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The NY/NJ Metro division of PMA held its Spring Meeting on April 29th, focusing on the topic of "Creating new Profit Centers Under Your Roof." A packed room of specialty dealers and minilab owners listened intently to the evening's speakers: Barry Warner from Mack Camera & Video Service, Paul Kirk from Paul Kirk Photo Marketing, John Rizzi from Olympus, and Sarah Greeley from Eastman Kodak.

Mack Camera & Video offers extended warrantees, which the company's Barry Warner explained, "Adds value to that product." He explained that studies show that 40% of today's consumers will buy an extended warrantee, 40% of today's consumers won't buy one, and 20% are undecided.

According to Warner, Mack's regular extended warrantee is good throughout the country and worldwide, so if your customers are not local, they'll still be covered. "We try to make it as easy as possible for you to make money," he said. Customers can arrange for customer service and repairs online, and if consumers go to Mack's website looking to purchase an extended warrantee, they're directed to the dealers--sending customers back to the store, he added.

Paul Kirk, an independent rep. spoke about getting creative with merchandising. "Everything that's being talked about tonight is already in your stores," he said, adding that the trick is to tie it all together. Kirk reminded attendees how department stores show mannequins fully dressed to the nines and position add-on items throughout the various departments. Socks are near the shoe department, ties near the shirts, and belts by the slacks. These displays work because they remind consumers of items they'll probably want to purchase in addition to the item(s) they came to the store for originally. Amazon.com does this by suggesting: "other people who bought the same item you are viewing, also bought this..." There's no reason the photo dealer shouldn't try the same technique.

Kirk suggested that even if retailers are short on space, they should set up a couple of 'complete solutions' displaying a camera, bag, and all the accessories that go with it--to give people a subtle reminder of what else they could purchase. Consumers won't put two and two together themselves if you're displaying all cameras in one spot, bags in another and tripods in a third area--you've go to do it for them. He suggests even putting together a list of Recommended Accessories that can be posted in the store, handed to customers buying a camera, or used in promotions.

Olympus' John Rizzi suggested ways that attendees could increase their add-on sales to DSLR customers. The DSLR buyer will inevitably be a repeat customer After they've bought accessories, you can still bring them back into your store through follow up classes--topics could include using their new zoom lens, shooting macro, using flash lighting, or how RAW works.

"This is the way to sell more product," he explained. He also suggested that images on display should be of everyday subjects that most customers will be interested in capturing. These could include a youngster playing sports, or a family having fun at the beach, or someone blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

The last speaker of the evening was Sarah Greeley from Eastman Kodak. She discussed the new Kodak APEX system. She explained the cost savings of going with a dry system over a wet minilab--no high water or electricity bills; reduced labor needs since there isn't the set-up or shut-down processes that wet labs require; no mixing of chemistry, spillage to clean, or silver recovery to worry about.