Digital Scrapping and the Traditional Retailer

Recently, I did an informal survey about scrapping habits.  It consisted of one question and I posted it on both traditional and digital scrapbooking message boards.

 

The results, as informal as the survey was, should be noted by every traditional scrapbook retailer who has felt a downturn in business and a loss of customers in the past 3-5 years.  Then, those same retailers should think about how to win back the hearts of those customers.

The question was this:  Choose the one statement that best describes your scrapbooking RIGHT NOW.

The options were:

• I have only scrapped traditionally
• I have only scrapped digitally
  
• I was a traditional scrapper but now do only digital
• I am a traditional scrapper who dabbles in digital
• I am a traditional scrapper who is thinking about digital
• I am a hybrid scrapper who scraps both traditionally and digitally
• I started out digitally but moved to paper scrapping

 Of the 100 answers I got, 51% said "I have only scrapped traditionally".  Okay, that's good.  But, that still leaves 49% of the respondents.  

 

4% said they have only ever scrapped digitally and another 4% said they converted completely from traditional to digital, but then the water gets muddy.

 

The remaining 41% said that they were either a traditional scrapper who dabbles in digital or a traditional scrapper who is THINKING about digital. or a hybrid scrapper who regularly does both.  That's the area that every traditional retailer should be concerned with.  Forty-one percent of your customers are on the verge of moving to digital and never looking back.  AT MINIMUM, you have lost some revenue there because that 41% is buying or going to be buying LESS from you over time since part of their scrapping is digital.  

 

So, your job is to capture some value from the shift in scrapping activities among your customers.

 

Figure out how to incorporate digital scrapbook products.  Set up a section of "digital scrapbook products" that includes albums, slick writers, mugs and frames to alter, rub-ons to embellish, software, etc.  

 

Add a photobook component to your store through PhotoBookBiz.  Many use the big names like Shutterfly, but they don't necessarily have the best quality, lowest prices or coolest software!  

 

Scan photos for those wanting to go digital.  Scanning is time consuming and there are some really fast scanners out there that most customers won't put the money out to buy.  

 

Most of all - tell your customers (the 41% who are flirting with digi) that you are DIGI-FRIENDLY so that they won't feel the need to leave you.  

The bottom line here is to pull your head out of the Bazzill and understand that nearly 50% of scrappers are wandering down the digital path.  They may not convert completely, but they will buy fewer traditional supplies from traditional retailers just by the mere fact that they are dabbling in it. 

 

Start a Photobook Business Today!

As I look towards my own personal business shift in December with the discontinuation of the ScrapBiz Member Support Program, I am also opening a new chapter.  Well, okay, it's not really new.  It's been an option at ScrapBiz for nearly a year.  But it's grown up into it's own website. 

If you have thought about starting your own photobook business - we've got the solution.  We aren't an "affiliate" program where you place a link on your site and make a small perk whenever someone makes a photobook through your link.  And, we aren't a multi-level direct sales company with high prices and recruiting.  Just like ScrapBiz, PhotoBookBiz sort of stands alone in it's own category.

This is a completely independent option that gives you more control than any other option out there. 

Check out PhotoBookBiz for details on how, for just $49, you can set up an business as fast as you can fill out a form!

How Do You Scrap?

I'm curious about how people scrap now vs. how they scrapped before.  Did you start out traditional but move to digital?  Are you hardcore traditional?  Have you never done anything BUT digital?

Will you take my ONE QUESTION survey and tell me about your scrapping?  

Click Here to take survey

Get FREE Digital Scrapbook Software!

I LOVE Digital Scrapbook Artist by Serif. They sent me a copy to try and I totally fell in love with it. Every time I try it, I learn something new! It's got some FANTASTIC features and I love it because, unlike other programs, this one is designed for the digital scrapper. The new version is AWESOME because I can arrange the products I already have into digi-kits using the program. That is a really cool feature to help me organize my stash!

The software would make some GREAT classes at a traditional scrapbook store. You could do a series with it with the aim of doing hybrid projects or using it to help customers make pages they could then upload to your PhotoBook site and print books. You would make money on the class, the software, and the photo books. It's a great trio of ideas to profit from digital scrapbooking in a traditional scrapbook store setting. A Walk Down Memory Lane in Iowa is gearing up to do just that! Stores that figure out how to add digital scrapbooking profitably are smart!

