Canon to franchise photo-book service

       Canon Marketing (Thailand) will franchise its photo book-making service next quarter to tap rising demand from consumers in the near future, while its traditional enterprise market has been throttled by the global crisis.
       "The photo book-making service overseas such as in the US is very popular, as the business so far this year has grown by 35 per cent from last year. We expect our revenue from the new business to grow not less than that in the US," Soontorn Pantaramongkon, senior director and general manager for business imakging solutions, said yesterday.
       Canon wants to diversify risk from the corporate market, which took the brunt of the economic slump, while the retail market was relatively unscathed.
       The company along with its strategic partner in photo book-making - Sib Khon - were preparing a franchise business model under the brand "imageGang by Canon", as well as a marketing plan aimed at whipping up consumer demand.
       The companies plan to unveil the new business model next quarter.
       Canon Marketing will recognise revenue from the business by selling printing solutions and after-sales services to the franchisees.
       Sib Khon has designed photo book-making software to use with Canon's Press C6000 digital image printer. Canon and Sib Khon started the business at the beginning of this year by setting up the first branch in Siam Square.
       The photo book-making service is under Canon's print on-demand business unit (POD). Sales of Canon printers have dropped from last year, while sales of products from the POD and the professional and graphic arts business unit (PGA) have increased by 50 per cent.
       About 80 per cent of Canon's revenue comes from multifunction photocopiers, and colour and black-and-white digital printers.
       The overall market for those products in the first half of the year slid by 15 per cent from the same half in 2008. Although Canon has lost share in that business - from 23 per cent last year to 20 per cent - it is still the market leader.
       POD and PGA focus on printing for young entrepreneurs and SMEs, whose printing volumes are smaller than that of a large corporation.
       Examples of printing materials are business cards, manuals, brochures, cards, posters, leaflets and coupons.
       Canon targets its total revenue rising 18 per cent this year to Bt1.28 billion, with Bt60 million generated by POD and PGA. That forecast excludes revenue from photo book-making service, which is quite difficult to evaluate this year.