support portal offers advice and monitors open tickets, and a support hotline is open 24/7.
Price A one-time set-up fee plus either an annual or quarterly or monthly subscription service fee is charged. If monthly revenue exceeds the base monthly quota, there is either a price per page or transaction fee option. Pricing starts at £2,500 for set-up, plus a first-year subscription cost of £4,350.
Contact Pixfizz, 020 7183 2457, www.pixfizz.com
Pixami Photo Site version 4.5
Selling points Pixami offers a software-as-a-service option, but also licenses the software for large custom implementations on customers’
servers, and can offer a non-royalty model too. A key selling point, says Pixami, is the fact that this platform is completely web-based and compatible with multiple operating systems, including a range of mobile devices. Pixami says it is designed as a full ‘turnkey’ solution, which means it includes a complete e-commerce system, email marketing capabilities, reporting and a production system delivering fully imposed and RIP-ready PDF files, tailored to the printer’s print device. Another key USP, says Pixami, is the amount of flexibility offered on customisation and branding of the printer’s photobook portal.
Target audience Pixami’s print customers tend to be larger commercial printers, yearbook printers, and book publishing factories, who require more custom implementations.
Current installs Approximately 100 worldwide, with around 10-15 customers in Europe.
Service support Support is through an online support portal, but Pixami also has a contract support engineer in London who assists with European customer support.
Price There is a start-up fee of $7,000-$20,000 (£4,270-£12,200) and a royalty on sales of 5%-7%.
Contact Pixami, +1 925 465 5167, www.pixami.com
USER REVIEWS
Reviewer
Ellie Proffitt, 26, teaching assistant, and lover of all things digital and gadgety. Ellie’s book was a memento of her time living in Prague last year. “I use a lot of technology in my work and personal life and feel fairly competent using most types of platforms and applications. I love ordering printed photos, and would order other products like calendars, as I worry about losing or breaking my laptop with 10 years of photos on.”
Ellie's book was printed through Pixami
The review
| Getting started |
Taopix This was very simple, although downloading took a while. The range of products was presented in a straightforward way. Click on one and you’re offered different themes. 4/5 |
Pixfizz This was very simple and straightforward, offering a range of products to choose from with pictures. The upload process was quite good. You don’t have to wait for photos to upload – you can access them directly from your folders. 5/5 |
Pixami It was easy to get started, but you have to use your own operating system’s photo viewing software. Also you can’t zoom in on photos or select whole folders to upload. And when photos are uploading, you can only see a list, not what photo in particular is being uploaded, so you can’t decide as you go. 4/5 |
|
Ease of use |
This was very simple. It was easy to view several photos at a time and take your pick. You could create a freestyle layout if you wanted, with grids to help you line up your photos, including across double pages. The downside: I couldn’t see an option for changing the theme once you had started with one and realised you didn’t like it. Some of the layouts were not as interesting as other photobook platforms tested. 3/5 |
Once I got the hang of it, I found it very user-friendly. You can drag and drop themes, and layouts, including photos, and easily swap between photos and layout, and create your own layout very easily. Although when you delete a photo from a page it also deletes the layout so you have to reapply. Changing the order of pages was a bit tricky, as you’re only offered a small preview in the edit mode. And instead of moving pages down one page, it swapped them around, leaving them in the wrong order. 4/5 |
It was very simple to use – it offered a selection of products with photos and dimensions. But the upload kept getting stuck at 99% which meant I could have wasted a lot of time waiting for it had I not cancelled it and found it had uploaded anyway. There was a good page layout choice and nice, large preview platform. There was a nice range of themes, but you couldn’t change this once you had started. 3/5 |
|
Fonts |
There were lots of font options, including style, colour and size. I could preview and change easily. 5/5 |
The font range was limited, and I couldn’t see how you could alter font size. 3/5 |
There was a limited font range but it was straightforward to edit and position. 3/5 |
| Instructions | These were simple and straightforward, meaning I encountered no problems. 5/5 |
There were helpful messages throughout that illustrated how to use the system. 5/5 |
I didn’t really need any, but couldn’t see that any were offered. I worked a lot out myself. 3/5 |
| Ordering | Easy. Any problems are highlighted in the preview, i.e. if something is going out of the margins etc. 4/5 |
This was very simple, with a chance to preview before ordering. 5/5 |
I couldn’t see a ‘save and come back later’ option, so I had to make the book, check I was happy and place the order in one sitting. 3/5 |
| Total | 21/25 | 22/25 Ellie’s winner | 16/25 |
Reviewer
Mike McInnerney, 69, artist of 43 years. Mike’s photobook featured recently commissioned work, including from his two series: Trees and Woodland Paths and Folk Tales. “I have worked with a Mac and with software programmes Photoshop and InDesign for a number of years. I know them fairly well but use them in a limited way, usually to format words and images for print clients, print promotion and websites.”
