LifePics today announced record sales during the 2008 Holiday season, despite the decrease in consumer spending last year. Specifically, calendars were up 3X in 2008 over the 2007 holiday season, and photo books were up 5X over the 2007 holiday season. The record numbers are due in large part to the new state-of-the-art calendar engine and photo book engine LifePics launched in 2008, as well as retailers' ability to receive the orders from LifePics and print them quickly in-store or through a number of wholesalers.
"Going into the holiday season last month, we were concerned our sales might be down because of the slumping economy," said Doug Gentry, Executive Director at RitzPix.com. "However, our online photo sales numbers were up considerably from last year in many categories. Most business reports indicated that consumer spending was down in 2008 over 2007, yet our photo book sales were up 500%, and calendars were up 300%. We credit our increases to our new photo book and calendar engines, as well as being able to deliver these and other products in as little as one hour to our customers. Numbers like that saved the season for us."
While traditional photo products like greeting cards and prints were also up for LifePics in 2008, photo books and calendars grew by the largest margin. Photo books and calendars have become increasingly popular in the photo industry, so LifePics took action to make sure consumers could create and order those products easily through the new engines. LifePics also ensured orders could be fulfilled quickly by enabling retailers with 1-hour in-house printing options and fulfillment through multiple wholesalers.
"During difficult economic times, you have to get creative to drive more business," said Rick Patch, President and CEO at LifePics. "We know that people tend to focus on family and meaningful memories when times are tough, so the timing on the launch of our sleek and easy-to-use photo book and calendar engines could not have been better planned. We gave consumers a fun and easy way to design and produce their personal photo products as gifts for the holiday season. Our growth was also attributed to our ability to send photo book and calendar orders to the store to be printed as late as Christmas Eve, which is a large advantage over services such as Shutterfly (NYSE: SFLY) and Kodak Gallery (NYSE: EK). We anticipate photo books, calendars, cards, and large prints to grow at an even faster rate in 2009, with localized themes for our retailers and custom content for their customers."
Order Photo Books and Calendars Through the LifePics Online Photo Service
LifePics is the market leader in driving digital photo orders to photofinishers and professional photographers. Using LifePics' technology, photofinishers and professional photographers are able to accept orders from consumers via the Internet and send those orders directly to their in-house labs or other specified wholesale labs that are most convenient to the consumer. LifePics has also developed an Image Management Software suite for managing, editing, synchronizing, and ordering images online.
More retailers use LifePics than any other Internet-enabled photo ordering solution. LifePics' customers include mass merchants, large food and drug chains, local camera shops, and independent photofinishers. Retailers offer the service at more than 20,000 stores across the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Caribbean. LifePics works closely with retailers to help build their online photo businesses.
LifePics is an open solution that works with a variety of photo software providers and photo Web sites. In addition, the service supports a number of different print options -- orders can be sent directly to stores for 1-hour service, or routed to major wholesalers, gift providers, photo book manufacturers, or a variety of other printers.
For more information, visit LifePics at www.LifePics.com.
