Refocusing on Photo Specialty Printing Opportunities
Demand for printing services that transform digital images into custom products—including photobooks, greeting cards, calendars, magnets, stickers, yearbooks, and more—continues to surge. According to ResearchAndMarkets.com, the photo printing and merchandise market is expected to continue growing at a compound annual growth rate of 9.23%, reaching $48.8 billion by 2030.
Photo specialty is a highly diverse market, catering to both tech-savvy consumers looking for cool, customized ways to document experiences and conventional consumers who value tangible, personalized gifts and memorabilia. In addition, photo specialty printing attracts a wide range of businesses looking to make their marketing initiatives more memorable and add impact to their loyalty programs.
Photo specialty is also an evolving market, offering a growing range of opportunities for print service providers to expand and diversify their business. But understanding the converging trends affecting the market’s growth is key to capitalizing on its potential.
Cultural influences and trends
The dynamics behind the upswing in demand for custom printed photo products include a variety of cultural, economic, and social influences. Among the most significant are:
- The proliferation of smartphones, signaling a fundamental shift in how people celebrate, attend events, record experiences, and share their lives with family and friends. Now, everyone is a photographer and a potential pipeline for printed photo specialties.
- The exponential growth of online availability—including the emergence of social selling and on-demand web-to-print services—and the ability of e-commerce to provide customer convenience, simplify design decisions, and make the purchasing process more interactive, fun, and personal.
- The rising popularity of customized keepsakes, reflecting a nostalgic trend toward more personal and authentic gift-giving experiences, as well as renewed interest in DIY-like projects across the generations, from baby boomers to Gen Z.
- The growing push for sustainability, including pressure for a more eco-friendly method than traditional silver halide photo processing.
HIGH-VALUE PHOTO SPECIALTY APPLICATIONS
- Custom photobooks
- Wedding albums
- Yearbooks
- Greeting and holiday cards
- Event invitations
- Sports programs
- Travel keepsakes
- Custom calendars
- Photo prints
- Student/Corporate IDs
- Personalized magnets
- Posters and wall art
- Coffee table books
- Conference giveaways
Technology shaping the market
Heightened interest in the photo specialty market is also being driven by emerging and evolving technology.
Production inkjet: Today’s advanced production inkjet technology is at the top of the list—proving to be a highly productive and competitive platform for photo specialty printing. For example, Canon’s inkjet presses—the ProStream and varioPRINT series—represent two solutions designed to help print providers meet this market’s unique demands:
- Consistent image quality that rivals offset, including a wide color gamut, sharp details, and excellent skin tones.
- Media flexibility that accommodates media ranging from traditional papers to specialty substrates.
- Speed and efficiency to meet demand for fast turnarounds, plus enable outsourcing partnership opportunities with e-commerce sites.
- Agility and productivity suited to short runs and one-offs, as well as challenging peak workloads—typically around the holidays.
- Environmentally friendly features, including water-based inks, low emissions, and little to no VOCs.
Artificial intelligence: AI is not only transforming photography itself through editing, image management, and productivity enhancements; it’s also opening up similar possibilities for the photo specialty market. AI-enabled smartphones, for example, now allow users to manipulate and edit their photos, generating one-of-a-kind images that are totally unique and totally shareable and gift-worthy. On the production side, AI algorithms not only power functionality such as variable data personalization and web-to-print integration but also help enhance productivity and workflow for businesses printing image-based products.
Augmented reality: AR is another technology poised for increased impact on photo specialty printing. Integrating augmented reality into the ordering process, for example, allows customers to visualize photo products before purchase, enriching the buying experience, reducing errors, increasing efficiency, and improving customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
Understanding—and responding to—these converging trends is key to capitalizing on the potential of the growing photo specialty market. And right now is a great time to explore its wide range of opportunities to expand and diversify your business.
