Noritsu Koki - Competitors

Noritsu Koki Competition

Now Viewing Noritsu Koki's competition in: Photofinishing and Camera Stores

Recent Developments

Digital Age Means No More Negatives as Backup - Today, some 70 percent of all camera-owning households use a digital camera; consequently, photo processing centers are seeing fewer customers printing their pictures. The number of digital images saved, but not printed, in the US is projected to be 17.4 billion in 2008, according to the Photo Marketing Association (PMA). The good news is that the trend seems to be reversing. Before the digital age, about 90 percent of all captured images were printed. That number fell below 10 percent in 2004 and 2005, but is now slowly rising as photographers realize that the best way to back up their photographic treasures is to print them.

Photo Books Moving from Niche to Mainstream - Pharmacy chains were the only retail channel to build photo processing market share during the past two years, from 26 percent in April 2006 to 28 percent in April 2008, according to the PMA. PMA points to pharmacies' increasing use of kiosks and online software from companies like Hewlett-Packard, Fujifilm, and Kodak, that enables photographers to create their own photo albums. Photo books will likely generate $389 million in sales in 2008 and could become a $500 million-a-year business in 2009.

Fewer Photos Processed at Home - Printing photos at home is the only method of photo processing on the decline, according to the PMA. The percentage of prints made at home dropped from 38.7 percent in May 2007 to 32.5 percent in May 2008. All other methods, including ordering online and receiving by mail, ordering online and picking up at retail outlets, ordering and sending to mini-labs for processing, and printing instantly at kiosks, rose from May 2007 to May 2008.

Competitive Landscape

Demand depends on consumer income. Profitability of individual companies is linked to marketing, and, for photofinishers, efficiency of operations. Large companies can have economies of scale in purchasing and operations. Small companies can compete successfully by offering superior service. The industry is fairly labor-intensive: annual revenue per employee is about $100,000.

Full Industry Overview For Photofinishing and Camera Stores

Photofinishing and Camera Stores Industry Forecast

from Hoover's/D&B subsidiary First Research

US personal consumption expenditures on cameras, film, and processing are forecast to increase at an annual compounded rate of 5.9 percent between 2007 and 2012.

Consumer Spending Growth for Camera Stores Steady

First Research forecasts are based on INFORUM forecasts that are licensed from the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. (IERF) in College Park, MD. INFORUM's "interindustry-macro" approach to modeling the economy captures the links between industries and the aggregate economy.