Following the footsteps of Eastman Kodak, FujiFilm too has
decided to offload its photo creating and sharing website to
Shutterfly Inc.
(
SFLY
). In a recent agreement, Fuji Film divested its photo creating and
sharing website SeeHere.com, which will be shut down on November 8,
2012.
In line with the agreement, SeeHere customers are now able to
transfer their images to Shutterfly's platform from October 8 till
November 8, without any charge. The customers who choose to avail
this offer will be able to access Shutterfly's free, unlimited
photo storage facilities as well as efficient customer services.
Additionally, any customer who is new to Shutterfly will also get a
$20 credit to their accounts, to be spent on anything within the
site.
This latest deal follows Shutterfly's acquisition of Kodak Gallery
online photo services in June-July, this year. Like SeeHere.com,
the Kodak Gallery had also allowed users to store and share their
photos online, and create custom printed photo books, cards and
albums.
These deals reinforce Shutterfly's industry leading position in the
online photo business. The California-based company will be able to
leverage its online photo sharing as well as photo book business
through these acquisitions.
Shutterfly is focused on growing its business through acquisitions
as well as strategic partnerships with retailers. Apart from those
above-said acquisitions, Shutterfly, in the last three years, took
control of a mobile application developing company - Penguin
Digital, Israel-based photo software company - Photoccino and a
leading online social expression and publishing services company -
Tiny Prints as well as Nexo and TinyPictures. We believe that such
strategic acquisitions augur well for Shutterfly.
The digital photography products and services industry remains cut
throat and we expect competition to increase in the future as the
company's peers improve offerings and new participants enter the
market. Shutterfly has numerous competitors, including Snapfish
owned by
Hewlett-Packard Company
(
HPQ
),
American Greetings Corp.
's (
AM
) Webshots brand and
Vistaprint N.V.
(
VPRT
).
Shutterfly is benefiting considerably from its scale advantage and
the vertical integration. To meet the surging demand for its
products, Shutterfly is on the verge of successfully expanding its
East Coast photo-product operations with a new facility in South
Carolina.
Shutterfly currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates
into a short-term 'Hold' rating. We are maintaining our long-term
'Outperform' recommendation on the stock.
AMER GREETINGS (AM): Free Stock Analysis Report
HEWLETT PACKARD (HPQ): Free Stock Analysis
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SHUTTERFLY INC (SFLY): Free Stock Analysis
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VISTAPRINT NV (VPRT): Free Stock Analysis
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