I'm thrilled that Serif introduced a totally FREE compact or light version of the full Digital Scrapbook Artist software! You can see a video about it and download it HERE. Of course, using the compact version will leave you wanting the full version! But, it's a good way to try it before you buy it!

Serif is also having a world-wide contest for digi scrappers who use their software. You can see the contest page HERE at their Daisy Trail site.

Check out the free compact version of their software if you are wanting to try digital scrapbooking or if you are a traditional store owner wondering what it's all about!

I'm So Confused By the Confusion

I have been surfing around for some commercial use digital scrapbook kits to use. I have been carefully reading the commercial use licenses and I've come to the conclusion that we really need a standard in the digital scrapbook industry regarding what IS and what ISN'T "Commercial use".

Some CU licenses are nearly indistinguishable from the S4H license. They have two different licenses but you can't really tell what the difference is.

Some CU licenses are SO restrictive that you feel like "why bother"? They have a million conditions that almost include, "I don't permit you to use this on a Tuesday". If you really don't want to allow commercial use of your products, then don't have any commercial use products.

Some swing the other way (the ones I like) and say, "I'm so over the drama of what constitutes commercial use - just go ahead and use it in your business. Just don't sell or give away the individual pieces."

It seems to me that there needs to be some organization in the digital world. They need to agree on a standard licensing contract that isn't so confusing that you're never sure if what you're going to use the CU products for is legal.

The Custom Photo Book Solution for your Scrapbook Store!

My newsletter for people interested in the PhotoBookBiz part of ScrapBiz went out today. I thought I'd share it here, too. There are five ways you can turn our PhotoBookBiz program into a custom digital scrapbook business for your site or store. It's really one of the best programs out there!

Click HERE to see the newsletter

I Can't Be the Only Traditional Turned Digital Scrapper Who Wants This

I'll admit that much of my scrapping is now digital. I make cards and once in a while, I'll scrap an actual page to frame or put in an older album.

But, I still love to go into scrapbook stores and I still love the pretty papers there. Unfortunately, when I see something, I don't buy it because I know I likely won't ever use it.

I am sure I'm not the only one who finds traditional products delicious but scraps digitally due to lack of time. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a paper in a scrapbook store that I wanted but in digital form.

I don't know why - wait, actually I do know why and I'll address that in a minute - that traditional scrapbook manufacturers don't capitalize on people like me who started out with the hands-on approach, still goes into scrapbook stores, but scraps mostly digitally now. I know very few of the digital scrapbook "brands". I love Shabby Princess and will look at Scrap Girls or A Cherry On Top when I need something specific. But, I still love Bo-Bunny (Shabby Princess look!), Karen Foster, Little Yellow Bicycle, Flair Designs, etc. I want those - in digital form.

It would so very easy for the traditional manufacturers to offer their traditional paper designs on CD for digital scrappers. And, it would be a brilliant idea to sell those CD's ONLY through traditional retailers who also sold the traditional papers (that's the KEY here - don't cut the traditional retailer out by selling the download at your own site). I would be all over those to get the look of my favorite traditional companies that I have loved for years in my digital scrapbooks!

Now, I'm sure someone has thought about this. I even have a friend who talked to some companies at CHA a few years ago about digitizing their older discontinued lines. Most of them were interested in doing that but it didn't go any farther than that. Why hasn't anyone actually done it, though?

Fear.

The fear of digital scrapping.
The fear that customers will print off your designs at home and never buy the traditional paper
The fear that your designs will end up shared with other users.
The fear of all things digital... period.

It's totally irrational. You are either digital or you aren't. You either have a way to print digital pages or you don't. Like anything - some might abuse the CD. But, most will buy it because they want that traditional brand look in their digital scrapbooks.

I can find "Bo-Bunny-esque" stuff (Shabby Princess). I can find Karen Foster-esque stuff or any other "similar" products. But, I keep shopping the traditional stores and coming out empty handed. Wouldn't this be a good way to make sure I didn't?

I see the pretties. I want the pretties. Sell me the pretties in a format I will use them in and I will cease to leave empty handed.

Scrapbook Fever - A 21st Century Scrapbook Retailer

I told Shelly Izen, the owner of Scrapbook Fever in Salem, OR that I was going to blog about how smart she and her husband, Bud, are.

They are a scrapbook retailer who "gets it" when it comes to thinking outside the box and looking for opportunities outside the normal "make and take" or technique classes for their store.

