Photo classes a good lesson for all speciality retailers

Offering camera and photography classes is a great way for retailers to stand out from the competition, increase sales and cement their reputations as imaging experts.

At a DIMA 2010 session at the PMA Show in Anaheim, three industry leaders - Jirair Christianian of Mike's Cameras (Boulder, Colorado), Kevin Harayda of Dan's Camera City (Allentown, Pennsylvania), and our very own Glynn Lavender of Creative Photo Workshops (Melbourne, Australia) - shared their advice for making the most of this opportunity.

As PMA editor Jennifer Kruger reports, customers have a clear need for help when it comes to figuring out their cameras, and offering classes to provide that aid is both a differentiator and an added value for Mike's Cameras.

"The classes make customers happier with their purchases and bring them back to the store to buy more, "Christianian said. "Customers who know how to use their cameras will need and buy accessories,"

The classes also help build the community of photographers in the local area, who provide the store with word-of-mouth advertising, generating further sales.

Mike's Cameras offers three types of classes, targeting different audiences, including a 30-minute personal consultation, which comes free with every camera purchase; a group class with up to 20 participants, offered several times per month at each store location; and in-depth workshops with up to 40 participants, offered both on-site and off-site.

Christianian said "great salespeople make the best instructors", and all Mike's Cameras instructors are certified photographic consultants.

Dan's Camera City offers more than 40 different classes and sold nearly 3000 tickets for courses in 2009.

Harayda said the store's 'Tips & Gear' seminar, a free one-hour, informational class, addresses only one specific topic at a time - such as flashes, tripods or filters.

"These seminars skim the surface of the subject; students who want to delve deeper are encouraged to take a fee-based course," he said.

"We present products during the seminar that help people improve their photography. People who buy one of those products on the day of seminar get a discount," Harayda said.

Harayda said it is important to have before-and-after pictures on hand, showing the effects of the gear being presented.

Glynn Lavender runs workshops on behalf of retailers, offering half-day, full-day and two-day seminars.

"This is a great opportunity to sell experiences. People are happy to pay a lot of money to be educated, if the experience is good," he said.

Workshops are available on many topics, such as using an SLR, natural light portrait photography, posing and composing, landscapes and sunsets, wireless flash photography, and how to shoot weddings. The company also offers photo shoots.

"Educated customers buy significantly more equipment," Lavender said. "We show them why more expensive equipment is better by putting it in their hands and showing them how to use it."

Glynn shared the story of an attendee who owned a $200 compact camera. After attending a seminar, she purchased a $2000 SLR. She then booked a second workshop and brought a friend, who purchased equipment herself. Over a 12-week period, the two friends spent $9000.

This is not an unusual pattern; Lavender said his workshops generated $250,000 in retail sales in the past 12 months - almost all of it spent in specialty stores.

"Customers generate demand for the workshops," he said. "People love it so much, they want to do it again and again. If the experience is good, they will clamour for more."

Creative Photo Workshops markets solely on Facebook. Although the company began offering workshops only in Australia, demand generated through Facebook has brought the workshops to 12 US states, to date.

"Your customers want to learn," Lavender said. "They just don't know where to find those opportunities."