KIS USA and Lucidiom join forces to offer on-site photobook solution with photo paper quality to U.S. retailers.

With more than 500 units of its DIMA Award-winning Photobook Pro system installed worldwide, KIS brings an improved version to retailers with the Photobook Pro V2 to grow the promising photobook market.

The industry is talking about nothing but Photobooks. But for many typical retailers, this is not an in-store solution; it remains a virtual solution. With the Photobook Pro V2 binding system, KIS brings the growth and the margin of the exciting Photobook market on true photo paper quality back to the retailer.

Retailers now can purchase the Photobook Pro V2 through Lucidiom to complement their existing EQ imaging systems and APM kiosks. At PMA 2007, Lucidiom brought all the digital imaging retailing pieces together into EQ, its complete imaging system, which allows photofinishing retailers to create nearly any photo product their customers want in an hour. EQ combines photo kiosks; creative templates for thousands of photo products; a photo book printer; sales and production management software; and Photo Finale website software.

Nicolas Series, President of KIS USA and Sr. V.P. for Photo-Me International, says: “KIS offers U.S. retailers an opportunity not seen since the introduction of the 1 Hour Photo in the early ’80’s, the Photobook Pro will allow retailers to be back to high margin and profitability. By partnering with Lucidiom, a key industry player, we will quickly bring to the market the advantages of the Photobook Pro.”

“More than 80,000 one-hour photobooks printed on Lucidiom’s EQ-9800 printer were sold by U.S. retailers and during the months of November and December in 2007, and we forecast that market will continue to grow,” said Lucidiom President Stephen Giordano Jr. “While some vendors already have in-store systems in small regional retail locations, Lucidiom is the only vendor that has provided U.S. retailers coast-to-coast with a one-hour photo book solution in nearly 1000 locations. With the addition of the innovative KIS Photobook Pro V2, we now can offer photo paper quality photobooks to retailers for one-stop shopping.”

The Photobook Pro helps leverage your existing printing solution. As much as the industry has changed, the investment in the Silver Halide Minilab is still the benchmark for quality of print and best price of print. When combined with the Photobook Pro, a retailer’s current minilab can be leveraged to generate new and improved revenue with on-site Photobooks.

While margins for prints are extremely competitive the margins on photobooks are as high as 90%. Mark Lawrence Director of Business Development with KIS USA says that “With only 3 books a day the retailer gets a return on investment in less than 1 year! There are no expensive hard covers to inventory, no confusing stations, no steep learning curve for your staff. You simply print on your existing minilab, insert the stack of prints into the Photobook Pro V2 and in less than 3 minutes you hand the finished book to your customer, its that easy!”

The Photobook Pro V2 is versatile too, it is not limited to Silver Halide Paper, Photobooks can be made from the prints produced from the New DKS 920 Dry minilab as well as other manufacturers dry printing solutions. It fits the needs of Photo Retailers no matter their volume or their printing solution.

It’s an exciting time in the business, and it’s easy for retailers to get back into the game with the Photobook Pro. No longer do customers ask if you can get prints in an hour. Jean-Francois Rucine, V.P. of Sales & Marketing for KIS USA, says: “Customers bring their cards to the retailer and say please Book this for me. It’s a great way to get film and digital customers excited about photo again.”

Stop by the KIS booth (C232) and or Lucidiom booth (P130) at PMA 2008 and just say “BOOK IT”, you’ll see how easy it is to bring improved revenue to your retail photo business.

About Photo-Me International and KIS
Photo-Me International plc is a specialized digital imaging company focused on professional laboratories and end-consumer vending solutions. PMI has developed a unique range of digital professional processing laboratories - minilabs and central labs - and a suite of consumer vending digital imaging solutions. PMI’s minilabs have been developed through its KIS subsidiary in Grenoble, France. A worldwide enterprise with headquarters in the United Kingdom, the company operates subsidiaries in the United States, Europe, Japan and China. KIS manufactures and markets award-winning DKS minilabs, as well as innovative digital photo kiosks, photo booths and other equipment for retail photo businesses. For more information, visit: www.kis-photome.com or www.photo-me.co.uk.

About Lucidiom
With OEM and independent retail clients around the globe, Lucidiom Inc. enables retailers to develop their digital image-based revenue streams in stores and online. As the leading provider of flexible and brand-independent photo kiosks, Lucidiom’s innovative solutions center on EQ, the complete imaging system. Within EQ are the APM photo kiosk; Luci creative program; Photo Folio Bundle of photo books, folded cards and bound calendars; EQ Printer; APM ProfitWatcher statistics tracker; Photo Finale online software; and Lab 50 management system - all connected by the APM Network. For more information about how Lucidiom empowers the “Go Beyond 4x6” digital imaging movement, visit www.lucidiom.com.




Media Contact
Lisa Fasold
Lucidiom, Inc.
(703) 509-1124 cell
lfasold@lucidiom.com