Scrapbooking without photos is really just a paper craft. And, GREAT photos inspire us to scrap. I can't tell you how many "so-so" photos don't get scrapped at my house. It's only the great ones that make me feel like scrapping.

Could scrapbookers use digital photography tips? You bet they could! And Scrapbook Fever has responded to that need and is now offering digital photography classes in their store.

Read their class description - makes me want to drive to Salem:

Digital Photography Class 101 series with Canon Rep – Our fabulously successful Digital Photography 101 series is brought to you by Canon! This is a course for beginners who need some assistance in understanding their digital camera and its functions! If you take the majority of your pictures using the Auto function on your camera, this course is for you!

This is a series of four (4) two-hour classes designed to help you understand the functions on your digital camera, show you some cool Canon products to print your pictures on, and finish up completing a project using the pictures taken and printed during these classes! Everyone will complete a very cool 8x8 mini album (designed by us of course)

Now, if they added custom photo books and gifts (also a great series of classes to offer) with something like our PhotoBookBiz option, they will have propelled themselves completely into the 21st Century of Scrapbooking.

I applaud their willingness to offer a class like this and think they are very smart scrapbook retailers!

Digital Scrapbook Artist by Serif

I got a copy of Digital Scrapbook Artist a couple of months ago. I'm the first to admit that I'm a Photoshop Loser - I simply can't enjoy using it and can't seem to make it work for me. I think it's because while I'm not normally technically challenged, that I think like a "traditional scrapper" too much. I want all the tools and techniques of traditional scrapping right there and very obvious for me.

I have used a much simpler program to do my digi pages but was starting to feel limited by it. Then I discovered Digital Scrapbook Artist. I love it because it's "traditional scrapping" in a digital form. I can crop my photos in cool shapes and there are deco scissors to edge my papers with. The program is specifically built for digital scrapping unlike PhotoShop Elements which is USED for digital scrapping but not specifically built for it.

Digital Scrapbook Artist has a site where you can download some very nice kits that work with the program. The site is called Daisy Trail and they're still getting it up and going.

What's really exciting is the update to the program coming later this summer. You can read about it HERE. I love that it looks like the upgrade will help me organize the kits I already have - it's a mess and I can't find anything. I haven't found a solution that I like to organize yet despite many suggestions.

If you're like me and haven't found a program that you're completely comfy with - I'd recommend Digital Scrapbook Artist! You can check it out at their YouTube Channel HERE. There are lots of videos about using the program as well as a video tour to help you decide if it's right for you!

Scan My Photos Scanned My Photos

A while ago, there was a contest sponsored by Scan My Photos on Twitter. If you re-tweeted the contest tweet, you could win free scanning. Well, I won free scanning!!!

The prepaid shipping box was quickly emailed to me and then I had to decide which photos would go into it. I hauled out all my photos and started sorting. I actually wish now I would have just grabbed piles and put them in the box instead of trying to sort them. They will all have to eventually be scanned anyway. But, I wanted the photos of family members scanned first so I went for those.

I followed the instructions provided and crammed the box FULL - I think I ended up with well over 1000 photos and I could have probably crammed in a few more. Then I dropped the box in the mail - it was all pre-paid so all I had to do was take it to the post office and send it off to California (not India as some services do).

In a week or so, I got it all back - all the photos were scanned! WooHoo! The prize package included several copies so I was able to give a CD to my folks. Now, I have to decide what to do with the photos now that they are scanned. Do I throw them away or keep them? I guess I'll keep them.

I can't wait to use them for digi scrapping and make photo books at PhotoBooks{etc}!

The best part is that I didn't have to scan them! I had started several times but doing one at a time on a flat-bed scanner was going to take FOREVER!!!!!

If you're on the fence about the cost of a scanning service - get off the fence and go for it! Time is money! There is no way I could have ever scanned this many photos myself! I highly recommend Scan My Photos and will use them again to finish up my scanning.

Get a FREE PHOTO BOOK from my photobook site!

I want you to try my photobook program (also the platform for PhotoBookBiz) because I am sure that you'll love it as much as I do! So, here's the deal: Get a FREE personal soft cover photo book ($12 value) FREE (+$4.95 shipping).

Go to www.Photobookoffer.com and put in the code PBE509. Then, enter your name and email address and you'll receive your special offer code via email.

When you get it, go to PhotoBooks{etc} and make your FREE BOOK! Use the code you got via email at check-out.

