Wedding Photography Season 2016
Transcription
Wedding Photography Season 2016
Wedding Photography Season 2016 Market prices, communication & trends in wedding photography from pro photographers XXLPIX | May 2016 Contents About the current Report 2016 ........................................................................................................... 3 Market Prices 2016 ............................................................................................................................... 4 Dates ....................................................................................................................................................... 9 How can you be found? ....................................................................................................................... 9 Target groups ...................................................................................................................................... 17 Products ............................................................................................................................................... 18 Sales share for the top 5 formats .......................................................................................................... 20 Marketing ............................................................................................................................................. 21 Sales ...................................................................................................................................................... 21 Points of interest from our research ................................................................................................. 23 Market study wedding photography 2015 2 About the current Report 2016 XXLPIX publishes an extensive report on wedding photography every year. This year, too, we have put together all the facts and figures on professional wedding photography. In this 2015 edition, we have extended and updated the data on the range of service and prices. Of particular importance for marketing: how can you best be found on Google? These days, service providers, especially for those services you are only likely to need once in a lifetime, are predominantly found via internet search machines. In Germany, Google has more or less a monopoly on this service with more than 90% market share. We’ve put together for you the most important search terms and set out the current volume of requests along with their development in comparison with the previous year. Also featured again in the 2015 report: the volume of searches for wedding photographers in over 100 German cities. Wedding Photography This year, more than 370,000 weddings will take place in Germany. Their wedding day is the most amazing day of every couple's life. The festivities usually take place on a grand scale and in the company of many friends and relatives. According to statistics, more money is spent on weddings than on any other celebration. In organising the event, the couple will engage the services of various specialists, among which the wedding photographer is essential. To accommodate the ceremonies, many people’s services are commissioned, among which photographers are a set tradition. Wedding photography is the most expensive photographic service in the private consumer sector, representing an attractive market niche for photographers. That's why so many photographers already specialise in this niche and offer various special services in and around the wedding theme. Due to the pressure of ever-growing competition, creative photographers offer more and more exceptional ideas for shoots in order to stand out from the crowd. Growing competitive pressure in this market segment means that creative photographers are offering unusual ideas for shoots more and more often in an attempt to set themselves apart from the competition. Although financially very attractive, the wedding photo shoot is regarded by professional photographers as being the most work-intensive. Due to increased possibilities for comparing photographic services on the internet, the expectations and demands of the customer on the photographer has grown more in the past years than the willingness of the customer to pay for these higher expectations. This development undermines the attractiveness of the market considerably. Market study wedding photography 2015 3 Analysed Companies XXLPIX regularly analyzes business models and services of professional photographs and photo studios in Europe. Therefore 250 companies randomly are selected trough our professional customers and their services and prizes are evaluated. The selected shooting categories are representative for larger, heterogeneous choice, event and target-groups specific offers. They serve as basis for spanned sectors. Market