Mike's book was printed through Pixfizz
The review
|
Getting started |
Taopix Getting started was very easy. The working page opened onto an excellent and professional looking arrangement of tool panels and menu boxes with a range of layout options. 5/5 |
Pixfizz A lack of indication of scale led to some guesswork in sizing images in preparation for downloading. It required a bit of trial and error and repeated ‘file too big’ warning boxes to establish the optimum file size. I could highlight my prepared images and download in one click, but it took time. 3/5 |
Pixami Getting started was straightforward. After logging in, a blank spread appeared with a request to get photos. By clicking on ‘add file’ I was taken to my desktop to select my pics. There was a clear action palette listing decisions made. 4/5 |
|
Ease of use |
Organising and arranging pictures and text could not have been simpler. Downloading pictures from my desktop onto the picture gallery panel was effortless. Joy of joys there was the option of having pages templated or untemplated as you wished, with a fine graph-like grid to aid positioning. Pictures placed onto pages could be sized and positioned with ease. 5/5 |
I got rid of the basic position guides offered for beginners but this meant I was left positioning by eye and using post-it notes stuck to the computer screen to create a constant guide edge. I was constantly being warned ‘bleed area image may be cropped’ which seemed to limit the space for placing elements to a tiny spot. Once the gallery of pictures was established it was simple to drop images onto the page but, with no keyboard command for proportion constraint, resizing pictures was unstable. 2/5 |
Working with Pixami proved frustrating. When applying images to the page I had an immediate problem with the standard template design. Pictures pulled and dropped from the gallery ended up oversized and badly cropped. I then hit problems when trying to resize and keep the original shape and composition of the picture. I tried autofill but this didn’t help. 2/5 |
|
Fonts |
There was a text tool that offered an excellent range of type styles and functions. 5/5 |
The text styles on offer were very limited with no range of weights and a numbered sizing system that offered no idea of what the printed size might be. 2/5 |
The font range was limited, but was very easy to use and offered clear size and colour options and was easy to position. There was a nice preview option. 3/5 |
|
Instructions |
Instructions were excellent if slightly irritating with a trilling sound every time a pop-up panel of instructions appeared. But this could be turned off. 4/5 |
These were minimal. The whole exercise was a matter of trial and error as you navigated your way through. 1/5 |
Instructions were clear and helpful for the most part, but I could not find any way around the layout problem. 3/5 |
|
Ordering |
Ordering was simple, with a handy checklist appearing before proceeding to check-out, highlighting resolution problems or rogue elements. 5/5 |
This was the simplest part of the whole experience. It was straightforward and efficient. 5/5 |
Ordering was simple and efficient. 4/5 |
|
Total |
24/25 Mike’s winner |
13/25 |
16/25 |
Reviewer
Sally Utting, 39, full-time mum, part-time tennis coach, and self-confessed technophobe. Sally’s photobook was a collection of images of Maisy, four, and Lola, six, doing what they do best – showing off for the camera. “In terms of my skills, this was the first time I had ordered a photobook and I do need very clear guidelines so this was a very good exercise for me!”