The free book has 20 pages but you can pay for additional pages as well as additional books. While you're there, you can make other products from layouts in your book - key tags, mugs, puzzles, etc. with just a click of your mouse.

But, your personal soft cover book is FREE!!!

This is a GREAT WAY to try out the program if you're thinking about PhotoBookBiz!

What the Kindle DX Can Teach Scrapbook Retailers

A couple of months ago, I bought my husband the Kindle 2. We love that thing! It's so convenient! The other day, Amazon announced the coming of the Kindle DX - with a screen 2.5 times larger than the Kindle 2.

Welcome to the future of reading. My kids will probably have all their text books on a Kindle-type device at college. No more standing in line to purchase $200 text books you have to lug around and no more standing in a longer line at the end of the semester to sell back your $200 book for $25.

Already, several text book publishers are working with Amazon to digitize their books for the Kindle. Other book publishers should be taking notice. This IS the future of reading. Will regular books ever completely go away? I don't think so. But, the Kindle and the devices that will follow it will do to books what the iPod did to music. It will change the way many of us read and change the way book publishers make their money. My husband has essentially stopped buying physical books. He is now buying his business and political books for his Kindle. We are STILL Amazon customers (okay, we are Amazon junkies), but we are just getting our books differently from them now.

How many book publishers will now just throw in the towel and say, "We're dead"? Probably a few. But, most will look at digitizing their books to work on these devices. A few will ignore the technology believing that there will always be people who buy real books and will slowly, over time, give in to the trend. While others will stick their heads in the sand and say, "we'll never digitize" and then moan and groan about their drop-off in sales.

Kudos to the early adopters of Kindle technology. They aren't acting threatened by it - they are embracing it and figuring out how they can get on board with it.

There is a lesson here for scrapbook stores. Our industry has experienced a large shift to digital scrapbooking. We now have digital photos, custom photo books, digital scrapbook paper and embellishments and large format home printers. The digital age has done to our industry what the Kindle is doing to the book publishing industry.

Most of us have acted threatened by the technology and chosen to ignore it rather than embracing and adapting to it. Many retailers pretend that digital scrapbooking has had NOTHING to do with our decline in sales. We blame drop-outs. We blame the economy. We blame our competitors. Fact of the matter is that many, many traditional scrapbookers are now digital scrapbookers and we didn't even TRY to keep them from leaving us. In fact, most of us were so busy actively ignoring digital scrapbooking that we didn't even see them leave.

A few retailers have jumped on board with digital scrapbooking and have looked for ways to keep those people who have converted to digital coming back into their stores. They are offering custom photo book classes. They are teaching photography classes. They are selling digital scrapbook software and scanning photos or printing out digital pages. They have set up special sections in their store where they offer "Digital Scrapbook Products". They have basically said, "We're not giving you up just because you went digital."

Kudos to those scrapbook retailers who embraced digital in some small way. I believe they will be among the survivors.

How Much Moola {$} Can I Make with PhotoBookBiz?

One of the top questions I get about PhotoBookBiz is "How much will I make?" Well, that's not an easy question because the products all have different profit margins. But, above is a chart (click to enlarge) with a few of the most popular products from prints to lay-flat photo books. The average profit margin on this products is 23% but that can be more or less depending on where you set your prices. These prices are assuming MSRP, but, as I said, you have the ability to set your OWN prices.

Things to remember about this fantastic program:

• It's only $49 a year to join
• You don't ship anything to anyone
• You don't stock any products
• You don't have to process credit cards
• Customer service questions and technical issues are handled by Rocket Life
• You can set your own prices
• You can offer your own unique sales
• The feature-rich software is customer-approved and award winning for it's innovation and ease-of-use

PhotoBookBiz is a GREAT way to tap into digital scrapbooking without risk or investment. As fast as you can sign up, you can be in business. CLICK HERE for information or to sign up!

Don't Blame the Economy - we were hurting before that....

I Remember When, the direct sales company that ScrapBiz grew out of in 2002, quietly shut it's doors a couple of days ago. It went without the drama usually associated with the demise of the industry's direct sales companies (Scrap in a Snap, Leaving Prints and TLC all went down in scandalous flames). But, the company was not without it's troubles through the years. According to wholesalers I have worked with for many years, paying bills was often a problem. Still, many consultants are now left without a business. Which was part of my beef with these companies in the first place. It's not really YOUR business - if they close, you close.

