Walmarts portrait studio goes on-location!?

MissB

Im a little preturbed by this... whats everyone elses take?

Richard

MissB wrote:

Im a little preturbed by this... whats everyone elses take?

I had a delightful moment of dyslexia when I read the URL as pimps.goportraits.com.

Angelo

not surprising. WalMart has put thousands of independent, small-town merchants out of business over the years - now they set their sites on a new business model. Resistance is futile. Same BS, different day.


.

MissB

I tried to call them this afternoon... I want to know how they market their photographers.. or is it ... you get who we send kind of business. If thats the case...then Im not worried at all. plus it seems there prices are about average if you are looking for an onlocation photographer. I bet these prices don't include the editing time.. or prints. So phwpt on you walmart!!

MissB

Richard wrote:

I had a delightful moment of dyslexia when I read the URL as pimps.goportraits.com.

LMAO!

angevin1

While what Angelo says is true; wholesale. I think niche retailers never had a worry.

As far as I see it, they're gonna have to step their game up if they want to compete with the aesthetic of the average photographer. And the above average photographer won't even feel the breeze~

Somehow I just can't wrap my mind around someone actually telling the world they got their Wedding photographed by WalMart.

My overall take on this whole thing where Superstores try and do everything is eventually you do nothing well.

In my mind, the key thing missing right about now, is service. Service is why many flock to SmugMug, or certain restaurants or even favorite stores. Most people associate WM with Cheap, don't they?

Service.

cletus

angevin1 wrote:

My overall take on this whole thing where Superstores try and do everything is eventually you do nothing well.

In my mind, the key thing missing right about now, is service. Service is why many flock to SmugMug, or certain restaurants or even favorite stores. Most people associate WM with Cheap, don't they?

Service.

Spot on.

angevin1 wrote:

Somehow I just can't wrap my mind around someone actually telling the world they got their Wedding photographed by WalMart.

You haven't met some of my wife's cousins :hide

msf

angevin1 wrote:

Somehow I just can't wrap my mind around someone actually telling the world they got their Wedding photographed by WalMart.

the studio isnt owned by walmart, just like mcdonalds in walmart isnt owned by walmart. Its a company that rents space in the store.

GREAPER

I would think the Mom and Pop hardware stores, clothing outlets, and grocery stores thought people would still choose them due to quality and service.

For most, this thought has not worked out well.

wildviper

I am concerned about this since I am thinking of becoming a professional. I know few people who have gone to Sears or Walmart for the kids pictures and are absolutely happy with the pictures they get there.

The problem is that the quality that we speak of and care for, isn't seen in the same light with the average consumers. I know some of my horrible pictures were seen as "wow"!!! by few consumers.

How do you overcome that?

On the other hand, looking at the flyer, i can already see where they will try and nickel and dime you. One change of clothes, 30 min session(like it or not), no removal of blemishes and so on.

Alas, there is hope!

Photog4Christ

msf wrote:

the studio isnt owned by walmart, just like mcdonalds in walmart isnt owned by walmart. Its a company that rents space in the store.

Ditto to that.


I'm not worried. My SIL used to work for "Walmart Portrait Studios" (actually, I think the company is "Picture Me") and between you an me.... Most "Picture Me" photographers wouldn't have a clue what to do with a DSLR.

MissB

I thnk that when put side by side...people can recognize which is better quality...maybe not be able to explain why... the difference would be obvious. Im finding that although people would prefer to have a professional photographer do the work ... they want to pay chain store prices. The only way im finding to work around this is to offer specials and contests to market and get people excited about me over the chainstore photographer. People love to get "deals" and Im offering great referral incentives to people to bring business my way.

Art Scott

Wal Mart closed all of their studios here.....only surviving in store studios are Sears and JC Penny's........then there is the Life Touch studios (school Pix I think).........

The webpage only lists 5 cities...stlouis, houston, orlando, portland and wash dc................

Cygnus Studios

wildviper wrote:

The problem is that the quality that we speak of and care for, isn't seen in the same light with the average consumers. I know some of my horrible pictures were seen as "wow"!!! by few consumers.

How do you overcome that?

You cannot compete going apples to apples with someone like Walmart. The way to succeed is showcasing the advantages not offered by chain outlets or super centers.

Customer service is an area where chains suffer the most. Quality products and services are another area.

The customers who seek out the chain stores will not be your customers for the most part. Some may kick the tires to see what they can get, but more than likely are looking for the cheapest product versus a good product.

The others who may choose a chain can be swayed when presented with the true differences. I carry examples of images printed at low to high end pro shops and once the client sees them, they understand the difference.

MissB

Cygnus Studios wrote:

You cannot compete going apples to apples with someone like Walmart. The way to succeed is showcasing the advantages not offered by chain outlets or super centers.

Customer service is an area where chains suffer the most. Quality products and services are another area.

The customers who seek out the chain stores will not be your customers for the most part. Some may kick the tires to see what they can get, but more than likely are looking for the cheapest product versus a good product.

The others who may choose a chain can be swayed when presented with the true differences. I carry examples of images printed at low to high end pro shops and once the client sees them, they understand the difference.

fantastic point..and really good idea about having a phsyical comparison..im thinking i definatly need to use that idea!

