Business News
Kodak Expands Transformation of Retail Photo Department With New & Extended Retailer Partnerships
Friday 24. September 2010 - Global Solution Roll-outs Solidify Kodaks Leadership in Instant Printing & Dry Labs
Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK) celebrates 125 years of innovation and Kodaks Retail Systems Solutions group is enjoying growing customer acceptance of its KODAK Picture Kiosk and Adaptive Picture Exchange (APEX) platforms with new agreements with key retailers worldwide.
Building on Kodaks market-leading installed base of around 100,000 kiosks worldwide, the companys worldwide number one position in instant printing, and number one European market share position in dry labs, Kodak Retail Systems continue to transform the retail photo center, helping consumers re-connect with printing by easily telling their stories in exciting, meaningful and highly personalized ways, giving retailers profitable growth opportunities to expand beyond 4×6 prints into the growing market for high-demand premium photo products.
Kodak continues to expand its worldwide network of kiosk order stations, APEX and other integrated photo center solutions with recent customer agreements, including:
Carrefour, the worlds second largest retail chain is implementing exciting new store designs as part of the multi-year agreement that enables the two market leaders to provide consumers with a fresh, innovative, new photo shopping experience with access to a large array of high quality photo products, from photo books to photo gifts and 4″x6″ prints. In Spain, Kodak has extended its relationship with Carrefour and has finalized the rollout of 74 new APEX systems.
DM-Drogerie Markt, one of the leading drugstore chains in Europe is now rolling out APEX dry labs and KODAK Picture Kiosk version 4.0 software, giving consumers unprecedented access to exciting new products and services.
Dirk Rossmann GmbH. Germany’s third largest drugstore chain, which extended its partnership with Kodak, is now leveraging the new KODAK Picture Kiosk version 4.0 software, and is introducing KODAK Remote Business Services in order to continue to manage their fleet and drive new growth in photo services.
Walmart Canada Corp. the leading photo retailer in Canada, has renewed its agreement with Kodak to be its principal supplier of retail photo kiosks and dry lab systems, consumable products, and services across the retailers entire chain of photo centers.
Walmart Brazil has seen its Kodak Kiosk installed base grow in double digits over the past two years to include at least two kiosks in each of its Supercenter stores.
“We are extremely happy with our progress in transforming the retail photo department from a 4X6 print processing counter to a full service photo services fulfillment center,” said Nicoletta Zongrone, General Manager and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. “Our success is being driven equally by the quality and performance of our solutions and the strength of our retailer partnerships, and we are honored and proud to be working with retailers of such distinction”.
The new agreements leverage and build on the new suite of industry leading instant kiosk and dry lab products and enhancements introduced earlier this year, which include:
KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0, the most powerful ever software release for Kodaks kiosk fleet, features FACEBOOK, The KODAK Gallery and PICASA Web Albums connection; Kodaks Video Snapshots, a first-of-its-kind and easy to use video-to-still capture application; the worlds first Pet Eye Retouch capability; Kodaks Facial Retouch; and true one-touch, high quality premium products.
KODAK APEX v4.0 brings even more profit opportunity to the retailer through new, high margin product and service offerings such as the KODAK Net-to-Retail solution, which turns the retail store into a fulfillment center for online orders from multiple online service providers, Passport and ID Photos that deliver on the government requirements of more than 40 countries, and also high margin Canvas Posters. APEX v4.0 also brings many workflow enhancements including new, faster image editing features, pricing management behind the counter, and centralized management of off-site fulfillment orders.