But, that's not my point here. My point is that many are blaming the economy. That may have had SOMETHING to do with it - as in it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. But, the scrapbook industry has been in trouble for more than just this past 18 months that we've been in a recession. So, the economy can't be totally blamed.

Some of the business members at ScrapBiz report that their customers don't seem to know there's a recession going on. They are still buying like crazy. Others are reporting only slight declines in business or that business is flat. Both aren't bad given the tough economy.

Our real problems started years ago and the economy was the final straw for some. The problems are simple but the answers are complex. I just taught a class at PMA that covered part of the reasons why the industry has suffered the last few years.

1. Consider what a scrapbook store looked like in 1999 - paper, albums, adhesives, embellishments, tools. Then, consider what the scrapbook store of 2009 looks like - paper albums, adhesives, embellishments, tools.
2. Consider the changes in home technology since then: digital cameras, photo printers, faster computers, better scanners, photo books, color printers, wide format printers.

The problem here is clear - scrapbook stores failed to keep up with the evolution of technology and what it meant to memory preservationists. The new tech brought new possibilities for taking photos and preserving memories and stores ignored it all but customers didn't.

1. Consider the scrappers of 1999 - pretty much those who did and those who didn't. Scrapping was pretty much just ONE type of activity
2. Consider the variety of scrappers in 2009 - hybrid, traditional, card makers, paper crafters, digi scrappers, photo book makers, etc.

The problem here is once again that retailers failed to adapt. We have SO MANY types of customers in our industry and yet, most stores cater to ONLY the traditional scrapper. You can't shut out a large percentage of potential customers and thrive. I seriously get amused when a store owner will look me in the face and say, with all seriousness, "I don't have ANY customers interested in digital scrapping." Well, you DID have those people and they already left. And, you DO have some who are dabbling in it or thinking about it and are in danger of leaving the traditional industry. What you're saying is that you don't offer anything to those people so they don't come in.

And finally, knowing that some will drop out over time (or maybe we didn't have the business sense to know that) and that the average life-cycle of a craft is 7 years, we did NOTHING to invite in new scrappers to replace those who left either because they got bored or changed their style.

Struggle, struggle, struggle.... now, add a bad economy on top of that and it means death for many retailers.

That's not to say that you should be all things to all people. But, if you know you have a strong position as a traditional retailer, then you need to market the heck out of that angle and scratch and claw for every traditional customer you can find. You can't sit back and wonder where everyone went and then blame the economy. If you add tech to your store, then you need to like-wise market heavily the fact that you are a 21st Century Scrapbook Store and you want to invite your former customers back to see what you've got.

Either way it's not going to be easy. But, it CAN be done.

Unibind Photo Book Creator

I love the Unibind Photo Book Creator. One of the best parts about it is the covers - they are totally meant to be altered. It's a true hybrid project!

Check out these covers - Unibind had some scrapbook industry people alter them - they were wickedly cute! How fun - customers can make a photo book using either digital or traditional pages and then alter the heck out of the cover!

Hybrid scrapbooking is where it's AT!

Will Digital Scrapbooking Follow the Same Unfortunate Path?

We're having a discussion at ScrapBiz right now about how to bring new scrapbookers into the industry. It's been the greatest challenge of our industry mostly because not too many people wanted to do the "dirty work" of marketing. So, we lived under the delusion that EVERYONE discovered our wonderful hobby by 2000 and then we just all moved forward into more complex techniques and a greater variety of albums, themes and sizes. Yet, as I wrote over a year ago, beginners are the heart beat of our industry.

Now, here we sit, 9 years later wondering where everyone is. I guess you could say we're suffering from heart failure. The average interest in a craft or hobby lasts about 7 years. Two years ago, we started bleeding customers who stopped scrapping or moved on to digital scrapping. We've picked up a few here and there but few businesses have had the courage to spend their marketing time and money on gathering in new scrappers.

Is digital scrapbooking walking that same path? In some ways, I think it is and in some ways, I think it might not be.

I see several places where you can take online classes or watch tutorials on how to digi scrap. That's a good thing. I liken that to the many basic classes stores offered in the early days. Nearly every store had a "scrapbooking 101" class that taught the basics of layout, color, photo cropping, tools, etc.

But, on the other hand, when I go to consumer message boards dedicated to digital scrapbooking and see someone wander in and ask about getting started, I see other digital scrappers tell them to go get Photoshop Elements to get started. That's not a beginner's program. When I suggest something REALLY simple like Scrapbook Max!, I will often get razzed for suggesting it and the original poster gets told again to go get a program that will probably just frustrate them in the end.

