Unless you've been living under a stone you won't know how UK retail is in the doldrums, recesssion, the squeezed middle, higher VAT, the internet, shopping malls, if you own a shop front you need any lifeline that can be thrown your way. Boy would you have been disappointed by Focus. OK they had some new cameras, tripods, strange devices to hold lamps, camera bags but anything new, anything to generate new revenue? OK, a couple of booths to print instant photobooks, but not much more. At least Kodak had a scanner on their stand, but they weren't making a big song and dance about it.
But Kodak have made amends with the launch of a new scanning package in the USA. I hope they roll it out here. It's a neat package of the latest version of their photo scanning system along with a payment terminal. Idea is you leave it on the counter, its a self-service operation and customers can then pay without pestering staff. It's one of the few things I've come across that can be said to offer a prospect of a solid ROI to the retail side of the photography market. I'm sure in due course Kodak will roll this out into the UK and Europe.
As an internet based scanning operation I don't see this as deadly competition. It's a way of raising photo scanning in the minds of the consumer and it will confirm in peoples minds that Kodak is the premier name in imaging. Oh and I just love this image they have on the photo scanning page, thanks Kodak, that's just how Laura spends her time.
