The online photo album market - Italy

1.2 A global market with high potential

The growth of online photo albums is largely due to the growth in online sales and the fact that this product is particularly suitable for this distribution. The freedom and flexibility that characterizes these products combined with the design potential, (***) are expected to stimulate market growth.

This graph shows the revenues of the global photo printing and merchandising market in **** and provides a forecast for ****. In ****, the global photo printing and merchandising market was worth US$**.** billion.

The global photo printing market World, ****-****, in billion USD Source: ****

The photo printing market is changing due to the development of technology on a global scale. Purchases of personalized products through photo printing services are contributing to the growth of the global photo printing market. Moreover, the portfolio of products and services for processing, storing, transferring, displaying and archiving photographs is constantly expanding.

The global online photo album market has therefore been growing strongly for several years and is still in an upward phase. The large number of small specialized companies is tending to diminish to make way for larger entities. A good visibility on the Internet combined with an optimal quality of service should ensure a promising future for any company specializing ...

2.1 The Italian market lags behind other European countries

Consumer photo albums volume sales grew by *.*% to **.* million units in Western Europe * (***) in ****.  The European market of photo albums value, which includes online photo albums, rose by *.*% to €*** million.

Western European market size for photo albums Western Europe, ****-****, in million € & units Source: ****

The Italian market for online photo albums is growing, but its size its still marginal compared to other European countries. Considering that Italians e-shoppers of photo albums are * million and that the average price of a photo album is €**, we can estimate the italian market size to be €** million. [***]

2.1 Smartphones are taking the place of cameras

Italians are increasingly shifting away from the use of cameras, substituting them with smartphones to capture significant moments. According to a research carried out by eDreams, **% of Italians prefers to use their smartphones to take photos. As a matter of fact, the functionality of a smartphone for photos is the third main consideration that Italians make when they decide to purchase a smartphone, with **% of preferences, only after the operating system (***).

Main considerations for the purchase of a new mobile device Italy, ****, in % Source: ****

Hence, the smartphone market is tightly linked to the world of photography. The share of Italians choosing to purchase a smartphones instead of mobile phones has increased massively since ****, going from **.*% to **.*% in ****.

Share of phone sales by type of device Italy, ****-****, in % Source: ****

The number of italians choosing a smartphone with a high resolution camera has increased, to the detriment of smartphones with a low resolution camera, as can be seen from the graph below. Furthermore, acccording to Canon, the increased performance of smartphone cameras has had two positive effects:

it has favored the rediscovery of printing, thanks to the quality of the images taken it has contributed to arouse a renewed interest in photography ...

2.2 Italians' online shopping habits

The B*c eCommerce sector in Italy has grown by **% in ****, reaching a value of **.* billion euros in online purchases. Of these, the e-commerce of products represents the largest share, with **,*% and **.* billion euros, thanks to approximately *** million online orders. Within the e-commerce of products, the largest share is represented by electronics (***), followed by other products, i.e. toys, beauty products etc., **.*%, and clothing, **.*%.

Share of the e-commerce product sector by segment Italy, in ****, in % Source: ****

The web shoppers in Italy are **.* million, divided among regular web shoppers (***) that generate *% of the market.  

Share of web shoppers by type Italy, ****, in % Source: ****

Furthermore, smarthphones are increasingly used for online shopping: the value of online purchases made via smartphones represents **% of the total, from **% in ****, while the use of computers decreased from **% to **%, although it still represents Italians' preferred device. In the main product sectors, the smartphone has a very high share of total eCommerce purchases (***). It is then essential to develop natively mobile customer journeys that are easy to use.

Furthermore, social media is an essential part of the customers' purchasing journey, as **% of Italians declared to purchase - at least occasionally - products that they have already seen or shared ...

2.3 Covid-19 boosted the rediscovery of printed photo albums

During the lockdown induced by the Covid-** pandemic, Italians rediscovered the passion for photography as a tool to keep alive the memory of beautiful moments shared with family and friends. At a time when affection was far away, a major trend that emerged was the increase in the creation of online photo albums to satisfy the need to physically hold photographs takes with digital equipement. 

Cheerz analyzed the purchasing behavior of Italians in the March-May **** period and confirms the trend outlined. The demand to print digital photographs increased from +**% in March **** to +***% in April, compared to the previous year. 

Another interesting fact that emerged in these months is that about **% of the people who ordered photo albums did not so for themselves, but for someone else. The finding appeared from the analysis of the destination addresses of the shipments, which were different from the usual billing address. 

Evolution in the demand for online photo album Italy, ****-****, base=**** Source: ****

3.1 A fragmented market

The Ateco code **.**.** identifies laboratories for the development and printing of photos. This includes the more traditional businesses, which operate mostly offline and locally. Considering this broader market, it is According to Istat, in **** there were **** active companies, of which the large majority (***) were constituted by individual entrepreneurs, freelancers and self-employed individuals.