Prices 2016 In 2016 we have analysed yet again the prices of wedding photographers in the course of our price studies (Market Analysis, “Photo shoot from €8”). As expected, the advertising prices vary widely this year too. And the prices for extensive wedding photo shoots remain strongly differentiated. We found and analysed various offers in the price range of €15.50 up to €2,950 this year again. Wedding photography is the most expensive private occasion for booking a photographer. And as might be expected, the service offers in this segment vary widely. From accompanying the couple to the registry office, through to a shoot over several days including high-quality photo products, a wide range of services is available. The cheapest service on offer under “wedding photography” was found again to be €15.50. The most expensive package was priced at €2,990. 27.8% of photographers surveyed still offer wedding photography for under €100. In contrast, 22.7% have starting prices no lower than €300. The average minimum price for wedding shoots stayed at a constant level of €244.40 in 2016 (€244.35 in 2015). Market study wedding photography 2015 4 Wedding shoots from €15.50? more Fig.: Starting prices in wedding photography, determined values: Ø = €244.40 | median = €200 | min = €15.50 | max = €990 | © XXLPIX GmbH Berlin 2016 The prices for large wedding shoots have become more expensive compared to the previous year. More and more photographers are finding the courage to price their services beyond €1,000. Wedding photography offers have traditionally been available in a very wide range of prices so it is natural that prices should range from simple to complex packages up to 10 times the basic price. As expected, prices for large wedding shoots have risen significantly in 2016. Only 39.5% of photographers offer large wedding shoots for under €600 (previous year: 51.6%). Prices from other vendors vary greatly up to €2,000 and beyond. Almost a third of photographers offered a wedding packet for over €1,250 in 2016 (previous year: 23.6 %). The large wedding shoot: many greatly differing offers Market study wedding photography 2015 5 Fig.: Maximum prices for wedding photography, determined values: more Ø = €952.88 | median = €779 | min = €45 | max = €2,990 | © XXLPIX GmbH Berlin 2016 Compared to the previous year, the average price for a large wedding shoot rose in 2016 by 13.2%. High-end package examples: Price example 1: 1.599 Euro Travel costs for up to 30 km included All-day wedding photo shoot (up to 12 hours) 50 photo prints Including 50 photos on DVD 2 canvas prints, 120 x 90cm One 24-page photo book Market study wedding photography 2015 6 Price example 2: 1.290 Euro Travel costs included in price 90 minutes on location Single and group portraits Around 80 pictures 10 x 15 cm 1 20 page 250 x 250 mm photo book 1 Poster 30 x 40 cm 30 thank-you cards Price example 3: 1.200 Euro Travel costs for up to 20 km included 10 hour on location photo shoot, up to midnight Portraits and group photos 1 canvas print 80 x 60cm 1 photo book in 210 x 280 mm 48 pages CD with all image data in original resolution Price example 4: 1.290 Euro Travel costs for local area included 5 hours photographic accompaniment Photo book 30x30cm with 20 pages CD with all photos taken in full resolution Price example 5: 1.290 Euro 3 hours on-location shoot Portrait shoot in studio CD with all photos in web resolution 70 photos, digitally processed, in printing resolution 50 photo greetings cards Market study wedding photography 2015 7 Low-end packages examples: Price example 1: 50 Euro In studio Small series Including 1 photo on CD Price example 2: 50 Euro In studio Small series €1.50 per 10 x 15 cm picture Price example 3: 75 Euro In studio Small series Incl. 5 13 x 18 cm pictures Market study wedding photography 2015 8 Dates Weddings take place all year round. Nevertheless, May, June and July are the classic wedding months, and popular, too, are certain special date combinations such as 16-06-2016. For that reason, initiative should be taken, especially in the preceding months, in order to insure bookings for the wedding season. Unlike for many other wedding services, the choice of photographer is often made shortly before the scheduled date. As well as coverage of the wedding, many photographers offer more and more shooting opportunities before and after the wedding, and can therefore increase potential revenue e.g. with engagement and afterwedding shoots (for details on individual shoots see "Shoots on offer") After Wedding Shooting Engagement Trash Your shoot Dress Wedding © XXLPIX 2015 How can you be found? Longstanding engagement in wedding photography, an established studio or recommendations of customers provide excellent opportunities for receiving customer enquiries for wedding shoots. But these days, having a decent web presence is the ideal way for a photographer to get new customers. Nowadays it’s almost unheard of to look for a service provider without comparing different providers on the internet. In the Germanlanguage web, about 80,000 searches for wedding photographers are conducted every month using different search terms. The most searched keywords in 2016 on the topic of wedding photography and the frequency of these in comparison with the previous year can be found in the following table. The total for the top 24 search terms drop in 2016 compared to the previous year from 44,390 to 34,270. Market study wedding photography 2015 9 Pos. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Search keyword wedding photography wedding photographer wedding photos wedding photographers wedding pictures wedding images wedding photo ideas wedding photographer prices asian wedding photographer wedding photography prices wedding photography tips cheap wedding photographers wedding photography courses best wedding photographers wedding photographs wedding photographer uk uk wedding photographers wedding photographers prices photographer uk photographers uk uk photographers wedding photographers uk best wedding photographers uk find a wedding photographer Total Searches Searches 2015 12100 8100 3600 8100 2900 1300 1000 720 590 880 880 590 590 320 390 320 110 320 1000 170 110 140 90 70 44390 Searches 2016 9900 8100 3600 2900 2400 1000 880 880 720 720 720 590 480 260 260 140 110 110 90 90 90 90 70 70 34270 Changes in % -18 0 0 -64 -17 -23 -12 22 22 -18 -18 0 -19 -19 -33 -56 0 -66 -91 -47 -18 -36 -22 0 -23 Table: 24 top search terms for wedding photography and the monthly search volume 2014/2015, change in % If you want to your name to come up as a result of those searches, your website should be designed in a way that will ensure that searches from your area will be directed to your site. This is because, apart from the premium price sector, wedding photography is a local or regionally requested service. Demand varies greatly in terms of volume. Market study wedding photography 2015 10 Regional requests for wedding photography in 2015 via Google The following chart shows the average monthly search requests for “wedding photographer” in combination with a city name. This word combination is the most common search for wedding photography and underlines the regional nature of the service. The combination “wedding photographer london” was typed in on average 3.600 times per month within the last 12 months. In contrast, the word combination “wedding photographer maidstone” was only entered 50 times. Nr. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 City London Newcastle Manchester Edinburgh Glasgow Bristol Nottingham Birmingham Cardiff Leeds Cambridge Sheffield Brighton Liverpool Milton Keynes Leicester Norwich Gloucestershire Stoke-on-Trent Worcester Belfast York Peterborough Plymouth Derby Bath Bournemouth Preston Portsmouth Southampton Northampton Swansea Cheltenham Bolton Searches 2015 2.400 1.900 1.000 1.000 880 720 720 720 590 590 480 480 480 390 390 390 390 390 390 320 320 320 320 260 260 260 210 210 210 210 170 170 170 170 Market study wedding photography 2015 Searches 2016 2400 880 880 880 720 720 590 590 480 480 480 390 390 320 320 320 260 260 260 260 260 210 210 210 210 210 210 210 210 170 170 170 140 140 Changes in % 0,00 -53,68 -12,00 -12,00 -18,18 0,00 -18,06 -18,06 -18,64 -18,64 0,00 -18,75 -18,75 -17,95 -17,95 -17,95 -33,33 -33,33 -33,33 -18,75 -18,75 -34,38 -34,38 -19,23 -19,23 -19,23 0,00 0,00 0,00 -19,05 0,00 0,00 -17,65 -17,65 11 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 Sunderland Aberdeen Chester Oxford Swindon Taunton Gloucester Durham Colchester Bedford Exeter Doncaster Blackpool Luton Reading Coventry Ipswich Huddersfield Lincoln Wakefield Hereford Dundee Wolverhampton St. Albans Solihull Wigan Bradford Eastbourne Grimsby Warrington Lichfield Chelmsford Stockport Stirling Chichester Guildford Inverness Barnsley Chesterfield Weston-super-Mare Basingstoke Newport Middlesbrough Stafford Nuneaton Darlington Maidstone Ely Lancaster Southport Winchester Market study wedding photography 2015 140 140 140 140 140 140 140 140 110 110 110 110 110 90 90 90 90 90 90 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 40 40 40 40 30 30 140 140 110 110 110 110 110 110 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 0,00 0,00 -21,43 -21,43 -21,43 -21,43 -21,43 -21,43 -18,18 -18,18 -18,18 -18,18 -18,18 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 40,00 40,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 -20,00 -20,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 33,33 33,33 12 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 Poole Watford Aylesbury Shrewsbury Sutton Coldfield Loughborough Salisbury Worthing