Shutterfly, one of the largest photobook printers in North America, is continuing a 25-year relationship with HP Indigo with an order for 35 HP Indigo 120K B2 presses to bring its entire fleet of Indigo presses to the same level.
The company has previously ordered 25 HP Indigo 1200 at Drupa 2016, with most destined for its key site in Arizona. Since then Shutterfly has expanded and now has 11 sites in North America and one n Israel.
The first phase of this order will be delivered this year, though destinations and numbers are not specified. Nor are details of additional elements to the deal provided. It will included consumables, service and software centred on PrintOS. As the relationship continues, there will be shared development of AI systems, an integration with handling and finishing systems.
Head of global sales HP Industrial Print Oran Sokol says: “This agreement reflects the depth of our longstanding relationship with Shutterfly. Shutterfly has consistently understood what it takes to lead in personalised, high volume production and HP Indigo technology provided the foundation to make that possible. This latest milestone is one of the most significant long term, fleet wide investments in digital production, and it reflects how we continue to build and advance the industry together.”
The photobook market is continuing to grow at close to 5% a year. The market is reckoned to be worth $3,987 million in 2025, $1, 519 million of that from the US. The UK is the second largest in Europe with sales of $173 million and globally in fourth place behind the US, China and Germany. By 2033 the global market is projected to be worth $5,801 million, the US market to be $1,476 million and the UK will grow to $226 million a growth of 4% and slipping behind Japan in terms of sales.
A key aspect of installation of next generation technology at Shutterfly is the non stop production concept established in labels and packaging and introduced for commercial printing at the recent DScoop event.
Indigo VP and general manager Noam Zilbershtain says: “Shutterfly’s expansion is an endorsement of what we’ve built together over the years, it is not just an investment in new presses, it is an investment in a new operating model. With the HP Indigo 120K, we are helping customers move beyond proven technology toward intelligent, always on production.”
“Upgrading our entire fleet will drive meaningful efficiencies and quality in our peak season, and more broadly reflects our confidence in the technology, the collaboration, and the long term opportunities ahead as digital production continues to evolve,” says Shutterfly’s chief operations officer Dwayne Black.
