QUICKPICS112 Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 :)For many years we have traded in our town and built up a good regular clientel, who use us by and large because of the service and quailty we provide. We are not the cheapest, so why else use us! Not far from us is a local camera shop who have always treated us we distain. In the good old days of film, they would claim that one hour photos were expensive and "Poor Quailty" compared to their professional processor (colourcare!!) who would take time over an individuals photos. (known in the trade as Bulls***). Only by purchasing a new camera would you improve your results. Anyway a few years ago low and behold they bought a digital minilab. However thier policy of doing photos for nothing continued into thier operation of the lab along with the contention that they always do it better than anyone. It even comes down to an album of thier rivals photos to show how good they are. I ramble on I know, so does any one have interesting news or stories about thier local camera shops? Do you get on with your competiters, or is it dog eat dog? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujilab Posted July 3, 2009 Report Share Posted July 3, 2009 We had lots of competitors nearby, but gradually they have whittled away. There is still a camera shop at the other end of town and like your situation, they were late to put a lab in. Thankfully their pricing was is not too bad but they love giving prints away with camera sales which does affect us sometimes. We promote photo products like crazy and we tell everyone our difference is that we focus on this, not selling cameras, binos, etc. Seems to work well. The more we promote, the more the competitors pull back from photo and concentrate on hardware. The album of comparison photos is not a bad idea. We have one that shows the difference with ASDA, Boots and the nearby Klick that was. As these were made on dye-sub kiosks it's not hard to look great when our ones are on silver halide. Now there are less competitors out there it is easier to work with each other as we are all in this market together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilT Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 My local town, at one stage had Spielman x2 shops, Klick, FotoProcessing, indies,Boots, and 3 camera shops, inc a Jessops, all that is left, is Boots... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photographis Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 We get on well with our local camera shop, doing all their film processing and large prints, but they have a bank of dye-sub printers for up to 8x6. what does eat into our market is the local copy shops, of which there are two, one a 'proper' graphic design business who specialises in all the local stationary etc. with a nice sideline in 'print from print' at photocopy prices, the other a general copy shop/key cutter/boot repair etc. etc. he is selling upto A3 prints from an Epson1400, and now doing gifting. The quality from both is poor, but it has the effect of 'dumbing down' the local market. Everyone is exploring different avenues of income at the moment, but I wish they would choose something else!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilT Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 I have noticed that our local "Staples" has now moved also into this area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photographis Posted July 10, 2009 Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 our local staples has just taken delivery of a wide format scanner and printer, only black and white, and only 'scan to print'. so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.