YOU might be able to do fantastic and magical things with PSE, but not everyone CAN (or even wants to). Much of the scrapbook universe does NOT alter their photos in PhotoShop. Most of us just slap them on the page. So, simplicity in putting them on the digital page is really what most of us want.

I went to a friend's house the other day to show her how to digi scrap. She has 4 kids and is ready to do at least SOME of her photos digitally. I showed her Scrapbook Max! and I showed her the program at PhotoBooks{etc}. Even those two options intimidated her. Just because she can use Facebook doesn't mean she's comfortable with all aspects of her computer. Is she being left in the dust by the digital industry? Perhaps. If she had asked about it at a consumer board instead of asking me, she would probably have gotten the PSE suggestion and would have never tried it.

So, if the digital scrapbook industry is smart, they will figure out how to continually invite new people to try digital scrapping without intimidation or the assumption that everyone's already doing it. Learn from our mistakes. I don't think we (the traditional industry) have.

Downturn or Shift in the Scrapbook Industry?

About 18 months ago, I had a conversation with my friend, Dennis Conforto, about the scrapbook industry. We were both sort of being demonized for saying that photos, not pretty paper and embellishments, should be the focus of scrapbooking or memory preservation. Some retailers and "artists" were calling us heretics for daring to say that because they felt like it devalued what they were doing/selling. Dennis said something like, "Just wait, in a couple of years, they'll all be saying the same thing we are."

He was right. I'm hearing and seeing more and more scrapbook retailers say, "What can we do to adapt?"

You'd have to be in a cave to not notice that the scrapbook industry has suffered some bumps. I don't believe the industry is shrinking. We've got members at ScrapBiz who are wondering if their customers know the economy is in bad shape. Their customers are still buying stuff like crazy. As long as there are stores selling scrapbook products, there will be women (and men) buying it.

But, there has also been a shift in memory preservation. "Scrapbooking" is just one aspect of preserving your photos and stories in a usable format. Digital scrapbooking, photo books, photo collages, photo gifts, altered art, online blogs, etc. are all now part of our industry. Many of our customers practice a mix of many different forms of memory preservation. Yet, the traditional scrapbook store still looks like it did in 1999 - it sells paper and embellishments.

The latest edition of the Creative Leisure News had a great comment in it.

"A number of independent retailers are having trouble, too, possibly for the same reason. Their closing their doors give the impression that scrapbooking is declining. Cindy Wyckoff. Owner/Editor-in-Chief of Scrapbook Dimensions magazine (www.scrapbookdimensions.com), has a different opinion:

"I believe that scrapbooking is not slipping, but evolving. Many people find themselves wanting to keep their memories and do something with their photographs, but don't have the time to do the traditional scrapbooking or have the creative desire to do it. There are other exciting options out there for them. The scrapbooking stores could jump on these ideas, but they don't seem to be open to doing something different."

The December issue of Real Simple published an article, "Memory Keepers," which described various ways to preserve photos and letters - and none of them were scrapbooks. Instead, the article profiled women who made a coffee table photo book, a wall display box, a written book of stories, a cookbook, and a quilt."

The December issue of PMA magazine had a GREAT article about a store in British Columbia. Go to page 38 and start reading. This store is described as "PMA IN A STORE". What a great description. This store owner covers the gamut when it comes to photos and memory preservation - from cameras to photo processing to photo books and gifts to traditional scrapbooking - they carry it all. And, I bet if you could look at their bottom line, they are probably doing better than the traditional scrapbook store BECAUSE of their diversity. They can serve nearly everyone with photos. People generally take photos because they want to remember something special. So, when they come into this store, they can choose the path they want to take to display and preserve those photos. This store aims to serve whatever path their customers choose to take rather than saying, “Oh, you don’t use card stock anymore? Thanks for being our customer. Good luck to you in the future.” Instead, they say, “Oh, we have photo books!” And, conversely, to the photo book customer who would like to make a special traditional album, they can say, “We have those products!”. No one gets shown the door just because their scrapbooking or memory preservation went in another direction.

I am very much looking forward to PMA 2009 and most especially PSRO 2009. I think that scrapbook retailers would be well-served to attend and learn about the various opportunities to tune up their stores and bring them into the 21^st century. Because, as Mike at the Creative Leisure News also pointed out, when plastic canvas creations became all the rage, cross-stitch only stores were encouraged to add those supplies to their inventory. Many “pooh-poohed” such things. And, the moral of the story was, “are there any cross-stitch only stores left?” Not many.

