APM v7.5 and Lab 50 v7.5 have released and feature free form-layouts & text, enhanced autofill, print bundles, print review screen, Folio branding, premium content functionality, expanded discount and promotion system, Windows 7 support and a long list of other enhancements. Make sure you are up to date with your support agreement so you are eligible for this big update!

Visit the Support Downloads page for instructions, downloads and release notes.

Football season is in full swing!   Don’t forget to show your customers and staff the NFL plaques that are available through EQ Gifting on your APM kiosk.  What’s an NFL plaque?  Your favorite person and favorite team are combined together in an attractive frame.  With EQ Gifting, you can offer hundreds of photo gifts every day, but with that much selection your customers could use some guidance through the plethora of products.  Select a few to highlight through seasonal promotions like this one and score more touchdowns (a.k.a. sales)!

Advertising banner for NFL Plaques (ordered via APM kiosk's EQ Gifting)

Download this merchandising poster here! (more materials can be found on www.lucidiom.com/marketing)

With EQ Gifting, you can offer hundreds of photo gifts everyday – it’s so easy!  If you do not have EQ Gifting for your kiosk or website, email us at blog@lucidiom.com and we will get you started today!

(posted by Rachel)

The camera cross-sell you all know and love.

If you’ve been successful at selling cameras you’re no doubt familiar with the cross-sell – a selling technique that brings to the customers’ attention products or services complementary to the ones they came in to buy in the first place.  At its best, cross-selling also includes up-selling – pitching products with higher profit margins.

the camera cross-sell

Most photo retailers have these retail strategies down pat when it comes to hardware and traditional photo products, but are you cross-selling and up-selling your creative finishing products and services?  For most retailers, the answer is no.

photo book and cover

Cross-selling and up-selling are sales strategies that increase your profit, customer loyalty and customer value, as you know with the cameras.  But suppose you sell photo books delivered in an hour from a kiosk or website and during the selling process you offer a personalized dust jacket for that book.  The two products work perfectly together. Your customers like the idea; they buy them both. This means you sell the second product using a cross-selling technique. Similarly, by offering a back-up CD to a standard print order, you are cross-selling.

If you offer a premium photo book for a slightly higher price, you are up-selling.  Besides the standard product offer, you can obtain higher revenue from other cross- and up-selling options such as:

• Premium options (enhanced surfaces, better binding, branded content, etc.)
• Add-ons (extension products like envelopes with folded cards, wrapping paper with notepads, or affordable frames for posters)
• Lateral developments (modifying a product for special customer like a book for your weekend warriors or wedding flip books for the wedding photographers)
• Custom made developments (a calendar for the local dentist with his phone number on it, a calendar for the local car dealer with their products on every month)

What is the best way to impact cross-selling?

Price. First, of course, is the price…it’s easier to add a small-priced item that adds great value, like a dust jacket, for example.

Fit. You must also consider how well the additional product or service fits the customer’s needs and wants or how much the customer appreciates the main product they want to buy (applicable to upgrades or adds-on).  Suggesting unrelated products or ones that just aren’t right for that person may turn customers off by being simply too far off-target.

Testimonials. Testimonials also make a huge impact.  The beauty of the internet here is that you can post testimonials about various products right on your website when they appear as a suggested product in the customer’s shopping cart.

7 cross-selling tips for Lucidiom APM 7.0.

kiosk product suggestion screen

1. Choose complementary products (In version 7.0 of the kiosk Lucidiom has already selected some cross-sell items.  Review those items and price them appropriately.)
2. Use an automated recommendation system based on past purchases (a feature of APM 7.0 and upcoming Photo Finale 7.0)
3. List best-sold products (communicate customer satisfaction via testimonials)
4. Target your clients – estimate which clients are suitable candidates for the cross-selling process and create clients’ behavior profiles and models
5. Provide your clients with good customer service to increase repeat sales, which have higher chances of cross-selling and up-selling success
6. Inform your clients correctly about the opportunity to buy an additional product without forcing them to wonder or search
7. Keep track of refusals to accept cross-selling or up-selling offers

Tips for up-selling finishing products.

minilab photo book

Up-selling is more risky than the cross-selling technique since you are trying to sell something more expensive.  You’ll want to carefully keep track of customer’s behavior and needs, so use the Photo Finale and APM Network reports to guide you.  If you don’t have that data, contact your sales rep and they can provide it to you.

Emphasize the added value of the more expensive product. For example, your premium book should be the “Best Value.”  The up-selling offer should be made directly and in person.  A great time to do this is at pickup…“I noticed how great your vacation looked as an 8×6 book.  I can throw in an 11×8.5 for $5 off today.”

Don’t forget to use new releases. Point out against the suggested additional product (for instance on the store POP) that is “Just released” or “Limited Time.”   Offer discounts and special promotions.

And who doesn’t want a customer that decides to buy as a result of a pleasant in-store experience.  Your sales staff should:  be knowledgeable about every product, inspire trust and confidence, be quick and courteous with information, and provide enough product details.

You don’t necessarily need more foot-steps to make more profit.

