nash Posted January 29, 2009 Report Share Posted January 29, 2009 Hello All my digital prints count is very low because round the corner we have Jessops doing prints for .5p should i compete ? http://www.jpics.co.uk/pricelist.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony.T Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 How much volume do you think they are doing- not a lot I expect. In fact look closely at their prices. To get to 5p/print the customer has to buy 200+. Realistically, how often do you get that sort of order these days? The most 'popular' order size as far as I can see is 30- 70 prints (equivalent to 1 or 2 rolls of 36 exposure films) For that quantity Jessops are more expensive than most I would say. So no, don't waste your time competing. They (and other's like them) only offer that price to look good, I bet very few customer's get to buy at that price ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 would`nt you say 100+ prints @ .7p each is quite cheap i`ve lost afew customers at that price break point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony.T Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Actually I would say that is to cheap. I don't go below 10p/ print unless I get into a haggling situation ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noritsuvet Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 A while ago someone ex Jessops either on this or the LSE forum said that most of the print orders went through at the highest prices because customers either 1/ didn't have the numbers, or 2/ didn't want to wait for them to be out-labbed - which is certainly what used to happen with the bigger numbers. I think CEWE are now doing all their outlab work which is how they can achieve these prices. 100 prints at 7p is too cheap. What other business would have expensive locations, expensive equipment and staff working for peanuts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 yes good point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cecilh Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 We don't go below 15p. We refuse to be busy fools! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photographis Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 I do go down to 10p, but only over 400 prints, and I go no lower. I reserve the haggling for the larger prints, which I can usualy do on the spot, whereas our main competitor (tesco) only give a 24hr. service over 7x5. That usualy seals the deal. I have on-hand my competitors price lists, just to expose their 'special' prices. Like mugs at £6.75 (pluss, in very small print £5. delivery) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 The idea in business is to make a profit to allow you to provide a service, no profit, no service. Look at all the differences between your 15-20p a print to the 5-7p a print. These are for larger orders, what is the service time days or hours? The quality of the work, the nearest big supermarket to us always beats us on price but not quality, there back printer is turned off so no file/image name on the back of the print, they are not alllowed to make corrections (the service engineers are told not to tell the operators how to correct/improve images). So you are probaly beating them on 2 out of 3, speed and quality. You never get all 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photographis Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 spot on nick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash Posted February 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 but how do you deal with people who just wants 2 or 3 prints it`s hardly worth the effort that goes into it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowe Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 We take basic fee 2 Euro under 100 photos order. So one photo is expensive, but we sell most orders from 70 to 300. In one photo even photobag cost more than one photo. 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilT Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 Lets look back a little on this... and the good old 35mm days hey!! We had labs doing say a 24 D&P for £1.99 and the independent mini-lab doing the same for £4.99 (thats double the price) For a blank film some labs charged zero (£000) the wise mini-lab owner charged £1.99 to cover cost. So here we are 2009? We have labs doing prints at 5/7p and the independent doing the same for 10p and above (thats double the price) For a low value product (no more blank films) but a few prints a minimum order. Its not rocket science, and over many, many years nothing has changed, apart from .. and think about this... The labs doing 35mm D+P for £1.99 thought they were smart, but proved to be less so.. As they entered the digital age, many also though heavy discount would be the way to go.. We now see the demise of the mass labs doing this. I know it is not easy, but for a couple of decades now, the independent lab owner that has been almost double in price to the "cheapy" is still here, and has survived and will continue to do so. Price is only an issue, when you make it an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cecilh Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 You are spot on Neil see you at the weekend. Cecil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QUICKPICS112 Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Price is always very important and we all must be competitive. You all know your local market so no one can teach you how to suck eggs. The Smart ars** and clever boys will, if they already haven't, dissappear. You will be left as a very specialist retailer and provider of photographic services. Some will hate for it and others be grateful of your exsistance. The biggest trouble is convincing the customer to have anything done and that the cost is reasonable. Over the xmas period and before a number of very good tv adverts seamed to promote photos (printed image) as a natural and quality thing to do. Unfortunately they were for hp printers and spec savers. What are the big boys doing!!? They make big money out of paper but do not want to use any of it to promote printed image. Shame on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photographis Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 At 50p for a 6x4, 85p 7x5, £1.99 8x6 £3.99 8x10 and a massive £5.50 for 8x12, I must be the most expensive lab on here. I am probably also the smallest. We do get issues with price, but generaly people are just glad to find somewhere they can go for help with their imaging, and not be made to feel a fool. A very frequent comment is 'how do you make any money if you spend so much time with people?'. The answer is simple, I find if you help people, most (not all) will come back, when their orders build it is easier to service them as they have been trained and have some understanding of their requirements and your requirements. It is only at this point that I will give a little encouragement in the form of a small discount or no charge for a trial print etc. It is a very quiet way of building trade, but it does work, word of mouth is a very powerfull ally. My main competitor is Tesco, who have footfall measured in the thousands. Even if I was half their price I would not attract their customers, because of convenience. The same applies to web prices, if someone just wants to do a bulk order online for convenience, if you are cheaper it will make no difference (unless your website is properly optimised etc. etc.) 'Turnover for vanity, proffit for sanity' is a very pertinent phrase when looking at business during a recession. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash Posted February 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 i`ve just spent 10 minutes just with a customer and then he had the cheek to ask where are the other labs in town and how much would they charge ? This is when i lost my cool i said to him you would`nt go into Tesco`s and then ask them where is Asda`s so why why do you do it in here ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Deverill Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 nash that is happening to me alot and i am getting equally annoyed by it. my prices are based on the more you print, the cheaper the unit price is! but I am considering just putting 6x4's at 30p 7x5 at 40p and if they pay then so be it, if not so be it. its not like we are making money hand over fist at the moment, is it? I think we will struggle to hit £1k this week and although this has happened before i feel that it may be happening for the next few months regularly and that wont pay my bills. we also have to consider that the material costs have soared recently and if the pound doesn't gain some strength then we may be seeing more cost increases in the coming months. I have no intention of playing the busy fool and I have real problems about to happen in the way of an ASDA being built a mile away. that may answer my pricing issues in that the town we are in WILL die. SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cecilh Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 Remember it is often better to charge more and have less sales. We considered lowering our Kodak G4 print prices when Boots lowered theirs. We charge 49p for any quantity but if we sell say 100 prints a day, we would need to do aprox. 250 to make the same money charging Boots prices. The customerswho think 49p is expensive would also think 29p too expensive! As we have said we would end up busy fools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash Posted February 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 but some customers have no idea ? i just had one in now asked for a lens wipe to dry his glasses, chose 3 images then asked for my opinion on which was the best image and when told him that they were .50p each he replyed i normally pay .10p each only i bit my tongue and told i can`t make this business pay on .10p per print. The only way out for these small jobs is to ask them to come back in 1Hour which they wo`nt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujilab Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 We get the same type of customers but tell them there is a real difference in the quality and have some examples to back it up. There will always be what we term 'bottom feeders' and Cecil is right - there is probably no price point which would satisfy them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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