ScanDigital Scans For Retail Partners

By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 10/8/2007

EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. — ScanDigital said this month that it was rolling out an affiliate program for retailers to distribute the company's film- and photo-print-scanning services online.

Participating retailers can embed a ScanDigital-branded console on their Web site that would allow consumers to initiate a scanning order, said company president Anderson Schoenrock. Retailers receive 20 percent of the order revenue.

The affiliate program is initially geared toward small "mom and pop" photo specialty stores that have their own Web site, Schoenrock said. Eventually, the program can be scaled to accommodate regional chains, and incorporate an option for private labeling, he added.

ScanDigital launched in June of this year, one of several companies in a growing field offering to transfer film prints and negatives from musty attics and shoebox oblivion to the digital age.

Consumers mail their negatives, slides and photo prints to ScanDigital's California headquarters in prepaid packaging for scanning and image correcting. The images are then posted to a Web site and the photos and negatives are returned to consumers along with a CD or DVD containing the digital files.

Prices vary depending on film format and desired digital file size.

ScanDigital charges $0.48 per print scanned at 300 dpi and up to $0.88 per slide scanned at 4,000 dpi. The company also accepts whole photo albums, which it scans at $0.68 per print at 300 dpi.

Each photo is individually edited, not batch processed, Schoenrock said. The company performs red-eye removal, scratch and dust removal and color correction.

Digitized images are then uploaded to a personal online gallery. The company has partnered with photo printing service Qoop to offer online reprints and photo merchandise. It is this online component that differentiates the service from competitors, Schoenrock said. "This isn't a pure photo-scanning business," he said.

Since the company performs the scanning in California it can turn orders around quicker than competitive scanning services, usually in a week, Schoenrock added.

Schoenrock said he expects to be scanning up to 20,000 to 25,000 photos a week shortly. He estimated that there are 1 trillion prints languishing in shoeboxes, albums and attics across the country.