Considering the smaller market for online photo albums, although there are less players on the territory, the situation is still fairly fragmented. Some of the players are subsidies of large international groups, such as Cheers or Pixum, while there are some traditional photo laboratories that have started to provide digital solutions. It is important to highlight that the two players whose websites get the most traffic are companies founded and headquartered in Italy, which could be a sign of the greater trust that Italian customers have in them.

The similarweb site allows to compare the traffic on the different actors' websites and obtain the table below:

Source: ****

Even some of the "Tech Giants" have entered this market. In ****, Amazon launched Amazon Prints, and in ****, Google launched a printing service via Google Photos. Nevertheless, Apple has abandoned its photo printing service in ****, so we can deduce that the structure of ...

3.2 The importance of delivery services

A key part of the online photo album business is the delivery of the products to the end client. For this reason, analysing the different types of services offered by the couriers operating in Italy is fundamental to assess the profitability of the market. In Italy, one quarter of companies and individuals rely on GLS for delivery, followed by BRT (***).

Distribution of delivery services Italy, ****, in % Source: ****

Most couriers have an online cost calculation tool that allows customers to simulate the cost of the shipping inserting its characteristics (***) for customized pricing. 

Poste Italiane offers customers a service called Poste Deliverybox Standard, which provides both the cardboard boxes and shipment at one unified price and ensures delivery within * business days. The following table resumes the offer:

Source: ****

Furthermore, accoridng to the number of pieges purchased, Poste italiane offers the following offer:

purchases up to ** pieces: receive * free package every ** pieces purchased (***) purchases from ** to *** pieces: receive * free package every ** pieces purchased (***) purchases over **** pieces: receive * free packages every ** pieces purchased (***)

If the package is heavier than * kilos, Poste Italiane offers a standard delivery service (***) called Poste Delivery Standard, which is resumed in the following table:

Source: ****

*max length of the longer ...

4.1 A diversified offer

Competition has led to a great diversity in supply. While album publishing software is often similar, the competition is in the form, printing method, number of pages, size and materials used. Furthermore, the photo album is available for different events (***), and it can be customized according to the customers' preferences. 

The different formats

The most standard formats offered by most sites are the following: portraits, landscapes, (***).

The different covers

Rigid: A robust result that gives a long life to the album; Flexible: A cheap option, which allows some flexibility of the page ; Leather: Black or brown, leather in addition to being a quality protection and an element of style that gives value to the object ; Layflat: A special cover that allows the album to sit flat on a surface

The different types of paper

The following are listed:

The paper standard *** g / m² offers crisp, clear photos The glossy paper  *** g / m² offers better colors and more sharpness than the standard The matt paper *** g / m², high-end paper which adds a velvety feel to the pages

Source: ****

Finally, some companies diversify their offering by focusing on customized design. Customers can design their own photo album, adding specific notes, patterns and icons, ...

4.2 Production process

The production process for photo albums consists of several steps:

Online orders: The customers can select the size, cover type and paper materials of the photo album online via website or app. They can then upload the photos, choose the desired layout and add decorative elements. After they've chosen all the photo album features, they can pay online (***) and they finally place the order. Printing: The orders are received by the company, which can start the printing process. The latter can be carried out with different methods:

Offset printing:  it is a printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. This solution entails high one-off costs for producing the cylinder, but it has low variable printing costs. Digital printing: The photo albums are printed using a software-controlled electronic printer. This solution entails no one-off costs for producing the cylinder, but it has moderate variable printing costs. This solution is usually preferred by companies since it is more cost-efficient.

Finishing: After all the photo album pages are printed, they are trimmed to size using sharp blades and assembled to form the finished photo album. Some companies still use an ...

5.1 Regulations

The Italian law governing online business management is defined in a number of different regulations. Some of them are specific to online business, while others apply to all business activities. The main regulations are as follows:

The European Directive ****/**/EU consolidates existing consumer protection legislation, offering consumers a number of new rights and remedies; The General Data Protection Regulations (***), which governs how a company should treat personal data of its customers, including the provision of mandatory information online, the obligations and liability of content and hosting providers, with the aim of increasing trust and confidence in the digital economy ; The EU directive on electronic commerce of ****, the Directive was introduced to clarify and harmonise the rules for online trade across Europe with the aim of boosting consumer confidence. It governs the way online businesses communicate with any potential customer who accesses their website; Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, **** It governs the specific consent of the customer regarding the use of cookies on the user's device. The Directive ****/**/EU which aims to increase consumer protection by harmonising several key aspects of national legislation on contracts between customers and sellers ; The European Directive **/*/EC and provides legal protection for consumers who purchase goods ...

6.1 Segmentation

• PhotoSi
• PhotoCity
• Photobox
• Ilfotoalbum
• Cheerz - Cewe
• Pixum
• Ifolor