by Mr Sachin Katira, CEO and Director at Zoomin
With the wave of pandemic still knocking at the doors of the world, we are going through dynamic behavioural and psychological changes to overcome and adapt to the “new normal” of today. While the pandemic built a physical barrier amongst the societies, it gave birth to a new “phygital” world that unified the paradigms of physical and digital environments. This new ecosystem drove us closer to our roots, our traditions and our families and demonstrated the power of unison.
With such rapid changes happening across the globe, we witnessed new dimensions and behaviours in photography and what society captured as their memories. The ability to print your favourite memories has come a long way, with advancements in photo printing technology making it easy for anyone to create their own printed snapshots. The global online photo printing market size was valued at USD 13,074.70 Million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 21,082.23 Million by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 6.47% from 2021 to 2028. A rise in disposable income with a higher tendency to spend on luxury gifts is another prominent factor favouring the growth of this market.
Over the year we saw few tectonic shifts in the industry and mapped some emerging trends that will shape up 2022.
Scenic Domestic travels
The new era of remote working opened up the opportunities for people to work from picturesque locations close to sea and mountains. This allowed the professionals to get a breather and make memories with friends, family and even strangers. Once the lockdowns were lifted people seized the time to explore and enjoy the expanse of the country. This led to an increase in the number of local trip pictures being printed by families and couples.
Covid baby boom
The last year saw an incremental increase in childbirths across the globe. Families went through an emotional override to capture a sliver of happiness in these challenging times. The industry witnessed an increase in photo printing and Photobooks documenting child’s growth journey with monthly timestamps, allowing people to reminisce this timeless miracle.
Capturing the radiance of Intimate Weddings
With restrictions on mass gatherings and large scale celebrations, couples and families resorted to intimate-closed door weddings throughout the year. This encouraged the couples to disburse higher spending on capturing these moments and getting them printed at their own pace, time and designs.
Indoor Celebrations gained momentum
Celebration of milestones and events shifted indoors with closed groups and family presence amid the pandemic. While people enjoyed small and intimate gatherings, they desired treasuring these moments and memories with photographs. With this, the industry witnessed a rise in photo printing of birthday celebrations, online graduations etc.
Reminiscing and Persevering Old Memories
2021 has also been that year of major throwbacks, and cherishing good old memories. The first half of 2021 saw an increase in printing of old memories, old vacations, old events – as people had more time to hunt for these pictures and re-live those moments.
Photo Printing Boom in Tier 2&3 Cities
Amid the pandemic, while Tier 1 cities saw a temporary dip in photo printing, tier 2 & 3 remained unaffected. Even though we were in between an economic crisis throughout the country and the industry saw an overall dip in orders, the Tier 2 and 3 cities pretty much kept printing as always. The market observed an increase in orders from remote places of India – from places of War and corners of Kashmir.
Home Décor becoming the new Hobby
With work from home becoming the new normal, people shifted their focus on accessorising and re-decorating. With people staying indoors a LOT more, they started putting more time, effort & money into home decor. The photo printing industry noticed a high demand of Framed Prints for home décors.
The photo printing industry went through a ride amid the pandemic and witnessed immense transformation triggered by the changing behavioural and psychological patterns of the end consumers. However, even during such uncertainties, consumers turned to photographs for nurturing conversations, building surreal stories and embracing old memories that connected them to a stream of timeless emotions.