The Mack

when was the last time you saw anything quality related come out of wal-mart?

doesn't bother me.

You can put a tuxedo on a goat, it's still a goat.

MissB

The Mack wrote:

when was the last time you saw anything quality related come out of wal-mart?

doesn't bother me.

You can put a tuxedo on a goat, it's still a goat.

blahahahahahahahah

The Mack

Matter of fact, prolly @ my wal-mart, the last quality thing that came out of there was a box of laundry soap. Hard to mess that up.

MissB

The Mack wrote:

Matter of fact, prolly @ my wal-mart, the last quality thing that came out of there was a box of laundry soap. Hard to mess that up.

lol!!

fredjclaus

Even if Wal-Mart tries this in my area I won't be worried. I don't know if the company is like this all over, but I know in the 4 Wal-Marts that are around me PictureMe does not hire photographers, they hire "Associates" that they can train to push the button the way they want them to. The only time the refer to the associate as a photographer is on their website when they are talking about the "Camera Room" they don't even call their rooms "portrait studios".

This is not a quality operation and I don't expect them to be around for long. This is the third company walmart had run their portrait studios in the last 10 years and I don't expect it will be the last.

What I would suggest is that as photographers in our own right, we focus on what we can offer the client. We need to show the client our best work and show how much we care about them. I wouldn't bother showing the client how bad the competition is, but rather how good we are. Don't even bring them up, as some people might get turned off to you because you are talking in a negative way about the competition.

I did a little research, and PictureMe studios is owned by CPI Corp. Looks like they also own the studios in Sears. Doesn't CPI also own the processing labs that are serviced by those Kodak dop boxes at the supermarket? I think it's called Qualex or something like that.

James H

fredjclaus wrote:

Doesn't CPI also own the processing labs that are serviced by those Kodak dop boxes at the supermarket? I think it's called Qualex or something like that.

Negative on the Qualex connection - I used to work closely with Qualex, as they were one of our major vendor/partners. I was a buyer for a retail chain and Qualex supplied both our on-site and off-site photofinishing. They were a great business partner for many years, supplying exactly what the masses wanted, inexpensive and quick processing of family snapshots. They fell apart close to the end though, they were just too big to change fast enough with the market. It was interesting, yet a little scary, to watch the whole industry change so drastically in just a few short years. More from Wikipedia:

Qualex was formed in March 1988 as a joint venture between Eastman Kodak and Fuqua Industries, but became a wholly owned subsidiary of Kodak in 1994. It was headquartered in Durham, North Carolina...

On December 18, 2008, Qualex announced that it was shuttering all of its film processing facilities, essentially ending send-out film developing by Kodak. However, their Event Imaging Solutions division will still remain.

Interestingly, a Google search for Kodak Event Imaging Solutions returns a myspace page in 2nd place, right behind Kodak's Professional site. The myspace page indicates that EIS is a 40yo female in Orlando FL... ... and apparently they're hiring. Last updated 8/11/2009.

But back to the main topic, it seems that anyone here worried about competing with the likes of Wal-Mart or Sears portrait studios should probably rethink who their target customers are. Like it or not, there exists a very large part of the population which simply does not have the disposable income nor desire to spend, what to them is, a lot of money on family or personal portraits. For those folks price is the primary concern and they will likely be satisfied with the product they get from such a place, regardless of whether it meets any artistic or aesthetic criteria expected by 'professional photographers.'

Just like the many thousands of small, informal, and intimate weddings which take place every day without any paid photographer, those people are not (or should not) be considered part of your potential client base, unless you want to compete on price alone - then, by all means, knock yourself out.

Finally, I do think continually bashing a service which many, many people obviously use and find value in is more than a little distasteful for a professional, and it does nothing to help said professional. On the contrary, think about a potential customer who does a Google search for your website after being handed one of your business cards. If your sig contains a link to your site, then it's very possible a future customer could stumble across one of your posts here and be turned off by the attitude displayed in a particular rant. Not directed at anyone in particular, just food for thought...

Cygnus Studios

There was a study released recently (I can't find it now) that showed 20% of consumers shopped by price.
The rest shopped by perceived value.

The mass studios offer X number of prints for X amount of dollars. This is very easy for most people to understand and calculate the perceived value.

For the professional photographer, the marketing is the same. You have to show the client where the value is. Demonstrate where the differences lie between the mass studios and the pro lab. Educated consumers are more likely to make an informed decision.

Trying to compete on the I am better because I say so isn't going to work. Very rarely is there a need to knock something that is truly worse. There is simply no point in it.

Look at the advertising of the true perceived value items and you will notice that they do not compare themselves with anyone else. They don't have to.

Watch a Chevy Malibu ad and you will hear that they are better than Toyota or Honda or whomever.

Then think about the last ad you saw for the Corvette or Viper.

One has a perceived value that does not need to be compared with others, and the other does not.

If potential clients are shopping low end prices with you it is because you have not determined the perceived value. Yes we all get tire kickers, but the number will be much lower than the average studio.