Rugby Horsham Canterbury Stevenage Kidderminster High Wycombe Macclesfield Dartford Armagh Total Searches 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 10 22,290 40 40 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 20 20 20 20 10 10 18,830 33,33 33,33 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 50,00 50,00 50,00 50,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 -50,00 0,00 -15,52 Chart : Average monthly requests with the combination wedding photography and city on Google UK 2016/2016, changes in % Market study wedding photography 2015 13 Shoots on offer Number of offered packages Apart from classic wedding photography, which concentrates on accompanying the wedding couple through the ceremony and covering the subsequent celebrations, more and more photographers offer packages which encompass the time long before and after the event itself. This offers photographers the chance to earn extra revenue, to intensify their relationship with the clients and to turn them into regular customers. XXLPIX GmbH 2013 Figure: 42% of wedding photographers offer 3 Engagement shoot An engagement shoot gives the photographer the packages. More than double that offer 4 or more packages, which can affect a customer's ability to choose. perfect opportunity to get to know the couple better, and also to discuss their wishes and expectations together in advance, enabling a tailor-made depiction of the wedding. The resulting photos can be the perfect addition to an individually designed wedding invitation card, which ideally means scheduling a shoot 3-4 months before the wedding. Photo story The classic scenario, where the photographer accompanies the couple on the day of the wedding ceremony. Depending on the booking, this might cover only the ceremony, or include the preparations and the following celebrations. Photographers often offer different packages for different requirements (e.g. group photos, reception, wedding locations, speeches, dressing the bride). These packages are mostly offered for a limited period of time, while extra hours are provided at extra cost. Figure: Young lovers: An engagement/meet the couple shoot. The chart shows that photographers tend to offer various packages, giving customers more choice and a wide range of prices. However it can be disadvantageous to offer too many different packages, as this can confuse customers and make a decision difficult. Psychologically speaking, a choice of 3 packages is the most Market study wedding photography 2015 14 effective for decision-making, as it gives the customer enough options, without being overwhelming. According to the customer's budget they will choose the mid- or high-priced option. It's just too important an occasion to go for a value package. Boudoir photos Boudoir photos are a trend from the USA: tasteful, romantic, sensual and sexy pictures of the bride posing elegantly in different scenarios. These photos are ideally shot in connection with the bride's preparations for the wedding. Boudoir photos can be a special wedding present for the bride groom. In this case a preliminary talk with the bride is especially important, to make it clear how far the photos should go. Figure: Annabell Willa Photography Boudoir photos of the bride Portrait The classic portrait shoot takes place shortly before the wedding ceremony. To make it more creative than simply shooting in front of the local architectural sights or at the city park, this scene can be associated with special themes e.g. country wedding or the 70s, which leaves a lot of space for creativity. In choosing themes, the wedding couple's characters and own ideas should be integrated. This can make it into an unforgettable experience, especially when the theme is repeated at the wedding reception. Detail Detail shots not only capture a wedding's classic moments, but also a lot of details, which may go unnoticed during the excitement of the celebration. Typical motifs for this kind of shoot are close-ups of the wedding rings, the bridal bouquet, the bride's shoes, the wedding locations, the flower arrangements etc. Market study wedding photography 2015 Figure: Ian Flor photography: Detail photos focus on objects which play an important role at weddings. 