photokina Newsroom

Photo and imaging make a good combination with print. The digital revolution has fundamentally changed the picture market. Individual photo books are bestsellers: Within one year from 2006/07, they achieved a gigantic increase.

By the end of 2007, Europe-wide six million photo books will have been produced in digital printing by photo finishers and service providers. This proves once more that photo books are attractive, added-value products. Out of this total, over 1.5 million photo books fall to the share of Germany so that sales will have tripled compared with 2006.

Some 11% of photo books are produced locally by traders, with available technologies. Regarding their value share in the overall photofinishing market, photo books will exceed the 10%-mark in 2007 – with a market share of nearly one third by 2010 being forecasted.

Individual photo books are the digital answer to photo albums, these conventional treasures of cherished memories. Photo books are usually designed at home. They can be purchased in differfrom plain cardboard to stylish linen. Perfect photo books can be produced individually by anyone, by mouse click on the screen and within a few minutes time, for printing via the internet, in photo stores, at photo kiosks and with photo printers. There are no limits to creativity.

Just like photo albums, photo books enable the realisation of personal design ideas. Surveys show that consumers do not necessarily choose the fastest and cheapest solution. They definitely want a personal note and some sophistication, such as e.g. hardcover versions. Events like weddings, birthday parties, Christmas time or holidays rank high in individual photo books. In Germany some 60% of photo book orders are placed online and 90% are collected from traders.

Photo books open a wealth of individual design options for consumers, and they enable many newly established business models on this booming market. Growth impulses from photo books are not limited to the photofinishing sector: new markets are developing also for equipment manufacturers in digital printing and book binding. Manufacturers of minilabs and photo kiosks also see their chances on this new market, with solutions in local photo book production.

This makes photo books the major growth driver in the digital picture market.