Welcome

As your summer vacation comes to a close, your sunburn has faded and all that is left are the memories. It’s also time to get those photos developed. If you’re moving with the trends, you’ll merely connect your digital camera to your computer, and begin the process of retouching and printing.

As we gravitate towards a new way of taking and developing photos, we see the inevitable decline of the film-based camera, and its related businesses and industries. Eastman Kodak, a giant in the photography industry, has announced that it will no longer sell traditional, film-based cameras in the United States. They plan to focus increasingly on high growth digital products.

Currently, 33% of U.S. households own a digital camera, and in 2003, sales of digital cameras surpassed sales of of digital cameras (Consumer Electronics Association). A new study by InfoTrends Research Group projected that sales of digital cameras would reach $53 million dollars in 2004. Other trends in digital photography include:

· Phones and PDA's that include digital camera capabilities will surpass digital camera volume.
· Prices for flash memory cards will continue to fall, giving consumers more “photos” for the dollar.
· Manufacturers are beginning to create “A-Z” hardware, combining hardware, software and service solutions in one clean package. This will broaden the appeal to the mainstream consumer..
· “Fashion cameras,” small enough to wear around one’s neck, or put in one’s pocket, will emerge as a hot trend. The market for these will center around women and young buyers.
· Manufacturers are shifting their focus to emphasizing new features and styles, while considerably lowering prices.

Source: The Consumer Electronics Association

-Carolyn Ellis

Industry Snapshot: One Hour Photo Lab

The principle competitive factors for one hour processing are convenience, price, quality of service, quality of product and timeliness. Stiff competition from mass-market venues – with the convenience of “one-stop shopping” – make it imperative that photo processing businesses differentiate themselves from the mass market and add additional services for their customers such as: framing, fine art reproductions, specialty printing, digital processing, and photography equipment.

Take a look at our full industry report on One Hour Photo Labs (PDF Format). If you are interested in other industry snapshots, visit our SBDC Business Advisors Toolkit.

- Mike Cline

Links of Interest

Photo Marketing Association International: www.pmai.org
Professional Photographers Association of America: www.ppa.org
InfoTrends: www.infotrends-rgi.com
PhotoImage News: www.photoimagenews.com
Independent Photo Imagers: www.ipiphoto.com

Did You Know?

The the SBDC Business Advisors Toolkit has excellent resources specifically geared toward business advisors. By selecting the SBDC Business advisors Toolkit link, the advisor can find business-related categories, reflecting major topics of interest. Also searchable by keyword, the Toolkit contains publications that can provide valuable techniques in business/client assessment and business planning, as well as, a template to determine market share/store potential and a financial breakeven model.

The SBDC Business Advisors Toolkit contains spreadsheets, templates, brochures, etc., developed by sister SBDCs - shared with the SBDCNet for the distinct purpose of being archived in a central location, accessible and ready to use by counselors across the country. Original publications on various industries authored by SBDCNet researchers can also be found here. We ask all Centers to assist fellow counselors by sharing their works and growing the Toolkit. Full credit is given to contributors. SBDCNet thanks you for your continued support.

-Gloria Allen

Are You Paying Attention to
Demographic Trends?

Soon the school bells will ring and over 53 million students will return to primary and secondary schools - the largest school enrollment since 1969. These demographics portend well for businesses dependent upon children and the school market. Last year, back to school spending totaled $7.8 billion - with $5.6 billion in sales at family clothing stores and sales of $2.2 billion at bookstores. Unless allowances have gone up significantly since my childhood, children's direct spending is not significant - however, children's influence on spending is tremendous. Two-parent households spend an estimated $6,820 to $15,350 per child per year depending upon the age of the child and income of the family (Single-parent households spend about the same - but tend to fall in the lower income ranges). Parents spend money on food, clothing, books and other expenses - including those expenses associated with extracurricular activities.

Although trends have declined from previous years, many kids are still active in after-school activities. In 2000, 59 percent of children ages 6 to 17 years old (28.4 million) participated in at least one of three types of extracurricular activities: sports, clubs, or lessons. As would be expected 32% of young children (ages 6 to 11) are more likely to participate in lessons than older children; while 37% of older children (ages 12-17) are more likely to participate in sports.

For this and other interesting information about school aged children, take a look at the Census fact sheet on back-to-school and the USDA Survey: Expenditures on Children by Families, 2003.

See links to other demographic related subjects.

- Mike Cline

Contact Us

SBDCNET
UTSA Institute for Economic Development
University of Texas at San Antonio
501 W. Durango Blvd.
San Antonio, TX 78207
http://sbdcnet.org/
sbdcnet@utsa.edu
800.689.1912