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Fotor.com photo editor launched by Everimaging

May 16, 2012 By Gary Pageau Leave a Comment

Everimaging Co. Ltd., San Francisco, Calif., released a cloud-based photo editor, Fotor, including multiple features and editing tools to help people experience, create and achieve more with their photos.

Key features include online HDR, FX Effects (like Lomo, Analog, Black and White and Classic Style); Frames, Color Splash and one-click enhance. Other controls include crop, rotate, resize, light control, color control, white balance, color temperature, tint adjustment, lens correction, highlights/shadows, Black/White point controls, sharpen/blur controls, etc.

Filed Under: Mobile imaging, Online imaging Tagged With: Everimaging, Fotor

Best Buy committee discloses CEO indiscretions, elects new chair

May 16, 2012 By Gary Pageau Leave a Comment

The Board of Directors of Best Buy Co. Inc., Minneapolis, Minn., elected director Hatim Tyabji to succeed Richard Schulze as chairman of the company, effective at the conclusion of the June 21 annual meeting. Tyabji, currently chairman of the Audit Committee, has served as a director since 1998.

When Schulze steps down as chairman, he will become founder and chairman emeritus, an honorary position. Schulze will serve out the remainder of his term as director through June 2013.

“Hatim’s history of leadership combines technology, retail, financial and mobile experience at the most senior levels,” says Matthew Paull, lead independent director . “He has founded companies, chaired and served on boards and successfully led enterprises through long-term growth and change. The board is grateful for his many years of service and is pleased to expand his role to chairman.”

The board also publicly released the results of an independent investigation into personal conduct allegations involving former CEO Brian Dunn, who resigned in April. When these allegations, which were unrelated to the company’s operations or financial controls, were brought to the board’s attention, the Audit Committee immediately initiated an investigation. Prior to the completion of the investigation, Dunn resigned.

Key findings of the investigation, conducted by outside law firm WilmerHale, include:

· Dunn violated company policy by engaging in an extremely close personal relationship with a female employee that negatively impacted the work environment.

· The CEO’s relationship with the female employee demonstrated extremely poor judgment and a lack of professionalism, but the inquiry revealed no misuse of company resources. The inquiry also revealed no misuse of aircraft.

· In addition, as part of the investigation, it was determined the chairman of the Board of Directors acted inappropriately when he failed to bring the matter to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors in December 2011, when the allegations were first raised with him.

“In December, when the conduct of our then-CEO was brought to my attention, I confronted him with the allegations (which he denied), told him his conduct was totally unacceptable and contrary to Best Buy’s policies and everything I, and the company, stand for. I understand and accept the findings of the Audit Committee,” says Schulze.

Filed Under: Business, Chain stores Tagged With: Best Buy Co. Inc.

InfoTrends analyzes ILCs, projects growth

May 10, 2012 By Paul Worthington Leave a Comment

Marker researcher InfoTrends expects interchangeable lens cameras to account for more than 50 percent of total U.S. digital camera market revenue by 2016.

The firm’s latest study will explore “what drives photo activity among owners of DILCs, and which services and products they use and anticipate using in the future.”

More information on the 2012 U.S. Interchangeable Lens Camera Market is here.

http://www.infotrends.com/public/Content/Multiclients/DILC2012.html

Filed Under: Retail, Trends Tagged With: InfoTrends, interchangeable lens cameras, Market Research

Hunt’s launches loaner program for in-demand cameras

May 9, 2012 By Gary Pageau

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Hunt’s Photo and Video, Melrose, Mass., recently kicked off a customer service program letting photographers who order and pre-pay for one of four high-demand, low-availability cameras to borrow and use the units for up to three days. Included in the program are the Nikon D4, Nikon D800, and Canon 5D Mark III; the Canon 1DX will be added as soon as it begins to ship.

“There are probably about four cameras that are coming out in limited quantities and for which the demand is very high,” says Mike Mitchell, director of retail operations, Hunt’s. “It’s going to take a long time to fill all the orders for them. In the past, we would have sold all of our units as they came in. Now we are holding a unit in the store and making it available to people who’ve ordered the cameras in advance and pre-paid so they can get experience with them before the units ship.”

Filed Under: Photo Specialty Tagged With: Hunt's Photo and Video

Kodak Gallery customers moving images to Shutterfly

May 8, 2012 By Gary Pageau

Shutterfly Inc., Redwood City, Calif., has set a May 28 deadline for Kodak Gallery customers to opt out of having their images transferred to Shutterfly. After May 28, Kodak Gallery customers will have the opportunity to link their Kodak Gallery account to a newly created or existing Shutterfly account. Over the coming months, their photos will automatically be transferred to Shutterfly, free of charge. There are an estimated five billion photos in the Kodak Gallery.

“I am thrilled to welcome millions of Kodak Gallery customers to the Shutterfly family. Our priority is to ensure every photo gets safely and securely transferred to Shutterfly,” says Jeffrey Housenbold, president and CEO of Shutterfly. “We promise to make the transfer process very easy for customers and will communicate our progress every step of the way.”

