Research Industry description The underclass photography industry consists of both small and large photography studios aiming to provide current and attractive portraits to kids currently attending school at any grade level between Kindergarten and 1 lath grade. While there are many competitors in this Industry, they can be broken up into two categories. First are the many, quite common photography studios that generally specialize on one or two styles of photography for their products.
Then there are the very large and successful photography companies such as Lifestyle and Portrait Innovations that take up a majority of the different style based business. These large companies do not have a small limited amount of styles to specialize In but rather a wide focus of all of the popular styles allowing them to enter any market needed to succeed. Even with the major differences between the two types of competitors there Is sully one very pressing threat that neither can avoid. That Is the growing popularity of personal digital cameras and easy access to formatting and printing resources.
Part one: Secondary Research Current trends in digital imagery and photography: Because digital photography has become increasingly more prominent in previous years many people are being drawn to the creativeness and individuality behind capturing life’s moments. But no one group of people are more attracted to this idea than mothers. As a mom there are many opportunities for fun and interesting pictures and as professional studios often mention, many opportunities for these great photos are taken by moms only to leave the studios without business. The truth Is that this Is not a new phenomenon – professional photographers have been irking alongside talented and enthusiastic amateurs for many years” (Merck). Meaning that the parents and other do-it-yourself have been sharing camera space for years but only recently have those people been posing major threats to the wellbeing of large companies such as Lifestyle. Therefore has been a rising need for opportunity and public image management. As stated by a well-established parenting author, “Huge opportunities exist for companies that can meet moms’ demand for high creativity and functionality in an Auber-easy way” (McClure, Cooper).
This indicates that the expansion into a more creativity based company would be such more profitable than the traditional photo shoots being practiced by a majority of photography studios. Expanding and reaching out to this new style of photography early on may be the only way to avoid being forgotten while moms and their kids go out and do their own photo shoots. Because students today are now more exposed to new technologies than ever before they tend to adapt and change to every cool new trend that comes their way. On and work well with. But the most interesting part of digital photography with students is the new ways they are using it.
According to an article written by a CNN urinals, “teens are most likely to use digital photography for interesting subjects and social media outlets” (Wallace, Hendrix). This article suggests that the use of social media has changed what teens are using digital photography for and the general sense of what they expect from photos today. This is incredibly important because students’ opinions toward photos have radically changed in light of how people used to view them, which was primarily to remember a moment for them and close friends rather than the whole public.
Summary of dominant economic characteristics for the portrait industry: According to transparencymarketresearch. Coma’s published statistics the commercial photography industry is predicted to reach about $11 billion in global spending in 201 5; with an approximate 18,000 establishments and combined revenue of $6 billion in this market (Digital Photography Market – Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Analysis And Forecasts 2012 – 2018). There are also a large number of even smaller studios already present in the market.
With the market saturated with a large number of existing establishments, the projected growth rates are only 2% from 2014 to 2017. This is a significant indication that the density of photography studios populating this market is no longer fit to grow. Because there are so many businesses already in the market alongside the continuously growing DID photographers, many of the struggling businesses may be forced to exit the market to allow for others to grow. This is both good and bad news for the studio photography industry.
First, it is good news because fewer competitors allows for more control over the market and overall progress. Finally, it is bad news because those who have not exited but are in anger of doing so are far more than likely of it because of the growth in DID photographers. With many small studios being on this line it is fair to say that the DID growth is also bad for the industry. Summary of dominant economic characteristics for Portraits as a product: The portrait as a product is slowly losing its dominance over other commercial photography products such as event and sports related photography.
An example of this is the use of Shutterbug alongside any personal digital camera to make attractive and high quality prints directly through their website (Make your photos come alive). Just in 2012 Shutterbug made $641 million in sales (Bulk). But they are only one of the many advocates for the DID photographers. Therefore it can be determined that the portrait as product is not really loosing much popularity at all; it’s the people who take and produce the pictures that are changing. S. W. O. T. Strengths: A major strength that portrait photography studios have is the experienced photographers and the organizational skill they have.
This is important because not every average Joe with a camera can edit and work with the pictures taken to provide high quality products. This helps differentiate the members of the industry from any other forms of photography. Another strength established photography studios have Because of this these large studios are able to expand into the new styles and dominate the initial market. Weaknesses: A major weakness facing the portrait industry is the cost of capital goods and the steps they must go through to gain new customers.
With the uprising of personal photography people are finding less value in professional photography because they can produce similar products on their own much cheaper. Another weakness the industry has is slowness to adapt to popular trends. Meaning that as popular photography trends change studios might not be able to offer packages in time to catch the waves of trend followers and the business following them. Opportunities: The best opportunity available for this industry is the following of changing niche markets.
Since trends like Mainstream and Snatch change rapidly it would be very advantageous to follow and adapt to them. Meaning that a company such as Lifestyle might promote its use of filters and integration in social media sites to attract students today but continue to change as peoples interests change. Another opportunity this industry may have is the further expansion to a social media outlet. If any business in this industry can successfully penetrate that market then benefits such as name recognition and referrals to other students would be theirs for the taking.
In fact APS like Mainstream and other photography sharing APS are becoming even more popular with all generations simply because others can see who’s done the work (Meyers, Hammock). This type of media would be very beneficial to industry businesses because as interests change you want to have your name carried along just as social media allows it to. Threats: The largest threat for the portrait industry is simply being replaced by personal digital photography and high quality “Do it yourself” software.
Because this kind of resource is becoming readily available to Just about anyone, businesses dealing in photography are becoming less relevant which may eventually lead to irrelevancy all together. Another threat to the professional photography industry is the potential loss of customers do to fluctuating income levels and their product being a luxury. Part Two: Primary (market) Research In order to better understand what high school students felt and understood bout portrait photography key interests and points had to be uncovered through a direct survey.
The surveys consisted of questions getting at why students were or were not taking portrait photography, and what students are looking for in a portrait to make it more attractive. Regarding why students were or were not taking portraits, 75% said that they have no interest in the subject which indicates that a majority of sales generation could occur by simply peaking the interest of these students through creative marketing. The other 25% of the students who said they have taken artists primarily indicated that it was done through an organization.