Sally's book was printed through Taopix
The review
|
Getting started |
Taopix Nice page. It took me a while to navigate around and to download the software but once I’d done that, it was very easy to use and all very impressive. 4/5 |
Pixfizz This was a really nice website. It was very professional looking and aesthetically pleasing, and easy to navigate around. 5/5 |
Pixami It was a nice page and very easy to add my photos from the desktop and then put them into the photobook. 5/5 |
|
Ease of use |
It took me a while to download photos, but once I’d worked out how to do it, it was actually very straightforward. It was easy to crop pictures and the layout looked really good. 5/5 |
I used the basic position guide for beginners, which really helped me. It took me quite a while to upload photos into the gallery of pictures but once I’d done this, it was easy enough to use. 4/5 |
I found it very simple to create the photobook as it was easy to drag photos across onto pages. It wasn’t easy to change the shape of pictures though, and I had to play around with it a bit to learn the best way of doing this. 4/5 |
|
Fonts |
There were lots of different fonts to use, which was very good. 5/5 |
There wasn’t very much choice here. 4/5 |
There were loads of options and this function was very easy to use. 5/5 |
|
Instructions |
The instructions were very clear and I did need to follow them closely as I’d never done this before. But they made the process much easier. 5/5 |
There weren’t, I didn’t think, enough instructions for someone like me with very basic skills. I needed simpler instructions. 3/5 |
These were clear but there could have been more instructions, for example on changing the shape of pictures, etc. 4/5 |
|
Ordering |
It was clear and it highlighted any problems with the pictures that needed rectifying. And this was simple to do. 5/5 |
This was very clear – it was a very easy process. 5/5 |
Like the other platforms, ordering was very simple and straightforward. 5/5 |
|
Total |
24/25 Sally’s winner |
21/25 |
23/25 |
Software vendors’ feedback
Dianne Moralee, sales director, Taopix
“It’s always great to hear such positive feedback! Generally, download times are governed by internet speeds. A bigger download usually means our print customer is offering a wide range of product choice, backgrounds, masks etc and more creative freedom for their customers. Downloading the app first means that the end-user only needs to download once, then they can start working on photobooks right away.
The Taopix Assistant is designed to grab user attention so they know how to get started – sound is optional. As Mike said, most people turn this off once they find out how easy it is to make a book. We continually develop both our Taopix Desktop and our Online (HTML5) product in conjunction with our customers – so feedback like this helps us to determine our product roadmap. Taopix is designed with our print customers and their customers in mind. We always look to add useful features that will help our print customers generate more volume.”
Stephen Thorpe, managing director, Pixfizz
“The design tools on the supplied storefront are not targeted for ‘professional’ design use and hence do not provide a very high level of design freedom, alignment tools or selection of fonts, hence Mike’s criticisms. The vast majority of consumers in a B2C environment require fast, easy-to-use basic design tools and this is reflected with the other two glowing reviews. This is also reflected with the fact that existing Pixfizz customers grew their businesses’ page volumes by 978% in the past 12 months by making new and repeat orders easier for their end-customers.
Pixfizz storefront owners have the ability to upload their own fonts and scope them along with the rest of their product’s design (including alignment aides and guides) to meet the needs of their target market. A larger selection of fonts, interactive help and more advanced tools for design can be ‘switched on or off’ by the storefront owner as deemed necessary.”
Gary Wood, vice-president, sales and marketing, Pixami
“Most of these comments are a result of working with a ‘basic implementation’ in the demo site. In fact, Pixami offers huge potential for customers to configure and customise. Customers can configure the final feature set, providing a very simple or an extremely powerful product creation experience, based on their market. This includes the ability to enable/disable advanced editing features, add and configure unique product options, and even specify the way photos are cropped by default. Pixami customers can also use built-in tools to extensively brand the software, swapping out nearly all graphics and text if desired. They can even add their own customisable tutorial videos.
The Pixami software is easy to use, and is 100% web-based, with no installations, and the ability to run on all popular platforms and mobile devices. The software saves user projects automatically and indefinitely in the cloud, and users can access and work on them from anywhere and at any time.”
