Who still needs to print photos? Well, there’s always demand from some customers: photo services drive traffic to these retailers’ stores, especially during peak holiday, graduation and wedding periods.
More than 50% of photo prints made this year will come from a retail store, totaling about $786 million in sales, said David Haueter, a longtime photo industry analyst and founder of the consulting firm. Above Research market research.
About 4.2 billion 4” x 6” prints will be developed in stores this year, he added.
“People don’t print as much as they used to, but there are still people who like to print,” Haueter said.
Haueter said many consumers enjoy ordering photo prints and products from stores like CVS because they get the goods right away with no shipping costs. They often go to these pharmacies to buy other things too.
CVS offers photo services in approximately 7,600 stores. “We continue to see strong demand for this service, particularly during gift giving seasons,” a spokesperson said.
More than 8,000 Walgreens stores offer photo services, said Raghu Valata, senior director of digital commerce strategy and planning at Walgreens. “The holidays tend to be a busy time for our photo business, with the highest foot traffic typically seen in December,” Valata said.
But at Walmart, on the other hand, about 3,700 stores have Fujifilm photo kiosks – usually located in the electronics department of the store and they are used often.
It’s a service that “customers use fairly regularly,” a Walmart spokesperson said, including people who may not have access to a computer to order prints online. “We maintain a healthy business all year round.”
