This is not unanimously the case now. While many are still happy to pop pictures into pre-set templates in a quick, book-forming solution – and don’t have time to do much else – others want a bit more control; they want to play around and customise layouts, designs, colours, sizes and bindings and they are willing to give their time to do so.
As a printer, the ideal would be to find a software solution that would cater for the old-style customer as well as this new one, thereby maximising business. However, the suitability for this of the software currently available is debateable.
The change in the photobook market over the past few years has not been due to a failure of the simple, drag-and-drop creation model, but is down to an increased technical ability and willingness among some of the traditional photobook buying public along with the emergence of a new type of prosumer customer because of increases in the quality of digital printing. The original customer has not been eradicated, but the new customers are forcing printers, and therefore software developers, to cater for them too.
Dianne Moralee, marketing director at photobook software vendor Taopix, says that, for photobook printers, this means a three-tiered market.
"At the high end, there’s the professional photographer who wants masses of tools," she explains. "He or she wants loads of things that can do sepia and drop shadows, and fast rotation to move photos around very quickly. Then you have the ‘prosumer’, who has bought a nice camera and has an avid interest in photography and wants some control. Lastly you have the less savvy consumer who just wants to flow pictures into a ready-made set of page styles."
To make things even more difficult, there is evidence to suggest that these categories are not stable entities. Movement between the camps is common, so sticking to one area could see consumers gravitating elsewhere to a more adaptive system that meets their needs, explains managing director of photobook software provider Pixfizz Stephen Thorpe.
Customer ambitions grow
"We do a lot of analytics on our storefront and what we see is that first-time users want a simple, easy-to-use system, but, once they’ve used it, they get a bit more ambitious as to what they want to do with their design," he reports.
So the importance of investing in software that will allow you to cater for all types of user becomes clear. The solution, both Moralee and Thorpe agree, is to go for a package that can be used to create two or more composition platforms, marketing them clearly as different products.
This is something that more and more big retailers are cottoning on to, reports Julian Marsh, commercial business development and photo products consultant at Harrier LLC, printer of photobooks for a number of different outlets. And having two or more interfaces often involves offering both a composition platform that is downloaded to the customer’s computer, and one that lets the user create the book online, he explains.
"The big supermarkets have no hesitation in offering two or three different solutions," says Marsh. "They will have an online platform for the really simple stuff and a download model for more complicated photo products."
Typically it is an online platform that will cater for those wanting to quickly create a hassle-free photobook, whereas a download model is better for allowing more complex functionality.
But the average printer probably won’t have the cashflow to invest in two packages, or the money or expertise to build bespoke platforms itself. What it will want in the majority of cases is an off-the-shelf package for all types of customer. But according to the current market offering, these one-size-fits-all packages are either online only or download only – not both.
So it seems you need to work out which method is the more appealing to the average consumer. The attraction of the online model is that it offers a product that is much more in keeping with current consumer habits, says managing director of printer Pinders David Whiteway.
"Our software is a download version at the moment but we’re looking to offer an online version to see if we can get more market share from that," he says. "It’s an extra barrier if people see that they’re going to have to download software, and I think what people now like is a very ‘click, click, click and you’re there’ sort of approach."
Bandwidth bother
Pixfizz is an online product and so unsurprisingly Thorpe agrees that this is the best model. He says the fear some people have with online models is that you cannot be as ambitious with the functionality because of internet speeds, but he argues that there should be no compromise in the functionality of a printer’s professional and prosumer interfaces when hosted online.
"If the end-user has fast enough internet to use Facebook, then they should be able to use our system without any problems whatsoever," he says. "We haven’t really seen internet speeds being a problem because there’s a direct correlation between a person’s internet speed and the amount of money they’re willing to spend on photo products."
But others are unconvinced that an internet platform is up to the job of more complicated uploads. "Online platforms have to be fairly straightforward and basic because you have to use HTML," says Harrier’s Marsh. "They’ve always got to work for the lowest common denominator so you’ve always got to factor in people with slow computers, low bandwidths or older versions of browsers. So you can have the flashiest, whizziest platform but if only 10% of your customers can use it then that’s a bad move."
Marsh also explains that, because of the way most download platforms work, downloading the software then uploading the finished product can take less time than uploading the same pictures to an online creation platform.
