IN-STORE PHOTO PRINTING MAKING A COMEBACK

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In-Store Photo Printing Making A Comeback
New York -AUG 06 Old habits apparently do die hard. Consumers were used to dropping off their rolls of film to get them developed, and digital camera users are no different.An IDC report shows that overall, digital image printing has grown 29% in 2005 to 15 pictures a month from 11.5 in 2004. Home printing remains strong, with consumers printing ten prints a month, compared with 8.8 last year, while retail printing has leapt to 3.8 prints from 2.5.”The pie is growing bigger,” said Chris Chute, senior analyst at IDC. “So while the overall volume of prints is increasing, the share of at-home printing is going down.”By the end of 2005, digital photographers will be snapping about 75 pictures a month, up from 57, the report said. Contributing to this growth are the lower prices and higher functionality of digital cameras and flash memory cards.Ron Glaz, program director for IDC’s digital capture devices and photofinishingresearch, said manufacturers and retailers are prepared for the change. “In order for digital photography to continue to move into the mass market, people need to be able to get their prints in the way they’re already used to: by dropping it off while they’re shopping,” he said.Retailers are happy to oblige. Hewlett-Packard  will announce today a deal that lets users of its Snapfish online photo service order prints online and pick them as soon as an hour later at a local Walgreen  store Other retailers, such as Costco Wal-Mart Stores (nyse: WMT – news – people ) and Target , are also in the printing game, operating self-branded photo centers or partnering with an imaging company. Eastman Kodak  says revenue from its in-store kiosks has grown more than 200% in the first half of 2005.”Home printing started out strong when digital cameras were PC-peripheral and still mostly used by techies,” Chute said. “These days, even people who aren’t comfortable with computers have adopted digital cameras. And they’re just more comfortable going to retail locations.”

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August 3, 2006 at 12:14 PM