Ehrlich lifted by digital-pic boom
Ehrlich, producer and distributor of Easy Print express picture kiosks, expects to achieve Bt100 million in sales this year after signing a contract yesterday to sell 10 Easy Print units, worth Bt2 million, to the operator of PhotoHut shops.
Vice president Somprasong Utis said demand for digital printers was increasing following the widespread change from film to digital cameras. "Most customers now use digital cameras. They want to speed up the printing [process] and also like to design their pictures themselves. As a result, most of them print their photos by themselves," he said. Easy Print units sell for between Bt250,000 and Bt300,000, compared with about Bt4 million per unit for a digital Minilab. Because of the lower price and the overwhelming trend towards digital cameras, Somprasong believes the demand for Easy Print machines will increase to 300 units this year, with buyers able to offer lower prices than Minilab-generated prints. The Easy Print units will also generate sufficient revenue to break even in six months. The company expects that 10 per cent of the 80 million photos printed in Thailand in 2008 will come from Easy Print machines, Somprasong said. PhotoHut Group president Somchai Krongsomboon said the digital-camera market was growing at an average rate of 20 per cent annually, especially digital cameras for end users. Demand for digital photo prints has also increased rapidly, especially from teen customers. "The customers want faster prints from their pictures; they want a speeded up service from Photo shop, so we decided to buy 10 Easy Print units to meet this demand. We are also opening another 40 branches this year at a cost of Bt100 million, so we will buy up to 30 more Easy Print units," he said. Last month, the PhotoHut Group, which operates 145 shops around the country, recorded sales of Bt120 million - up 33 per cent over Bt90 million in January last year. Somchai said 95 per cent of the group's sales of Bt1.2 billion last year came from selling digital cameras. The rest came from its photo-print business. The group expects sales growth of 20 per cent this year but believes revenue from photo printing will rise to 10 per cent of the total after installation of 30 Easy Print units in its shops.
Somluck Srimalee
The Nation
|