"If for example you’ve got 10 2MB pictures per page, with the online solution you have to upload 200MB, whereas the download solution optimises the images before the finished product is uploaded, so you’re only going to be uploading 2MB per page," he explains. "So, even where you have to download a 100MB application, the overall creation time might be lower."
Moralee adds that Taopix’s customers seem to have had no trouble turning a download model into orders. In fact, she says, this model can lead to more repeat business as there will always be an icon on the customer’s desktop prompting them to order another product.
But of course a crucial factor for any printer looking to invest in software will always be the price.
"The big issue for anyone who wants to go into photobooks is that it’s difficult to get software without spending a great deal, and that’s frustrating even for a company of our size," says Adam Gildersleeve, managing director of printer Latent Light. "It’s not only the upfront cost but often a yearly licence and a purchase charge, so you may lose 7% upwards of your revenue."
No investment in hardware
Although click charges apply with all packages, online systems, despite their potential drawbacks, tend to involve lower costs. SAAS online solutions, such as Fizzpix, are hosted by the vendor and so require no investment in server hardware, for example.
But for Taopix’s Moralee, keeping upfront costs down with an online solution is a short-sighted business strategy. She says that, despite the photobook’s growing popularity, this is still in some ways a tough market to crack and the way to counteract this, she would argue, is by adding as much value to the products as possible.
"Concentrating on a simple book doesn’t necessarily make much sense for a lot of businesses, because the profit will be in additional pages," she says. "If we’re trying to encourage people to make bigger books, that’s more pictures, and so the online model becomes less and less relevant because it becomes more cumbersome.
"The more printers can differentiate themselves with up-selling and creative possibilities the better, because who
wants to go up against the likes of Photobox, who have already got a loyal share of the market?"
So it seems that the argument between online and downloadable photobook software vendors could go back and forth indefinitely, until perhaps someone puts forward a package that offers both.
With Taopix saying that this is something it is looking into, printers might want to wait for this best-of-both-worlds solution to become available.
In the mean time, while offering different interfaces for different types of consumers remains financially out of reach, those keen to get involved in this emerging market will have to decide which way their customers are likely to lean.
If most are likely to be the time-poor, less tech-savvy consumer, online might be best. If more will be creating veritable works of art or highly cherished gifts, a download model may be the printer’s key to photobook-selling success. This is not unanimously the case now. While many are still happy to pop pictures into pre-set templates in a quick, book-forming solution – and don’t have time to do much else – others want a bit more control; they want to play around and customise layouts, designs, colours, sizes and bindings and they are willing to give their time to do so.
As a printer, the ideal would be to find a software solution that would cater for the old-style customer as well as this new one, thereby maximising business. However, the suitability for this of the software currently available is debateable.
The change in the photobook market over the past few years has not been due to a failure of the simple, drag-and-drop creation model, but is down to an increased technical ability and willingness among some of the traditional photobook buying public along with the emergence of a new type of prosumer customer because of increases in the quality of digital printing. The original customer has not been eradicated, but the new customers are forcing printers, and therefore software developers, to cater for them too.
Dianne Moralee, marketing director at photobook software vendor Taopix, says that, for photobook printers, this means a three-tiered market.
"At the high end, there’s the professional photographer who wants masses of tools," she explains. "He or she wants loads of things that can do sepia and drop shadows, and fast rotation to move photos around very quickly. Then you have the ‘prosumer’, who has bought a nice camera and has an avid interest in photography and wants some control. Lastly you have the less savvy consumer who just wants to flow pictures into a ready-made set of page styles."
To make things even more difficult, there is evidence to suggest that these categories are not stable entities. Movement between the camps is common, so sticking to one area could see consumers gravitating elsewhere to a more adaptive system that meets their needs, explains managing director of photobook software provider Pixfizz Stephen Thorpe.
Customer ambitions grow
"We do a lot of analytics on our storefront and what we see is that first-time users want a simple, easy-to-use system, but, once they’ve used it, they get a bit more ambitious as to what they want to do with their design," he reports.
So the importance of investing in software that will allow you to cater for all types of user becomes clear. The solution, both Moralee and Thorpe agree, is to go for a package that can be used to create two or more composition platforms, marketing them clearly as different products.
This is something that more and more big retailers are cottoning on to, reports Julian Marsh, commercial business development and photo products consultant at Harrier LLC, printer of photobooks for a number of different outlets. And having two or more interfaces often involves offering both a composition platform that is downloaded to the customer’s computer, and one that lets the user create the book online, he explains.
