Why has the business of Dali’s travel photo studio gone so bad?

The Dali travel photography market is in a state of severe internal competition. How can proxy photographers survive in this adversity? This article deeply analyzes the reasons why the travel photography store business is "cooling down", explores the impact of vicious competition and invisible consumption on the industry, and recommends it to tourism industry practitioners and consumers to read in order to promote the healthy development of the market.

On the first day of the May Day holiday, the sky was just slightly bright, and the Longkan Wharf on the Erhai Lake in Dali was already crowded with people. As the filming location of Wutong Inn in the movie "Lost in Thailand", this is the first choice for sunrise photography in many Dali travel guides. Unlike the tourists who were immersed in the beauty of Erhai Lake, Chen Guang, with a camera hanging around his neck, kept his eyes on the crowd. Suddenly, he noticed a couple - the girl was wearing a tie-dyed long skirt and a Yunnan-style ethnic cloak, and she had put on makeup but looked unhappy, while the boy followed the girl as if he had made a mistake.

Chen Guang, who has been working as a photographer for Erhai Lake for more than a year, has developed the ability to "read people". He could tell at a glance that the quarrel was caused by the boy's poor photo taking. "The girl was wearing the 'standard' Erhai Lake photo taking outfit. She put on makeup so early in the morning. She must have wanted to take some beautiful photos. The air pressure was not right. They probably had a quarrel over taking photos. The sun was about to rise. If she didn't take photos, she would miss it. If she missed it, the girl might be even angrier."

Chen Guang's eyes lit up, and he quickly walked up to her and asked, "Do you need a proxy photographer? After taking the photos, I'll look at the photos and take the ones I like. It's 10 yuan per photo. If you don't like them, it's free." As he expected, as soon as the girl thought about it, the boy whispered to persuade her. So Chen Guang successfully took his first order of the day and sold 20 photos.

Like Chen Guang, proxy photographers can be seen everywhere in the scenic spots along Erhai Lake during the holidays. They carry cameras and some hold signs that say "Proxy photographer 10 yuan per photo", attracting many tourists. In sharp contrast, at the door of many travel photo shops, the clerks try their best to attract customers, but no one is interested.

1. It is more profitable to work as a proxy photographer than to work in a travel photography agency

Before he started working as a proxy photographer, Chen Guang was a photographer at a travel photography shop in the ancient city of Dali. His job was to take guests to the shop to take photos in the ancient city or by the Erhai Lake. In the past two years, travel photography shops have gradually become popular in some scenic spots across the country, but in Dali, Yunnan, the travel photography market has been seriously involuted since last year.

In Dali, travel photo shops of all sizes can be found everywhere. The travel photo shop where Chen Guang worked at that time had four competitors within a short distance of just over 100 meters. Most travel photo shops have no difference in the clothes and photos they display, and they have started a price war to attract tourists.

In the past, the price of a travel photography package was usually 399 yuan, 499 yuan, or even thousands of yuan. But now, in Dali and even in the surrounding streets, you can hear solicitations everywhere: "189 yuan for two sets of clothing, 99 yuan for one set."

Vicious competition has also caused the income of practitioners to decline. Chen Guang told DoNews that most travel photo studios pay photographers a "small base salary + commission" method, and the commission depends on the transaction amount of each order. If the average customer price decreases, his income will also decrease.

The boss of Chen Guang couldn't hold on any longer. The price war failed to attract more tourists. After half a year of hard work, the boss finally laid off the employees and transferred the store. According to Chen Guang's recollection, the transfer of the store was not smooth. It took several months before it was transferred at the beginning of last year.

After being laid off, Chen Guang tried to find a job in other travel photo studios. However, there were many photographers who were laid off like him. Unable to find a job, Chen Guang came to the edge of Erhai Lake and started a proxy photography business for 10 yuan per photo.

What surprised Chen Guang was that during the National Day holiday last year, his income from proxy photography was higher than his previous monthly income from the store. "During the National Day holiday last year, the highest number of orders I received in one day was 11 photos. The least they bought was 9 photos, and the most they bought was 55."

During the May Day holiday this year, Chen Guang's business was also very good. On the morning of May 1 alone, he received 6 orders and earned a net income of 1,490 yuan. Interestingly, tourists are happy to accept roadside photographers who only provide photo services, but are somewhat "disdainful" of travel photo shops.

2. Hidden consumption and layers of tricks make tourists afraid to enter travel photography shops

In this regard, Xiaoyou, a client of Chenguang, explained: "Because I am afraid of all kinds of hidden costs and routines in those travel photo shops, I feel more at ease with the proxy photography method of seeing the photos after taking them, rather than paying first without knowing how the photos look like."

Xiaoyou's statement is not groundless. Fengyue, the owner of a homestay in Dali Ancient Town, said: "Travel photography shops in Dali Tourism are the most complained about. If you look on the official WeChat account of Dali Tourism, you can also see some notices warning local travel photography."

