Ringfoto announces new central services for its dealers under the alfo brand

Ringfoto GmbH & Co. KG, Europe’s largest photo network, announces the introduction of a series of new central services under the “alfo.” brand. These will sustainably strengthen cooperation with the more than 2,000 specialist shops and partners in Germany and Europe and offer consumers a modern, central service experience, the group said.

One of the featured offerings under the “alfo.” brand is the new “e-passport photo”, a cloud-based system that will fully meet current legal requirements from May 2025. Ringfoto will probably be the first provider in Germany to offer a solution that enables more than 80 million German citizens to have a modern and legally compliant passport photo created. In particular, the 9-10 million people who have to apply for a new ID card or passport each year will benefit from this simple and fast service.

The “alfo. Passfoto” system will be available in more than 2,000 affiliated specialist stores and offers consumers the opportunity to conveniently book an appointment for passport photo creation online.

In addition, Ringfoto is expanding its offering to include a new photo service that includes a wide selection of high-quality photo products, including photo books, wall decorations and calendars. These products will be offered via a central platform and are expected to be available throughout Germany and Europe from the beginning of 2025.

A highlight of the new service is the collaboration with an as-yet unnamed “premium photo lab” that not only handles production but also fulfillment for retailers and their end customers. Consumers can benefit from an intelligent, AI-supported photo book creation function that enables quick and easy creation of personal photo books, the company said.

“With alfo. we are creating an end-user platform that opens up new opportunities for our local retailers and at the same time offers consumers central access to high-quality services and products,” said Thilo Röhrig, Managing Director of Ringfoto GmbH & Co. KG. “And that’s just the beginning. In the future, we plan to integrate further attractive offers under the alfo. brand. Our goal always remains to ensure 100% customer satisfaction and at the same time strengthen the role of the regional specialist retailer.”

RINGFOTO GmbH & Co. KG recently announced sales in 2023 amounted to €507.9 million (after deduction of discounts and bonuses), an increase of €21.5 million or 4.4% compared to the previous year. In particular, warehouse sales of €371.7 million are significantly higher than the previous year by €22.2 million (+6.4%). The strongest sales growth again comes from the system camera and video product areas.

RINGFOTO Group sales, including the subsidiaries in Austria and the Netherlands, thus amounted to €631.6 million in 2023 (+€41.1 million compared to the previous year).

The annual surplus of RINGFOTO GmbH & Co. KG in 2023 was at the previous year’s level at €2,956 thousand. The annual surplus again corresponds to a historical return on equity or payout ratio to the limited partners of 47.6% (previous year: 44.2%).

In the current year 2024, after a very successful first quarter, a slight decline in growth is emerging, the company said in June. The months of April and May in particular were characterized by reluctance to buy on the part of end consumers.