Idea # 1 - Jack King
lays it on the line
Jack King - former
owner, Camera World -
Charlotte, NC, USA
Bill,
I hope that you are
doing well. I wanted to
give you some
observations for your
consideration.
Our future daughter
in law, with no advice
from me has developed a
software application to
take Facebook images to
high res. She is
currently working with a
website
photostasher.com
which is a small pro lab
here in Albemarle, North
Carolina.
Look at the print
prices and note how much
more they are getting
for a 3 1/2 x5 print vs.
4x6. That's a product
you can not get at the
big box stores.
Money is being left on
the table by PRO
members.
Next, I went to a
newly remodeled Wall to
Wall Mart in a small
town last week and the
Fuji photo lab which
used to have multiple
employees is totally
gone. Now there is an HP
station with six kiosks,
with no personnel, with
instructions to bring
the prints to the
electronics counter for
pricing. I guess that
they figured out that
having a few users stuff
the prints into a purse
without paying would not
be as expensive as one
single employee.
Bill Curtice (former
Kodak Exec and great
guy) tells me that Kodak
has fired the Wal-Mart
team, as WM has even
abandoned film. I think
that there are some real
niche opportunities for
PRO members who can pick
up on this and charge
what it used to be worth
for pictures. There is
just no reason for film
prints to be the same
commodity as digital
prints and it is an
opportunity to bring
back the profit for
developing the film too.
Thinking about it
overnight, I have a few
more observations. Some
of these thoughts have
come to me as what I
would call a reverse
Peter Sandrian formula.
Which is: If your gross
sales are DOWN, how much
LESS can you sell and
still make the same
gross profit if you
RAISE your prices?
When I wrote my
friend, Bill Curtice and
told him of the HP labs
and that the winds of
change were blowing and
he wrote me back that
the Kodak Wal-Mart team
was gone and that it was
not changing but already
CHANGED, I was impacted
a lot. For Wal-Mart in
this small town that
Kathy and I were in to
make this change, shows
me that there was some
computer modeling beyond
my thought process that
said: :" Why are we
doing this to serve this
small portion of the
picture taking
consumer?"
So, I guess that my
message to photo
specialty dealers is a
two edged sword. LOOK AT
ANYONE IN TOWN WHO IS
SELLING ANY PRODUCT OR
SERVICE THAT YOU DO,
RIGHT DOWN TO THE
GROCERY STORE AND THE
CONVENIENCE STORE. Next,
look on line and study
the CURRENT reality of
what products and
services are being sold.
A perfect example is
that little lab charging
much more for a 3 1/2 x
5 print. Just like
Wal-Mart, you have to
make some hard choices
now; are the services of
old Sally, who has been
with you for twenty
years, still justified?
If I were in business
today, as much as a
softie as I am, I would
have a whole different
attitude about employees
who threatened to leave
if they did not get more
money or get their way.
In my volunteering
and in our circle of
friends we have met and
known folks who had
high-level jobs, who
have been out of work
for years, and would
love to have a job at
what I was paying office
personnel or a manager
who was stealing from
me.
There are three
opportunities to
examine: PRODUCTS.
SERVICES. PEOPLE. All
three areas need a
magnifying glass like
never before.
When I entered the
Wall to Wall Mart store,
there was a big store
layout blue print on an
easel in the front of
the store as the store
was still under
renovation. In addition
to the shift in the lab,
the display of cameras
was smaller and at the
very back of the store
near TV's and nowhere
near the space that it
had occupied before. I
was in BJ's club this
week and the camera pegs
had been moved to a much
more smaller space. I
have never been in a
Costco, but this is one
of the first places that
I would look at. In my
town they made a very
concentrated effort at
wooing the professional
photographer and I even
saw mailing where they
helped them balance
their monitors. I would
bet that by the time I
was at the stage of
closing Costco had most
of the market of pros
and jack legs taking
weddings, as their 8x10s
were fifty cents and
4x6's were constantly
under a dime. Two local
pro labs who specialized
in weddings closed
before I did, and both
attributed it to Costco.
I hung on to my gal
who hand developed black
and white for too long.
After I shut her down, I
found a college student
who would come by and
was happy to take my
film home to develop and
print and I made a LOT
more money. I realize
that it may be hard for
some to accept advice
from one whose business
failed. But, there were
years when it was not
like that. Our hard
lessons make us stronger
in many ways and give us
a new vision.
One more thought. I
do not know if you have
the ALDI grocery chain
in your area or not, but
if not find one when you
are traveling. One of
the most brilliant
retail concepts that I
have ever seen. You pay
to get a cart and get
your quarter back when
you bring it back.
Generally there's only
one cashier so you have
to wait a bit. I
compared the items that
I purchased and the
prices averaged 25% +
less than Wal-Mart. The
stores do not even have
a published phone number
so there's no paying for
an employee to sit and
wait for the phone to
ring. There's only one
brand of Ketchup.
Harris Teeter, on the
other hand, has twenty
brands and employees by
the dozens and is hugely
successful. AND the
highest prices in town.
Lesson, there are a LOT
of consumers on both
ends of the pyramid. The
trick for photo
retailers is to find the
proper balance for their
market.
Another good field
trip for specialty
retailers would be to
visit an IKEA store more
than once and soak in
all that they can. A
huge store as you know
with less people per sq.
ft. than a good camera
store. Kathy is not a
shopper and I had a real
hard time getting her to
ride into town with me
and by the time that we
entered the door, she
said. "I want that." She
had no intention of
buying anything but soon
found ourselves going
back to replace
furniture and lamps,
rugs, you name it.
However, after our first
assembly of a chest of
drawers I paid a guy to
do the next assembly.
Our neighbors' newlywed
daughter and husband on
the other hand drove
back and forth with as
much that would fit in
their car and loved the
experience of building
their furniture together
and did their entire
home.
And back to my
observations about
shifts that I saw at
Wall to Wall mart and
the warehouse club. If
these types of retailers
are growing weary of
slugging it out with
Amazon on cameras, could
manufacturers start
coming back to photo
specialty? I am glad to
hear of the growth in
members for PRO. For a
Samy's to come into PRO
says a lot. I looked at
some of the new
Promaster products and
packaging when I went to
Biggs Camera (Charlotte,
NC) and was really
impressed. I think that
there is a parallel to
the book Future
Trends which really
made an impression on me
- innovation does not
have to come from
Washington or NY. I do
feel that as dealers we
were sheep for too long
and let the traditional
centers of photo rule
us. PRO has proven the
Future Trends principle
true many times over.
