PALO ALTO, Calif., May 20, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- HP (HPQ 45.22, -0.02, -0.04%) today announced that Walmart is rolling out the HP "Prints in Minutes" retail publishing service in 3,600 of its stores across the United States.
By the end of the summer, U.S. customers of the world's largest retailer will be able to take advantage of a fast, high-quality photo print service as well as a broad array of personalized printed merchandise, such as calendars and greetings cards, and access to images from brands such as Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. and Live Nation.
This rollout in Walmart stores, along with incremental growth in other retailers' stores, marks a more than 300 percent growth of HP's global retail publishing presence in 2010. Over the last year, HP has expanded its customer portfolio through agreements with leading retailers such as Tesco, Rossmann, Duane Reade and Kmart Australia.
"Our agreement with Walmart is another milestone in HP's drive to help retailers transition from traditional photo services to dynamic publishing centers," said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. "With new customer agreements with many major global retailers, including Tesco, Kmart Australia and now Walmart, we're bringing consumers new opportunities to conveniently print both personal and branded digital content that is meaningful to them."
A better, faster self-serve photo experience
HP's front-of-counter "Prints in Minutes" service enables customers to order 4 x 6-, 5 x 7- and 8 x 10-inch photo prints, collage prints, calendar pages and greeting cards. The retailer selected HP to grow its photo business following a successful pilot of this service, which resulted in improved customer satisfaction and the ability to better address high-volume photo orders.
The "Prints in Minutes" service features the HP Instant Print Solution, a self-serve, front-of-counter system that lets consumers pick up orders for prints and creative products within minutes of ordering or at a later time by using a secure order storage and release feature. The unattended system allows retailers like Walmart to increase photo center traffic and revenue from high-margin products without dedicated labor. The system is powered by the compact and efficient HP Photosmart PM2000e Microlab printer for lab-quality photo output.
The service also includes HP's patented photo book technology, which delivers a "pinch-book" assembly feature rather than a glue system. This eliminates the need for additional finishing equipment and provides the customer with the flexibility to change or add pages to their photo book at any time. Other products include flat photo cards, year-on-a-page calendars and photo CDs.
Walmart customers also can conveniently order photo prints in a range of sizes and photo cards from the comfort of home using Snapfish by HP, the No. 1 online personal publishing service, for pickup at participating Walmart stores across the country.
Additionally, the HP Instant Print Solution and other HP retail publishing solutions make it easy for retailers like Walmart to make smarter environmental choices:
-- HP's dry-assembly photo books are reusable and expandable and use no harmful glues in the binding system.
-- Supplies used with HP retail publishing solutions can be recycled easily and responsibly through the HP Planet Partners Return and Recycling program.
-- HP is committed to environmentally responsible paper production, with 100 percent of its consumer photo paper coming from suppliers certified for sustainable forestry management.(1) The top-selling brand of inkjet photo paper,(2) HP is the first printer manufacturer to make this commitment.
Fueling creativity with content from leading brands
With HP retail publishing solutions in stores across the country, Walmart customers have the opportunity to order printable merchandise featuring licensed content from HP's popular entertainment partners including Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Live Nation. Starting today, in-store customers can order flat photo cards, year-on-a-page calendars and photo book products featuring beloved Nick Jr. characters like Dora the Explorer and iCarly.
This holiday season, printable merchandise will be available featuring characters from Warner Bros., including DC Comics Super Heroes Batman and Superman; Hanna-Barbera favorites such as, Tom and Jerry and Scooby Doo; Looney Tunes classic characters such as Bugs Bunny and Tweety and the Harry Potter film series.
Additionally, through HP's agreement with Live Nation, the world's largest producer of live concerts, Walmart will offer customers posters and other creative products featuring popular music artists such as Black Eyed Peas, Bruce Springsteen, U2, The Who, Madonna and Coldplay.
Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Live Nation are part of HP's extensive catalog of prominent licensed content partners, which drive more than $17 billion in combined annual global consumer spending on their license-based merchandise.
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Utterly... brilliant... strategic move.
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