"The big supermarkets have no hesitation in offering two or three different solutions," says Marsh. "They will have an online platform for the really simple stuff and a download model for more complicated photo products."
Typically it is an online platform that will cater for those wanting to quickly create a hassle-free photobook, whereas a download model is better for allowing more complex functionality.
But the average printer probably won’t have the cashflow to invest in two packages, or the money or expertise to build bespoke platforms itself. What it will want in the majority of cases is an off-the-shelf package for all types of customer. But according to the current market offering, these one-size-fits-all packages are either online only or download only – not both.
So it seems you need to work out which method is the more appealing to the average consumer. The attraction of the online model is that it offers a product that is much more in keeping with current consumer habits, says managing director of printer Pinders David Whiteway.
"Our software is a download version at the moment but we’re looking to offer an online version to see if we can get more market share from that," he says. "It’s an extra barrier if people see that they’re going to have to download software, and I think what people now like is a very ‘click, click, click and you’re there’ sort of approach."
Bandwidth bother
Pixfizz is an online product and so unsurprisingly Thorpe agrees that this is the best model. He says the fear some people have with online models is that you cannot be as ambitious with the functionality because of internet speeds, but he argues that there should be no compromise in the functionality of a printer’s professional and prosumer interfaces when hosted online.
"If the end-user has fast enough internet to use Facebook, then they should be able to use our system without any problems whatsoever," he says. "We haven’t really seen internet speeds being a problem because there’s a direct correlation between a person’s internet speed and the amount of money they’re willing to spend on photo products."
But others are unconvinced that an internet platform is up to the job of more complicated uploads. "Online platforms have to be fairly straightforward and basic because you have to use HTML," says Harrier’s Marsh. "They’ve always got to work for the lowest common denominator so you’ve always got to factor in people with slow computers, low bandwidths or older versions of browsers. So you can have the flashiest, whizziest platform but if only 10% of your customers can use it then that’s a bad move."
Marsh also explains that, because of the way most download platforms work, downloading the software then uploading the finished product can take less time than uploading the same pictures to an online creation platform.
"If for example you’ve got 10 2MB pictures per page, with the online solution you have to upload 200MB, whereas the download solution optimises the images before the finished product is uploaded, so you’re only going to be uploading 2MB per page," he explains. "So, even where you have to download a 100MB application, the overall creation time might be lower."
Moralee adds that Taopix’s customers seem to have had no trouble turning a download model into orders. In fact, she says, this model can lead to more repeat business as there will always be an icon on the customer’s desktop prompting them to order another product.
But of course a crucial factor for any printer looking to invest in software will always be the price.
"The big issue for anyone who wants to go into photobooks is that it’s difficult to get software without spending a great deal, and that’s frustrating even for a company of our size," says Adam Gildersleeve, managing director of printer Latent Light. "It’s not only the upfront cost but often a yearly licence and a purchase charge, so you may lose 7% upwards of your revenue."
No investment in hardware
Although click charges apply with all packages, online systems, despite their potential drawbacks, tend to involve lower costs. SAAS online solutions, such as Fizzpix, are hosted by the vendor and so require no investment in server hardware, for example.
But for Taopix’s Moralee, keeping upfront costs down with an online solution is a short-sighted business strategy. She says that, despite the photobook’s growing popularity, this is still in some ways a tough market to crack and the way to counteract this, she would argue, is by adding as much value to the products as possible.
"Concentrating on a simple book doesn’t necessarily make much sense for a lot of businesses, because the profit will be in additional pages," she says. "If we’re trying to encourage people to make bigger books, that’s more pictures, and so the online model becomes less and less relevant because it becomes more cumbersome.
"The more printers can differentiate themselves with up-selling and creative possibilities the better, because who
wants to go up against the likes of Photobox, who have already got a loyal share of the market?"
So it seems that the argument between online and downloadable photobook software vendors could go back and forth indefinitely, until perhaps someone puts forward a package that offers both.
With Taopix saying that this is something it is looking into, printers might want to wait for this best-of-both-worlds solution to become available.
In the mean time, while offering different interfaces for different types of consumers remains financially out of reach, those keen to get involved in this emerging market will have to decide which way their customers are likely to lean.
If most are likely to be the time-poor, less tech-savvy consumer, online might be best. If more will be creating veritable works of art or highly cherished gifts, a download model may be the printer’s key to photobook-selling success.
