As the digital photo trend gains momentum, growing numbers of amateur photographers are opting to print their images at home. However, there is no threat to professional photo print shops at this stage, say industry players.
While vendors and resellers of home photo printers report a brisk trade, with Hans Dummer, GM of Epson SA, confirming digital home printer sales have increased; the photo labs say there is no sign of a drop in their market. Printing paper sales for the photo labs have not decreased, says Malcolm Ryan, GM of Fuji SA.
In fact, the market as a whole is expanding. "Digital photography is growing into a very popular hobby in SA, influencing the way in which consumers print," says Kerry Hayes, a research analyst at BMI-TechKnowledge.
Although there are no official figures to indicate which will become the preferred medium, both home printing vendors and photo lab retailers believe their products will take the lion`s share of the market.
The cost hurdle
Experts say the cost of the consumables needed to print at home may be the biggest barrier to an overwhelming adoption of home printing at this stage.
Anthony Delport, market executive for digital retailer Photo Connection, relates a remark he overheard about the cost of digital printing during a recent trip to the US: "It`s like baking cookies: if you bake them at home it costs you around $1 per cookie, but you can buy a packet for $1.20."
The release of new products such as HP`s Pro Photo Pack is helping to bring down the costs of home printing. The pack brings the cost of one home digital print down to R3.54 from the average R5 a print, depending on the types of inks and paper used. However, this is still more expensive than a R2 digital print from a photo lab.
Quality and convenience
With the cost of digital home printing dropping, the quality is still perceived to be lower than that of a lab-printed photo. "You can`t equate the quality of a print a R3 000 home printer produces compared to a R1 million printer," says Delport.
However, BMI-T`s Hayes argues that the quality of home print units is as good as that of professional printing services, although she concedes that digital prints do not retain their quality as long as professional prints do.
Home printing gives consumers the convenience of being able to print, copy, scan or fax an image anytime, says Hayes. On the other hand, people aren`t aware that the professional lab does complex processes such as colour management.
"Printing is more than just taking a picture and printing it," says Delport.
Future offerings
While the professional photo printing industry maintains it feels no threat from home printing yet, there are plans to attract a bigger market by making retail of digital images quicker, easier and more cost-effective for consumers.
"Fuji SA is looking to expand its services by offering more kiosks in retail outlets for automatic printing of digital images," says Ryan.
With more kiosks in the pipeline, photo labs are also heading online. Delport says Photo Connection could consider launching an online printing store, which will print images e-mailed to a depot by customers.
At the moment, digital printing in labs is still ahead, although Hayes cautions: "In the long-term, when the average selling prices fall to an affordable level for the average consumer, they will be more easily able to afford the hardware to print their own output, and skip the middleman, which cuts costs in that area. This will then be likely to drive digital home printing to overtake the traditional printing services."
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