Certain consumers will have the potential to generate more profit than others through up-selling and cross-selling, but you have to know who they are. You need data about customers’ buying behavior, their needs and preferences and the ability to predict their future behavior using this information.  The Lucidiom APM Network and Lab 50 are great tools to start to understand your customers.   If you need help, contact your sales rep and they can get your information for you.

train your staff which suggestions to make

Involve your staff.

You can also task someone on your staff with keeping an in-store log.  Track how often clients return and visit your store, which are the products they respond better to, which communication or sales method they prefer.  Have the discussion with your staff about what kind of products should be promoted and to what kind of consumers.  Which is the next product the consumer will search for (holiday, season) and how can your staff be ready?  What products can be promoted together?  Give your staff a script, practice with them, train them on what to say…make reminder cards!  If it helps to give them incentive, you can keep track of sales made in this manner and reward accordingly.

­The Bottom Line: In order for cross-selling and up-selling to work, the focus should be on the customer, not on pushing certain products.  Before talking about additional products or services, the customer’s interest must be peaked.  Remember, the cross-sell suggestion done properly will come across as helpful, not as a sales push, resulting not only in a sale, but in a happy customer as well.

(posted by Steve Jr.)

The ancient Greeks believed the number 7 represented perfection and plenty (hence, the ‘7’ wonders of the ancient world as opposed to the 5 or 6).  While Moore’s Law and the pace of digital innovation make it impossible to claim any technology achieves perfection, Lucidiom’s APM 7.0 software certainly comes close.  It also offers plenty of hot new customer features and retailing aides.  So, I thought it fitting for this latest version of our APM software to highlight 7 of my favorite things for you as opposed to my customary 5 top picks. 

 The 7 Wonders of APM 7.0:

1.  Instant Uploads – We’re calling it a software feature, but for the retailer, the ability to offer this kind of connectivity is really a whole new way of doing business.  With APM 7.0 any Photo Finale Web member can simply take her media card to the APM kiosk and upload photos to her Photo Finale Web account.  Why is this so extraordinary?  Ask anyone short on time. 

Instant uploads reduce the frustration consumers face at home of long upload times and difficulty getting photos from their cameras onto their computer.  [Read more in this post.]  The in-store upload capability of APM 7.0 also provides an immediate new revenue stream for stores and drives future online revenue by promoting ‘social picturing’ – online sharing and ordering. 

2. Photo Finale Web Downloads – APM 7.0 brings the in-store and Web experience full circle by also allowing customers to access their online photos from the APM for an in-store order.  When your customers are at the kiosk, they can now tap into their online photo collections from their Photo Finale web account. Their selected collection will be downloaded to the kiosk and then they can use the photos for in-store ordering. Plus, they can load photos from multiple sources for the same order — combine photos from various media cards, online collections, flatbed scanner, and Bluetooth or Infrared device.
3. Redesigned Product Finder & New Style Previews – To help customers navigate the ever-growing breadth of photo expression options and find the perfect product for their occasion, APM 7.0 introduces a completely redesigned Product Finder.  Products are grouped by type and size, making it easier for customers to hone in on exactly what they want.  Four retailer-configurable “featured” product spots – one of which can even be an automatically-rotating seasonal selection – allow you to highlight top sellers and really catch the customers’ attention. The new “Browse By Occasion” tab lets customers quickly find products that match their needs — a birthday party, new baby, weddings, etc. While browsing products, customers can jump back to any point using the breadcrumb icons to change their selections. Plus, style previews three times larger than before give customers a large and clear preview of each kiosk product and provide a good sense of each product theme as they browse.
4. Upsell Recommendation Screen – Another key innovation in APM 7.0 is a brand new product recommendation up-sell engine.  No more, “I didn’t know you did those!,” excuses… the kiosk now puts products right in front of your customers.  At the end of each order, they are presented with targeted products based on Lucidiom’s extensive database of historical kiosk sales data, powered by the APM Network.  For example, customers ordering a greeting card might be prompted to purchase a photo envelope, a set of thank you note cards and custom notepads, all in matching designs.  If one or more suggested products are selected, the APM will help you create them in a flash by defaulting to a similar theme and using the same collection of photos to produce the new product.
5.  Multi-select – Gone are the days of hunting and pecking when it comes to selecting photos and print sizes.  In APM 7.0 customers now can select photos one by one or row by row.  Then they select the size and that size is added to each photo.
6. Filtering / Sorting – We all know digital customers often complain of photo overload.  APM 7.0 allows them to now easily find the photos they want to order by filtering images by date range or by folder. Images also can be sorted by date (newest/oldest) or name.
7. Photo Archive on DVD Cinema – This great product is made even better in APM 7.0. The DVD Cinema product now includes an archive folder on the disc with a copy of all the JPEGs, so the DVD can be used at the kiosk to reorder prints, as well as in a DVD player.  Encourage your customers to enjoy the movie; then use the same DVD to order prints from the kiosk.

As with all Lucidiom products, APM 7.0 is flexible, open and brand neutral.  Your brand is front and center and the technology works with legacy equipment and third-party printers.  Those are all the original wonders of Lucidiom.  We’re delighted to continue innovating new software and services that allow you to focus on your top priority – the customer.

(Posted by Steve Jr)