Desiging your own Christmas Card

I have card blanks this year and had all the intent to make my own Christmas cards as I have done in the past. I was going to put a recipe on the front of each card. Well, as time is ticking away, I decided to ditch that idea and go for the photo card.

But, just like I don't like showing up in the same outfit as someone else at a party (happened at my Junior Prom - same Gunne Sax dress - how embarrassing), I don't like sending the same photo card as everyone else. So, I went over to Dreamstime and did a search for "Christmas card" and got a TON of backgrounds that would work to design my own.

I found the one above - it's pretty non-traditional but I like it. I've got a Xerox Phaser laser printer that prints out photo quality prints so I'm going to print them at home on nice paper.

That's one less thing to worry about for the next month. I might even be that really annoying person who sends them off the first week of December. We'll see... I still have to address them all.

Got Five Minutes? Start a Business!

Want to be a business owner 5 minutes from now? How about a PhotoBookBiz? As fast as you can fill out the form and pay, you can have your own photo book and gift business.

The coolest part is what you DON'T have to do:

• You DON'T have to buy any inventory
• You DON'T have to ship any products
• You DON'T have to process any credit cards

You even DON'T have to set up a website - you can literally set this business up at a blog. But, if you want a website, we have a simple template available to purchase. All you need is a domain, a host and a web designer who can upload and personalize it for you (you can see what the template looks like at PhotoBooks{etc}).

Of course, you'll have to round up customers but you're already way ahead of the game in the first 5 minutes!

If you've got 5 minutes, grab your business and get going on your way to success!

Why PhotoBookBiz Works

The last (boo-hoo) edition of Scrapbook Retailer Magazine has or is about to hit your mail box. Check out our full page ad in the middle part of the magazine (look for the ROCKET!). In talking with my oh-so-smart husband the other day, I came up with all the reasons I love the choice I made of working with Rocket Life! It's a GREAT program unlike any other I have seen out there and fits PERFECTLY with my philosophy that independence is the best road to success!

Here are my Top Ten reasons I think PhotoBookBiz is a GREAT opportunity for retailers in our industry:

1. Works with all types of businesses - it doesn't matter if you want to just have a business out of your home helping friends make books or if you are a bricks and mortar store. It works with online stores, home-based businesses and stores!
2. Competitive Prices - you get to set your own price above your wholesale cost! This was EXTREMELY important to me. And, the fact that you can compete with other companies was important. I didn't want anyone to have to sell their books so high that their own customers wouldn't use them.
   
3. Creativity Platform - the Rocket Life Smart Arrangement Technology means that you can make a REALLY FAST book. But, you can also do all the work yourself. AND, it was also important to me that digital scrapbookers could upload their OWN digital products and easily use them. This software works for everyone from the beginner to the advanced photo book maker/digital scrapper
4. Class Opportunity - the creativity platform, while pretty easy - has a learning curve just like any piece of new software. But, once you learn the tips and tricks - you have an "aHA!" moment. With an LCD projector and an internet connection, you could easily teach your customers how to use the program in a classroom setting. Then, the ability to offer discount codes for attendees is like icing on the cake for those who pay to attend the class.
5. Quality - the product quality is top-notch! I've ordered a lot of books from a lot of different companies and the PhotoBookBiz/Rocket Life books and products are some of the best in terms of quality.
   
6. Private Label - nearly everything that comes to your customer after they place an order has your brand on it. From the confirmation emails generated by the system after the order is placed to the envelope that the product comes in to the products themselves, it's all YOUR brand and YOUR name.
7. Cost of the program - it's $98 to sign up. Other companies are charging FAR MORE for a private label option like this
8. Margins - the profit margins vary by product but so far, PhotoBookBiz businesses are averaging between 20 and 25% profit on their total sales - which is HUGE given the next point.
   
9. No shipping or inventory or credit card processing - all that's handled by Rocket Life! Wouldn't it be nice if it worked that way with traditional scrapbook products?!
   
10. Digital scrapbooking with a profit! The traditional industry has struggled to figure out how to monetize digital scrapbooking. It hasn't made sense to teach classes or sell CD's and we've lost a lot of our traditional customers to digital. This gives retailers a profitable way to tap into the growing popularity of custom photo books and digital scrapbooking.