15 Photo Booth The photo booth is a mini photo studio, which is set up at the wedding by the photographer. The guests can take photos of themselves using a remote control. This type of wedding photography often produces highly creative results, which thrill the clients, with little effort by the photographer. This temporary selfservice photo studio can also provide a muchloved contribution to the wedding guests' evening entertainment. Figure: Beinhorn Fotografie: Photo booth - the photos get even more interesting when clothes or accessories for dressing up are also provided. Post-wedding Shoot Lots of couples don't want to do an extra couples shoot amidst the stress of the wedding. For that reason, many photographers offer after-wedding shoots in the days or weeks following a wedding, providing an opportunity to shoot a couple in their wedding outfits in a relaxed atmosphere. On this later date it's also easier to choose individual locations and fulfil individual requests. Trash Your Dress "Trash the dress" is a special type of after wedding shoot, which focuses on the bride and her dress. It doesn't necessarily mean that the dress has to be destroyed during the shoot. The concept of this kind of shoot is to portray the bride as carefree and playful in bold and unusual poses. This kind of shoot mostly takes place outdoors. At extra cost, the partner can also take part in the shoot. As a further alternative, other subjects such as good friends of the bride can be included. This makes the shoot more relaxed, turning it into an unforgettable experience for the ladies. Market study wedding photography 2015 Figure: Sabrinity.com: Water scenes are especially appropriate for trash your dress shoots. 16 Destination Shoots Increasing numbers of couples are deciding to celebrate their weddings in faraway places. Photographers following this trend offer destination shoots, where they travel to the wedding destination and offer diverse photo shoots on site. More and more engagement and after wedding shoots are also done abroad, often coinciding with honeymoons. The photographer's travel costs, expenses and accommodation are paid by the bridal couple. Target groups The main source of demand is wedding couples between the ages of about 25-40 years. However it's becoming more popular for parents or relatives of the wedding couple to purchase photography vouchers as wedding gifts. This trend divides the target groups under consideration into two parties: The wedding couple The wedding couples themselves make up the main target group for marketing wedding photography. Choosing a photographer for the wedding is as important as choosing the location when planning a wedding. Because wedding photography offers such great potential for profit, there's a lot of competition on the market. Photographers have to build a strong profile to separate themselves from other wedding photographers. This is mostly done by offering diverse and individual services, which surpass the traditional wedding photo story and thrill potential customers with high-quality creative photos. Voucher buyers Among the many usual wedding presents, vouchers for professional wedding photography are becoming more and more common. These are often for the coverage of the main event, but also especially for an after wedding shoot. Parents of the bridal couple or the best man/ bridesmaids are the main target groups in this case. For this reason, marketing should be directed accordingly e.g. "Give them their most cherished wedding present - Memories, moments of the wedding to keep forever". Among the photo studios and specialist photography dealers analysed, 2% of wedding photographers offer special vouchers to buy online. The prices vary according to the services offered, the average price being €259 (min. €30 and max. €1386). Market study wedding photography 2015 17 Products The classic photography product offered for weddings is the photo book, especially as a wedding photo story. Especially poignant images are often printed in large formats. In this case photo canvases are an appropriate option, as their similarity to paintings create a dynastic impression. As mentioned above, this also offers an opportunity to create individually designed invitations or thank-you cards using photos from the engagement or wedding shoot. Which products do wedding photographers offer? Definition of a Wedding Photographer Wedding photographers – class 1.1.6.0.0 according to XXLPIX classification – are photographers who are specialised in wedding photography. Whilst in Germany still relatively uncommon, for example, there is a very distinct wedding photography culture in Great Britain. Photographic services there are offered in many places to the highest standard. Specialist wedding photographers usually don’t have their own studio. Market study wedding photography 2015 18 What sort of products do wedding photographers sell? Products sold by wedding photographers Acrylic glas Alu-Dibond Fine Art Print Canvas Premium composite Position Product Share 1. Canvas 69.4 % 2. Acrylic prints 17.5 % 3. Aluminium mounted prints 9.1 % 4. Fine art print 3.7 % 5. Premium composite 0.3 % The results of the analysis of products sold by wedding photographers are hardly surprising. Wedding photographers and their customers tend to be rather conservative. Accordingly, classic products tend to be chosen for large formats. The photo print on canvas