Imaging Ecosystem Consumer Research Looks at Photo Capture, Printing & Sharing
Hertfordshire, UK—The latest Imaging Ecosystem Consumer Research report by Futuresource Consulting examines the impact of the technological transition the traditional imaging landscape has seen in the past two decades. As smartphones now dominate the global capture of images, motivations and storage needs of consumers are changing.
The new report investigates how consumers capture, store, edit, share and print their photos. The goal was to capture the imaging journeys and behaviors of consumers, following different life stages from millennials to the over-55s. Noteworthy for print service providers is the finding that millennials are actually interested in photo printout.
Printing Photos
Futuresource Consulting explored consumer interest in the preservation of memories by the physical printing of photos. “The findings of the report have disproved a theory that the younger generation is not interested in photo printing.
In fact, the millennials were the most likely age group to be printing photos, with 61% either printing at home or using third-party printing services,” said Ruben Baveld, research analyst at Futuresource Consulting.
Moreover, the report indicates that an impressive 46% of U.S. millennial respondents have printed photos they took over the last 12 months.
From a EU-4 country level, the German and Spanish markets demonstrated the strongest preference for printing photos. However, Baveld added that it is clear from the market trends shown within the report that the intent to capture, preserve and share memories and communicate about them has intertwined. Moreover, different demographics use social media platforms for different purposes.
Sharing Photos
While no real surprise, the report also indicates that sharing photos on social media is now ingrained in people’s lives. More than 90% of all EU 4 respondents were members of some form of social media platform: 75% use Facebook and 50% use WhatsApp. WhatsApp was also much more popular with Spanish and German consumers for photo sharing. This reflects the popularity of Android smartphones in those markets.
Furthermore, millennials were nearly twice as likely as the overall respondent base to use Instagram to share photos. A third of EU 4 respondents had shared videos via social media.
In addition, when it came to sharing photos on social media, close to a third of respondents indicated that receiving feedback on social media was one of the motivations for taking photos. However, overall the core reason for sharing photos on social media was to preserve a memory. And this was true across all age groups.
Photo Storage
With the increasing number of photos being taken, storage is becoming an ever-more important need for consumers. Many in the industry see cloud-based storage as the answer. However, when comparing the data across all age ranges, the use of cloud-based storage is limited. According to Futuresource, only 8% of all photos captured are stored in the cloud. 
When comparing the different demographics, there was a clear difference in the reasoning for not using cloud storage. Research indicated that millennials (16–35 years) cited reasons surrounding security concerns. For the older demographics, it was about a lack of understanding cloud storage.
Futuresource Consulting
Futuresource Consulting is a specialist research and knowledge-based consulting company. It provides organizations with insight into consumer electronics, digital imaging, entertainment media, broadcast, storage media, education technology and IT.
