“Shutterfly is a mixture of businesses so we have Shutterfly which is a consumer business snappish which is a consumer business and then Lifetouch which is a leader in school photography in the U.S. and Canada,” said Schneider. “And we just acquired Spoonflower, which is artistic designed custom-designed personalization business. Of all those businesses, the business that was impacted the most was Lifetouch with schools closed. The volume of demand for school photos fell by about 50 percent and it required a lot of changes in our operating model to manage through 2020.”
Schneider noted, however, schools are now open so that business is expected to rebound. On the consumer side of the business, there are ups and downs. While consumers were sheltering in place, she noted, consumers did projects with their photos like completing those long-ago-started photobooks and making photo puzzles. But with COVID-19 still impacting travel and weddings, that has had a negative effect on picture printing.
“Creation of photo books [are] tied to how much travel you do or in major life events that you celebrate,” said Schneider. “With COVID, there’s been a slowdown, likewise, in a category like weddings in which weddings were postponed the invitations space has been impacted.”
Bloomberg’s Bostick noted the company is becoming more than a photo printing company.
“Consumers no longer want to buy something at the mall that everyone else has,” agreed Schneider. “They really want a personalized experience. Shutterfly really pioneered photographic personalization and now with the addition of Spoonflower which is an artist community that creates repetitive designs that are used in fabrics and wallpapers, it’s really about expanding to custom design.”
The interview is embedded below:
In other Shutterfly marketing news, the company was recognized by MediaPost staff writer Sarah Mahoney for its “transition from a company that puts photos on mugs and T-shirts to what it hopes will be a modern customization machine.” Mahoney talked with Craig Rowley, Shutterfly’s chief marketing officer, about its shift to personalization beyond photos.