is the bestsold product with more than two-thirds (69.4%) of the product share. Acrylic prints have reached a respectable 17.5% share of sales, thus representing modern design in the wedding photography branch. The high-quality premium composite print is still Market study wedding photography 2015 19 largely unknown in the wedding photography sphere, although this premium product would be well suited to the occasion. Favourite Formats for Wedding Photographers Wedding photographers prove themselves to be somewhat conservative when it comes to the size of prints ordered. The classic 3:2 photo format dominates across all sizes. Most successful amongst all formats is 90x60, with a sales share of 26.7%. The 18 formats illustrated represent a sales share of 61.8% in total. The remaining 38.2% is made up of over 750 sizes and formats, partly oversize or special orders of up to 3 x 1.4m. Verkaufsanteil der Formate Format sales share 30,0% 25,0% 20,0% 15,0% Verkaufsanteil Sales share 10,0% 5,0% 0,0% Sales share for the top 5 formats Position Format Sales share 1. 90 x 60 cm 26,9 % 2. 80 x 60 cm 7,9 % 3. 120 x 80 cm 7,8 % Market study wedding photography 2015 20 4. 60x 40 cm 7,1 % 5. 40 x 30 cm 4,1 % Marketing The times of passing on photo albums with reordering lists to friends and acquaintances are definitely over. Using professional reordering systems, large groups of interest within the circle of friends and relatives can be reached and profited from. (Software solution: XXLPIX Photo Projects) Sales Special discounts on wedding photography can be applied for particular dating arrangements. Only 4% of specialist photography dealers analysed in this study offer discounts. Here are a few possible examples: 10 % off confirmed bookings up to 5 months before the scheduled wedding date 15 % off weddings from Monday to Friday 15 % off weddings from November to March 20 % discount on photo orders for the first 4 weeks after opening the online gallery for wedding guests. Market study wedding photography 2015 21 Market study wedding photography 2015 22 Appendix Headlines from our research (Excerpt) “A once-in-a-lifetime experience demands once-in-a-lifetime images” "Deluxe wedding photo stories" "Getting married? Say ‘I do’! … to our exclusive offer for the most amazing day or your life" "Trash your dress - an unusual photo shoot for all dresses who can't stand it in the cupboard" Points of interest from our research Wedding trade fairs Exhibition Internet The National Wedding http://www.nationalweddingshow.co.uk/ Show The UK Wedding Shows http://www.theukweddingshows.co.uk/ Location Birmingham, London London, Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Harrogate, Midlands Silver Lined Wedding http://www.silverlinedweddingshows.co.uk Essex, Herts, Kent, Shows / Cambridgeshire, Sussex, Surrey, London, Midlands The Wedding http://www.weddingKent Experience experience.co.uk/index.php The London docks http://www.thelondondocksweddingfair.co. London Wedding Fair uk/ Brides the Show http://www.bridestheshow.co.uk/index.php London /exhibiting British Bridal Exhibition www.bbeh.co.uk/ Harrogate The Wedding Show weddingjournalshow.com/ Belfast Journal Belfast Market study wedding photography 2015 23 Websites www.hitched.co.uk www.wonderlandavenue.co.uk www.weddingchaos.co.uk www.gettingmarried.co.uk forums.confetti.co.uk www.ukbride.co.uk/wedding-forum www.rockmywedding.co.uk www.youandyourwedding.co.uk www.mywedding.com/ www.weddingandweddingflowers.co.uk/ www.weddingideasmag.com/ Portals for wedding photographers www.findaweddingphotographer.co.uk www.weddingphotographerindex.co.uk www.photographers-4-weddings.co.uk www.hitched.co.uk/wedding-photographers/london www.weddingphotographyselect.co.uk www.wonderlandavenue.co.uk theweddingsearch.co.uk www.yourperfectweddingphotographer.co.uk www.photographmywedding.co.uk/ Market study wedding photography 2015 24 Positive examples in this report www.hochzeitsfotografie-beinhorn.de/photobooth www.sabrinity.com/hochzeit.php?galerie=trashyourdress annabellwilla.de/tag/boudoir/ www.ian-flor.de/ www.paulliebtpaula.de/ Legal: The reproduction or use of this publication - or parts thereof - in other, even electronic, media and publishing thereof, is only allowed with the permission of XXLPIX GmbH. Images, graphics, text or other files may be - wholly or partially - subject to the copyright of third parties. If this is the case they are labelled as third party rights. The rights in these cases remain with the copyright owner. Market study wedding photography 2015 25 Do you need uncomplicated support? Thomas Haibach - Consultant Telefon: Fax: E-Mail: +49 30 - 400 544 512 +49 30 - 400 544 529 [email protected] XXLPIX GmbH Alexanderstraße 7 10178 Berlin GERMANY www.xxlpix.de [email protected] +49 30 – 400 544 50 Market study wedding photography 2015 26