Filed Under: Canada News, Online imaging Tagged With: Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly

Camera stores face business challenges

May 7, 2012 By Paul Worthington

As a result of low demand for industry products during the past five years, revenue at dedicated camera stores declined at an estimated average rate of 8.5% per year to $2.8 billion in 2012. And faced with competition from online retailers and “big box” stores, revenue in 2012 is expected to slide 2.4 percent further, predicts industry analyst firm IBISWorld.

Camera stores are a mature industry with intense competition both from within, and without: warehouse clubs and superstores, and department stores. “Smaller players are getting moved out of the picture as they struggle to compete against large retail chains. Retailers like Best Buy or Walmart are more convenient for consumers who can purchase other items while shopping at such stores,” the researchers say. Also, “the camera stores industry is struggling to compete with e-tailers, many of which offer a more convenient shopping experience at a lower cost.”

Two other significant factors:

• Businesses that invest in camera equipment, such as professional photographers, stopped spending as demand for their services dried up as well.

• The proliferation of smartphones and other devices with advanced camera features are diverting more demand away from the industry, as phones are more convenient than carrying a separate camera. Moreover, smartphones and tablets make uploading and sharing photos or videos easier. Online sales are expected to dominate such purchases.

The industry remains very fragmented, with most firms employing fewer then five workers, IBISWorld concludes. “The only major player, Ritz Camera & Image, is one of few companies in the camera stores industry able to operate nationwide.”

The $825 report is here.

Filed Under: Business, Retail Tagged With: camera stores

ScrappingSimply.com re-launches using Photo Finale Enterprise

May 1, 2012 By Gary Pageau

Scrapping Simply.com

Lucidiom Inc., Vienna, Va., announced Scrapping Simply, a subsidiary of Provo’s Allen’s Camera, relaunched their website on Lucidiom’s Photo Finale Enterprise platform.

About 5 years ago, Rex Allen, with the help of one of his managers, Cordale Ottley, developed ScrappingSimply.com, an online space geared toward scrapbookers, with a focus on digital scrapbook page printing. ScrappingSimply.com has grown into a successful site with a large and loyal user following. ScrappingSimply.com already used Lucidiom’s Photo Finale product line and product building website, which allows users to order prints of pages they have designed on their own or of pages they create online using Lucidiom’s premade page designs customized with their own text and photos. This relaunch adds a shopping component to the user experience and a set of behind-the-scenes functionality to allow for better marketability.

“What Photo Finale Enterprise adds to ScrappingSimply.com is a management system for the entire consumer-facing pages,” explains Allen. “My team can easily manage the merchandising pages, optimize them for SEO and affiliate networking and tailor the shopping experience to our market and to our sales initiatives.”

“Scrapping Simply is a great example of one of Lucidiom’s Five Truths—that specialty and regional photo are the future of the industry,” says Steve Giordano Jr., president, Lucidiom, referring to the Five Truths article he penned for PMA Magazine last year. “It is a local business with a truly global reach. Right now, just 10 percent of the Scrapping Simply business comes from Utah and another 10 percent of the business from overseas—with Brazil, Australia and Norway topping the list, and including many military-based customers. The remaining 80 percent is spread across North America.”

Filed Under: Online imaging, Scrapbook retailing Tagged With: Allen's Camera, Lucidiom, Photo Finale, Scrapping Simply

Shutterfly reports 61-percent increase in first-quarter sales

April 30, 2012 By Gary Pageau

Shutterfly Inc., Redwood City, Calif., reported first-quarter net revenues totaled $91.3 million, a 60% percent year-over-year increase. First-quarter profits still elude the company, however, as the GAAP net loss widened $10.0 million, compared to $7.8 million in the first quarter of 2011.

For the quarter, Personalized Products & Services net revenues totaled $70.2 million, a 72 percent year-over-year increase, and represented 77 percent of total net revenues. Net revenues from Prints totaled $14.9 million. Commercial Print net revenues totaled $6.2 million.

Jeff Housenbold, president and CEO, Shutterfly

"Shutterfly's Jeff Housenbold

“The first quarter was a solid start to the year for us with strength across all three of our business categories,” says Jeffrey Housenbold, president and CEO. “Capitalizing on our scale and profitability, we enhanced our product and service offerings, launched Treat, our 1:1 greeting card service and were successful in negotiating the transfer of Kodak Gallery’s customer accounts and data to Shutterfly.”

Transacting customers totaled 1.6 million, an 18 percent year-over-year increase. Orders totaled 2.5 million, a 22 percent year-over-year increase. Average order value was $24.60, a decrease of 8 perccent year-over-year.

For the second quarter, Shutterfly is projecting net revenues to range from $90-92 million, a year-over-year increase of 19-21 percent. This range assumes minimal revenue from the pending Kodak Gallery transaction.

Filed Under: Earnings, Online imaging Tagged With: Shutterfly