Fujifilm books two Revorias at the CEIF show

Priyatosh Kumar, graphic arts, Fujifilm India told PrintWeek that "The three-day show from 5 to 7 January met our expectations." Kumar said, this was from the point of view of booking orders with Foto Flash and Ajantha Digital World as well as generating new conversations with customers across India.

Kumar said, "The Revoria has had a sizable installation in photo space but there are many customers who hadn’t seen the product. This was the best place to showcase the same."
 
The time spent at CEIF was a good trend spotter that the Indian photographic market continues to be dominated by wedding albums. Kumar said, "Unlike the western world there is not too much proliferation of amateur photo books barring a few web-to-print consumer brands that have created a niche for themselves."

Kumar added, "Most of these album requirements generate from Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities where album-making is the core to a wedding. In the major metros, a lot of it is getting published on the digital medium in addition to printing." Kumar said, "There is a huge demand for physical photos in India. Especially with the millennials."

But weddings rule the marketplace. A tweet shared by Harsh Goenka on his social media handle says, The Indian wedding market saw 2.5 million weddings in a span of one month (November to December) which amounts to an annual spending of USD 130 bn/year.

Kumar said, "From a digital printer service provider’s point of view, the rates of general commercial printings (brochures, catalogues etc) are reducing as products have got commoditised." But the rate of a photo page (in a wedding album ) is significantly higher." Kumar's argument is that a PSP who has "traditionally been a commercial printing, intends to start selling printed photo products which include mainly wedding albums."

Ajantha Digital World with Ajay Agarwal, the CEO of Insight Print Communications

Commenting about the increased participation of the digital OEMs at the CEIF show, Kumar said it is because of "the bigger play they want to achieve by increasing the CMYK pages of wedding albums." Curiously enough there was a reduced participation by PSPs (print service providers/photo labs) due to many photo-related events. Many PSP's prefer showcasing their albums at such regional events.

We asked Priyatosh Kumar as to how Fujfilm can help the photo industry navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities in 2023? He said, "It’s important for any manufacturer to understand the photo consumers and their requirements. Keeping the customer at the centre of the universe, and all the strategies evolve.

Some of the key products and technologies displayed at the exhibition include the Revoria Press PC 1120, the ApeosPro for Photo C810 / C750 / C650 printer, and digital still cameras and instant cameras. Kumar said, "We noticed the success of products like Fujifilm Instax (instant photo product).  Professional photographers are migrating to high-end mirrorless digital cameras that provide better controls with the images."