Target Prints Directly from Facebook

SamirD

I just saw this article:
http://www.allfacebook.com/target-unveils-in-store-facebook-photo-printing-2010-10

Basically, it will allow anyone to print images from facebook directly at Target. All they need to do is implement a way for pros to upcharge and higher quality and this is serious competition to SM.

Thoughts?

SamirD

Well, it looks like the high-res part of it is already here:
http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-lets-users-download-high-resolution-photos-2010-10

jasonscottphoto

Snapfish has been allowing you to print from facebook for a while now. I don't think either are competition for smugmug...

As for the high res downloads... it asks you now when you UPLOAD whether you want to upload high res. If you choose no, then I assume the option of a high res DOWNLOAD won't be there...

Photog4Christ

No competition for SM. Unless Satan is ice skating, there's no way I would ever sell a print to a client that did not come from a professional lab.

Andy

SamirD wrote: »

All they need to do is implement a way for pros to upcharge and higher quality and this is serious competition to SM.

Thoughts?

Let's see.

We have, 9years of doing this for all customers and our pros and their customers. Two amazing labs, one of them a True Professional's Lab. Unmatched unconditional print guarantee. Amazing quality (extremely, crazy-low return rates), huge selection of items and finishes, printed by trained print crafts-people in a clean, modern, fully equipped photo lab environment. Variety of finishes, mounts, frames, canvases. Backprinting. Pro Branding. At our pro lab, hand-color and exposure correction by supremely qualified techs. Hourly calibration of machines to ensure color accuracy. Facebook "hi-res" is 2048 pixels on the long side afaik. We print gorgeous prints from your original files up to 24Mb and 48 Megapixels in size. And we don't change the file (we print from your pristine originals). A world-wide staff of 26 Support Heroes working round-the-clock 365 days a year to provide amazing customer service. I could go on!

We love you Samir, but this time,

SamirD

Interesting about snapfish. I wasn't aware of that. But I think the immediate capability to have product in-hand will work wonders for impulse image sales, which is starting to become a large portion of sales in general.

Yeah, I read about the high-res being able to be limited, but it still opens the doors for infringement.

SamirD

Andy wrote: »

We have, 9years of doing this for all customers and our pros and their customers. Two amazing labs, one of them a True Professional's Lab. Unmatched unconditional print guarantee. Amazing quality (extremely, crazy-low return rates), huge selection of items and finishes, printed by trained print crafts-people in a clean, modern, fully equipped photo lab environment. Variety of finishes, mounts, frames, canvases. Backprinting. Pro Branding. At our pro lab, hand-color and exposure correction by supremely qualified techs. Hourly calibration of machines to ensure color accuracy. Facebook "hi-res" is 2048 pixels on the long side afaik. We print gorgeous prints from your original files up to 24Mb and 48 Megapixels in size. And we don't change the file (we print from your pristine originals). A world-wide staff of 26 Support Heroes working round-the-clock 365 days a year to provide amazing customer service. I could go on!

We love you Samir, but this time,

Haha, well noted Andy.

I'm not saying it would be easy or even feasible for them to try to match SM. But an ability to upcharge and get to an mpix/ezprints level of service wouldn't be completely crazy. And I believe something at that level would start affecting SM on the low-end of the customer scale because of the sheer volume and ease. We all know 'easy' translates to the most used product, even when there are better ones out there.

Malte

"Quick 'n' easy" is a dangerous competitor to "premium quality". Like Samir I think this will eventually compete directly with the EZPrints offering. Bay might become increasingly important and maybe the customers of Basic and Power should have access to them.

Malte

FedererPhoto

And so it begins.... The end of low-end prints with high upcharges.

Those that charge for their creativity and skills rather than paper will still fare just fine.

SamirD

FedererPhoto wrote: »

And so it begins.... The end of low-end prints with high upcharges.

If this is the case, then that's great. Customers can tell really quickly what's quality and what's not just by the price.

But the problem is that definition of quality. 'Good enough' is becoming a lot more popular than 'perfect' or 'superior'. And that can hurt the market for premium products like SM.