After years of boring school photos and declining school photograph sales...Isn't it time for products and sales strategies to change and meet the needs of todays parents and schools?
Product offerings are an important feature of a high volume photography business, yet why have we seen little or no change for decades in school photography? Some may argue that schools are steeped in tradition and I absolutely agree with that...to a point.
The mind set of school tradition should not take away our ability to innovate and add value to our business. In the end, it is the schools and parents that reap the rewards of clever and practical innovation.
Parents have changed their purchase behaviour to online and more increasingly to mobile. The expectation of parents now demands more product choice and customisation options.
With reports globally of declining sales also seen in one of the largest school photo companies in the US - 'LifeTouch' (which recently was sold), we need to stop and ask why. Can we still work in the same way as we did 20 years ago or even 5 years ago. Well, I think 'LifeTouch answered that question by getting acquired by the consumer imaging company 'Shutterfly'
With Shutterfly's experience in customer usage and behaviours, it's a sure thing that LifeTouch will adopt some of these sales strategies.
HVP solutions in conjunction with Netlife have now started to inspire operators to be more creative with their product offerings through Netlife template designs.
I believe the future is to inspire purchase rates through products and designs that are applicable to today's mobile purchasing parents.