In February this year, the Dali Public Security Bureau, the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision, the Municipal Bureau of Ancient Relics Protection, Dali Town and other departments formed a joint law enforcement team to carry out a centralized rectification of the chaos of soliciting customers in the travel photography industry in Dali Ancient City. During the May Day holiday just passed, Dali Rong Media’s official account also published an article titled "5 people detained! Dali City’s multiple departments jointly rectify the chaos of "travel photography"." Fengyue reminded: "In Dali, the price of taking a set of photos is more than 300 yuan to be considered normal. Those who take two sets of clothes for 189 yuan or take one set for 99 yuan are all fishy."

Aimy, a makeup artist working in Dali, revealed that this kind of "trick" usually occurs in two links: makeup and retouching.

When a tourist is attracted into the store by the price of 189 yuan for two sets of products, the makeup artist will first casually tell her during the makeup process whether she wants a new powder puff, which is included in the package for general use; whether she wants false eyelashes, which is not included in the package, but the effect will be better after applying them... There are also new lip brushes, small butterflies, broken diamonds, painted items and other items that increase the quantity and price. Although adding one only costs a dozen yuan, if she adds more, she will spend hundreds of yuan more.

After you have finally finished putting on your makeup and taking photos, when you start to choose the films, you may be told that the package only includes 5 retouched photos and 10 to 20 negatives, or no film at all. You will have to pay extra for more retouched photos or negatives.

Aimy said: "Most tourists come to Dali for only two or three days at most, and photo retouching often takes at least a week to communicate with the client, and the later stage is communicated on WeChat. Even if the client is not satisfied with the retouched photos, some photo shops will not make any changes, and may even block the client directly. Most customers are unlikely to come to Dali again, so they can only vent their emotions online. Some tourists who are planning to come here will see this and become resistant to the travel photos here."

In fact, comparing the photos provided by Chenguang and Aimy, it is not difficult to see that the latter is much more exquisite. But traveling is for happiness, and you can spend more money for happiness. But if you spend more money, there is a risk of being unhappy, so many tourists would rather choose a more controllable proxy photographer.

3. With a customer acquisition fee of up to 30%, it is difficult for travel photography shops to make money

"How can merchants make money by buying two sets of clothes for 189 yuan after deducting the labor costs? In order to make money, merchants can only use various hidden consumption and routines to think of ways to make money," said Aimy.

What if the merchant offers a minimum price of 299 yuan? Then there will probably be no business.

"It's because the internal competition is too serious. Travel photography is a one-time deal for tourists, so businesses can only rely on price wars to attract customers." Monkey, the owner of a travel photography store in Dali, said helplessly.

Monkey came to Dali in early 2020 to open a travel photography store, and his business was good even during the epidemic. But in the past two years, a large number of travel photography stores have sprung up, and the fierce competition has put his business in a state of anxiety.

"The travel photography business seems to be booming nowadays, but it is not easy to make money." Monkey said that when renting a shop in Dali to do business, in addition to paying rent to the landlord, you also have to pay a transfer fee to the previous tenant at the beginning, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. "It depends on the size of the shop and the 'mood' of the previous tenant. Some tenants are not in a hurry to transfer and will set up various reasons to increase the transfer fee. Some are in a hurry to transfer and sell at a low price, but no matter what, this money must be paid."

In addition to the high transfer fee and rent (usually a contract is signed for several years at a time, and the rent is paid annually), there are also renovation costs. The previous tenant of Monkey's store was also a travel photographer, so he just made simple modifications and added some new materials, which also cost more than 100,000 yuan. For many renovated stores, the renovation costs are at least 400,000 yuan.

After opening, they have to face the problem of attracting customers. "Some stores hire dedicated people to operate or spend money to manage them. The data of the stores on some online social platforms is good. Some stores rely on offline channels to attract customers, such as scalpers who call for customers on the street. Some stores cooperate with homestays and introduce customers through them. But no matter which one, the travel photography store has to pay them a customer acquisition fee of 30% of the average customer price."

Such high initial investment and customer development costs, coupled with the fiercely competitive market, have made many travel photography shops unable to survive. A photographer once complained on a social platform: The two most common transfer information I saw in Yunnan were homestays and travel photography shops.

As more and more travel photography shops go out of business, the proxy photographers on the Erhai Lake have also grown. Chen Guang has seen many photographers from travel photography shops that he knew before, and also met many "newcomers" who do proxy photography while traveling. At present, it is the proxy photographers who work alone who unanimously abide by the price standard of 10 yuan per photo. After discarding layers of routines, they rely on their photography skills to make customers pay.

IV. Conclusion

At present, with the recovery of the domestic tourism industry, travel photography and photo studios are springing up everywhere. However, in Dali, we have seen that the travel photography and photo studios that have grown wildly after the overheated market have not created a prosperous market. Instead, they have been engaged in vicious competition, causing the overall reputation to decline, and tourists would rather choose proxy photography with simple but more "sincere" services.

In order to run a sustainable business, travel photo studios should provide consumers with quality services and create a virtuous cycle, rather than trying to "rip off" tourists. This requires not only strict self-discipline by practitioners, but also joint efforts from regulators and social supervision.

Author: Cheng Shushu; Editor: Li Xinma; Source public account: DoNews (ID: 1093584)