According to the study, 55% of smartphone photographers now have experience with ordering photo output products. Of the respondents with photo ordering experience, 79% have also included smartphone photos in their orders.
To some extent, the inclusion of smartphone photos in consumers’ photo product orders reflects the changing demographics of smartphone photographers, according to Hans Hartman, President of Suite 48 Analytics and principal author of the report.
In addition, photo products featuring smartphone photos are being purchased by newcomers to the photo product market: 25% of smartphone photographers who ordered photo products in the last 12 months containing their smartphone photos had never before ordered a photo product.
The study also sheds light on how smartphone photographers create and order photo products. As yet, only a few use smartphone or tablet apps for this purpose; most place orders on their computer by using a retailer’s website, the study found, after the consumer uploads their smartphone photos to the cloud or transfers them directly onto their computer.
This is no surprise, according to Hartman, as most photo product apps haven’t been around for much more than one year. But consumers’ preference for using computers to order might stem from an emerging trend in which purchasers combine smartphone and digital camera photos into multi-photo output products, such as photobooks, calendars or sets of photo prints.