The global pandemic has turned the entire economic order on its head, with the photo printing industry unaffected. All previous forecasts proved to be woefully inadequate in the face of the new challenges. This article examines how photo product sales changed from 2019 to 2020, how the lockdown affected consumer behavior and preferences, and how post-pandemic trends will affect sales in 2022.
The global pandemic has turned the entire economic order on its head, with the photo printing industry unaffected. All previous forecasts proved to be woefully inadequate in the face of the new challenges. Businesses in this industry adapted swiftly, leveraging technological advancements such as photo product designer software to meet the changing demands and preferences of consumers, showcasing the resilience and innovation within the sector.
Why is web to print software important to an online photo printing business?
It is always a good idea to follow market trends in order to remain consistent and relevant in the market. And customized products are currently making headlines in the market.
Whatever type of photo printing you sell, integrating web to print software with your e-store, and allowing customers to upload their own photos and designs can help your online store stand out.
There are many providers today from which you can purchase web to print online designer and integrate it with your eCommerce print store. If you run into problems during configuration, some providers will even set up an entire store for you.
Trends to Look Out For in 2022
Based on market data and predictive analysis conducted with its clients, we have identified 5 areas in which you should concentrate your efforts when running your photo printing business in 2022.
1. AI-based photo book creation
The digital transformation has enabled the development of online design tool that cut the time required to design a book by nearly five times. Photo printing companies have realized that using AI in photo album design software can empower their customers and help them much faster than before.
Smart Creation, for example, reduces the time required to create a photo book project from 5.1 days (for manual creation) to 1.3 days (using smart algorithms). AI should assist end users by assisting them in areas where they require assistance, such as the time-consuming process of selecting photos.
The most significant advantage of the latest AI-driven photo album software is that it produces books that aren’t just plain white or black. It quickly creates a lovely, one-of-a-kind project with plenty of clip art, backgrounds, text fields, and other elements.
The largest players in the photo printing market have demonstrated the phenomenon of artificial intelligence. One of the most well-known brands of photo bookmaker software implemented the smart autofill feature in editors, which automatically places users’ photos in chronological order on their photo book pages.
Wat how photo printing software works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHcNfhu2ABk
2. Boom in mobile sales
Mobile e-commerce is on the rise and set to expand further. In 2019, the mobile channel accounted for 63.5 percent of all online sales, with a projected increase to 72.9 percent in 2021. (According to Statista.com).
According to data, the median mobile traffic for this photo product designer software provider’s customers in 2021 is 19%.
In this context, two issues must be addressed: responsive web design (RWD) and dedicated mobile apps.
The use of RWD and optimizing the site for mobile is now the new gold standard. When a user switches from a laptop to a tablet or smartphone, the site should adjust to accommodate the resolution, image size, and scripting capabilities of the new device.
The proportion of users placing orders via mobile is steadily increasing. According to data from 2019, the percentage of projects rendered in the RWD editor was 10.73 percent, rising to 15.43 percent in 2021.
3. Protection against supply chain disruptions
The application is the second component of mobile presence. It should be highly efficient, with well-designed purchasing paths and sales channel-specific functionalities.
Border closures and national lockdowns had a significant impact on business operations. They have significantly disrupted manufacturing operations and supply chains. While global distribution channels have been disrupted, demand has remained stable or even increased.
As a result, brick-and-mortar retailing was transformed into new business models and adapted to new conditions. At the same time, most online print stores began to make more improvements in order to improve their efficiency.
To avoid bottlenecks and mitigate the effects of general industry volatility, photo printing companies are diversifying their offerings and supply chain options.
This means that e-commerce businesses must modernize their inventory and order management systems in order to improve supply chain integration.
4. Moving from open source to SaaS
Currently, approximately 70% of businesses rely on open-source solutions. Their main advantage is that they are, in theory, free. However, there are numerous associated costs, such as hiring service employees or team development. With increasing employee turnover, maintaining the stability of open-source solution development and maintenance is becoming increasingly difficult.
SaaS e-commerce platforms are hosted and maintained by their provider before being licensed to merchants. Users use web browsers to access these applications and pay a monthly subscription fee. The main advantage of SaaS platforms is that the software is not installed or maintained on-premise. Instead, the software is built, hosted, and maintained on the provider’s own servers.
5. Website Designing
When it comes to web design, there are a few guidelines you should follow when updating your photography portfolio.
Like last year, an image-focused design with clean typography and ghost buttons will be a winner. In keeping with the storytelling trend in content marketing, full-size videos and images will take the world by storm, increasing the interactivity of a website and increasing return visits.
Furthermore, mobile-friendly photo galleries and slideshows will become increasingly popular. If you haven’t already done so, make your website mobile-friendly this year. A mobile version of your portfolio will rule in 2016, or you risk losing over 40% of your potential clients.
Wrapping Up
We can certainly interpret industry data and reports in various ways because such a global disruption has never occurred before in history. It is unknown how the world and industry will evolve in the aftermath of the pandemic, but we can draw some conclusions from the analyses:
According to global e-commerce statistics, the coronavirus crisis is likely to accelerate existing industry trends. It means that online purchasing and delivery are constantly expanding, and photo product designer must adapt.
With AI assistance, we can solve many industry challenges. Although open-source solutions remain more popular, we can see that in 2020, SaaS solutions grew the most, and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years.
