Top stories and photo/imaging trends to watch for 2025

Readers of the Dead Pixels Society look to this site and newsletter for trends shaping the photo/imaging industry… and 2024 was no different. From acquisitions big and small to puzzling partnerships, here’s three top takeaways to consider for 2025:

Industry consolidation highlights opportunities

As with every year, there were many major acquisitions in 2024. In particular, the volume-photography market seemed to be a hotbed of acquisition activity. This market has undergone a fundamental transformation after the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing struggles of market leader Lifetouch. The volume photography market has undergone a technological revolution over the past few years, with advanced mobile, workflow, and AI-powered technologies replacing the envelope-and-check processes of the past. Entrepreneurs are flocking to the market, reflected in the continued popularity of the SPAC conference:

With all of that interest comes opportunity and with opportunity, in the business world, come acquisitions. At the end of 2023, two of the largest companies in the volume-photography market – ImageQuix and Fotomerchant – announced a merger. By the time SPAC 2024 came around in early January, ImageQuix also announced the purchase of AI photo-processing service Skylab. By the end of 2024, the combined ImageQuix and Fotomerchant entity had a new CEO and a new name: Captura. By the end of the year, leading yearbook software company Pixami was bought by Nationwide Studios.

In June, Advertek Printing Inc. announced the acquisition of Custom Colour Imaging (CCI), a Toronto-based photo lab and print-on-demand company. As part of the acquisition, Advertek’s corporate offices, Print on Demand, Small and Large Format Printing, and Mailing divisions now operate out of the existing CCI facilities in North York, ONT. Advertek added 14,000 square feet of total warehouse space to CCI’s existing 63,000 square feet, bringing the total facility size to 77,000 square feet. In September, Cober Solutions, Kitchener Ontario, announced the acquisition of Alberta-based West Canadian Digital Imaging (WCD) digital print and wide format signage division.

On the retail side of the industry, gear rental leader Lensrentals purchased its smaller rival, BorrowLenses, from Shutterfly. This continued the speculation that Shutterfly is cleaning up its balance sheet for an expected 2025 spin-off or sale. In 2018, Lifetouch was purchase by Shutterfly, and a year later, Shutterfly and rival Snapfish were rolled up by Apollo Group. Since then, the company has improved it financial situation considerably.

In the software world, two major imaging apps were acquired. In March, Canva announced the acquisition of Affinity, the award-winning creative software suite for professional photo editing, illustration, graphic design and page layout, from Serif, a Nottingham, England, software company founded in 1987. Unlike the subscription model for Canva, the company said Affinity would remain a separate app license. Another major change of ownership was Pixelmator Team, the Lithuania-based photo-app maker purchased by Apple Inc., in November. The company’s products include Pixelmator Pro, a professional image-editing tool, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator, a photo editor for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro.

Kodak Alaris announced Kingswood Capital Management, LP acquired the company from the United Kingdom Pension Protection Fund. Kingswood is a Los Angeles-based private-equity firm focused on buyouts of middle-market businesses and has significant experience in driving value for consumer and industrial services businesses. Kodak Alaris was formed following the 2012 bankruptcy of Eastman Kodak Co., with a purchase of Kodak’s document, photo film, paper and chemistry, retail kiosks, and mobile photo apps businesses by the U.K. Kodak pension plan for $325 million. At the time, EK owed the pension fund $2.8 billion; the formation of Kodak Alaris was seen as a way to generate cash to maintain the fund for the benefit of the pensioners. Over the past decade, however, Kodak Alaris has struggled to maintain its financial obligations. Harris Computer Corp., a global leader in software solutions, announced the acquisition of Dakis Decision Systems, Inc. and its e-commerce platform. Terms were not disclosed.

Brick-and-mortar consolidation  concerns

The collapse of major retail chain store locations is a cause for concern; nationally, more than 7,000 locations from some of America’s biggest names are closing. According to this CNN report, the retail store apocalypse that started in 2023 – and got started with the COVID-closures of 2020 – stormed back in 2024. “Major U.S. retailers announced more than 7,300 store closures last year, up 57% from 2023, according to Coresight Research,” reported CNN’s Nathaniel Meyersohn. “That’s the highest annual number of closed stores since 2020, when the pandemic led to mass disruption of businesses across the country. Some of the most recognizable chains in America left strip malls and shuttered across city street corners. Family Dollar closed 718 stores. CVS and Walgreens closed more than 1,000 stores combined. Big Lots closed nearly 600.

“In 2017 and 2018, retailers closed a combined 13,400 stores, according to Coresight. In 2019 alone, retailers closed a record 9,800 stores. Payless, Gymboree, Charlotte Russe and Shopko all filed for bankruptcy that year. The beginning of the pandemic in 2020 flushed out some of the remaining weakest chains like Sears, JCPenney, Pier 1, and others that filed for bankruptcy and closed stores. Around 9,700 stores closed in 2020, according to Coresight. Retailers that made it through got a boost in 2021 and 2022 from extra federal stimulus payments and “revenge spending” among consumers eager to shop after being stuck at home. But this turned out to be a blip, rather than a permanent improvement.

In the photo specialty channel, the bloodletting is long past. The channel is more or less stable, as the process of older operators aging out and closing their stores continues but at a slower pace. The challenge facing the industry going forward is the lack of retail presence of photo products in the eyes of consumers. Printed photo products like books, canvas and, in particular, metal prints benefit retail displays. The loss of a retail presence in phot0-friendly outlets like CVS and Walgreens is particularly worrisome.

The future of silver-halide is a question without a definitive answer

Despite the resurgence in analog photography from a capture aspect, the few choices for silver-halide paper and chemistry are a growing concern for photo labs everywhere. As we covered in our Printing United report, “the three-day Expo, held Sept. 10-12 at the ever-expanding Las Vegas Convention Center, encompassed 385,600 square feet in the Central and South Halls. Photo industry members who remember the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) conventions in the 1990s and 2000s would find the show to be oddly familiar. Walking floor, it was like being transported back to the heyday of the photofinishing industry, with big displays from Agfa Corp., APS Imaging Solutions, Inc., Canon U.S.A., Inc., Colex, Durst Image Technology US, EFI, Epson America Inc., Fotoba International, Fujifilm, HP, Imaging Solutions, Konica Minolta, LogoJet, Mactac, Mimaki, Quality Media and Laminating Solutions, Ricoh USA, Roland DGA Corp., Sharp, Taopix, Xerox Corp., and many more. (You’d almost expect to turn the corner and see a big Hostert Fotomata or Gretag booth from the 1990s.)” Add to that the innovations shown at the Dscoop Edge Indy conference and Drupa, and it’s clear that photo printing and personalization are seen as growth opportunities.

The big difference, of course, was the technologies showcased at these events were digital printing, not chemical-based silver-halide photographic printing. While still the perceived quality standard for photographic output, silver-halide photo printing technology is beginning to show its age. Digital presses are encroaching into numerous other spaces; note how Fujifilm featured its Revora 1120 press at the IPI Connect event last year (at 21:25 in the video below):

The question then, doesn’t seem to be if digital printing will finally replace silver-halide photo printing for good, but when. Of course, Fujifilm has also gone to great lengths to assure customers that color paper production will continue for another decade – all the while hiking prices to keep up with growing consumables costs. A growing number of photo labs are growing impatient and actively looking for alternatives to that “photo look” customers are looking out for. Add to that the environmental concerns related to photographic processing, and this may be the year photo lab executives may say they’ve had enough.