Who is the “best” photo book supplier?

17 Mar Who is the “best” photo book supplier?

We helped you get your photos #organised with our series of posts on digital photo organising and we reminded you what a great gift idea photo books are for Mothers Day so now it is time to give you our input on the great photo book supplier debate. Here is another one of Jo’s cool infographics that explains how we chose to assess photo book suppliers.

The following is our brief assessment of 6 different photo book suppliers – Big W, Momento, PhotobooksRus, Photodeals, Shutterfly and Snapfish.

BIG W: About You shop there in store and have likely visited the space aged looking monitors and sat on one of the wobbly stools.  Some of you would also know their online photo shop deals as they feature regularly in their catalogues. Templates/Themes I find the templates and themes available on this site a bit static but they certainly have increased the sizes and varieties of books in recent years.  Not a huge number of fancy frames and all the bells and whistles of design but if you want to click, fill and go then this is no problem. Pricing Big W run regular specials with discount codes with competitive prices. Simplicity The tool itself is limited in choices but relatively straight forward to use. Quality We found quality to be slightly lacking with a little bit “pay peanuts, get monkeys” feel about it.

MOMENTO: About You may not have heard about Momento but they were actually one of the first suppliers I used and I still love them. Templates/Themes Momento has stunning templates and themes available with a much more artistic feel about them.  From a design point of view this is a real winner! Pricing Unfortunately I have great but expensive taste as these books are by far the most expensive on the Australian market.  But you get great options, quality and service.  They are also more exclusive and run fewer discount promotions than the other suppliers. Simplicity The tool itself could seem complicated for a beginner but it has fantastic design options and the greatest flexibility of design allowing for a truly unique book design that won’t look like every other photo book out there. Quality No faults with quality, picture perfect in our book!

PHOTOBOOKS R US: About Probably our number one pick with a good balance of good design flexibility like Momento but with more competitive prices! Templates/Themes Decent templates and themes available, not great with frames and embellishments but flexible with other design options Pricing Very cost effective, especially their jumbo books which are great for a year in review type book.  Always running really great discount promotions. Simplicity Again the tool can seem slightly complicated for a beginner but it has great online support and help features. Quality We have experienced no faults with quality from Photobooks R Us.

PHOTODEALS: About This is one that often have coupon special deals. Templates/Themes These templates are a little stagnant, but like with Big W if you want to click, fill and go then this is no problem. Pricing One word: cheap!  Check scoupon etc for regular deals.  In fact, I don’t think they actually HAVE a full price option (ever). Simplicity The tool itself is limited in choices but straight forward to use. Quality More monkeys for our peanuts.

SHUTTERFLY: About This is an American supplier and they are one of the best of the bunch. Templates/Themes Shutterfly are similar to Momento and they too have stunning templates and themes available with a beautiful artistic feel about them.  If you love the look of a scrapbook they have some amazing templates that help you to tell a story to accompany your photos. Pricing Again they are more expensive and of course there is international postage to consider. But again you get bang for your buck with great options, quality and service.  They run discounts more frequently than Momento but their free shipping offers do not extend to Australia. Simplicity Probably the greatest flexibility in terms of quick fill and auto uploads with sooooo many design choices who needs to use the actual software! However when you do choose to edit the software is simple and easy to use. Quality Another stand out in terms of quality.

SNAPFISH: About This is another one that you see often via scoupon or other coupon deal sites. Templates/Themes Mostly fixed templates with limited choices, and again not many book sizes or variations to choose from. Pricing Another super cheap option. Simplicity The tool itself is limited in choices but straight forward to use. Quality Average to poor quality. We have done our research and have a very complex comparison chart with 146 rows of data relating to the tools and options these photo book suppliers software feature.

So there you have it. Our humble opinion on a handful of photo book suppliers. Do you agree or disagree? We would love to hear your experiences with these or other suppliers.

Have a magical day

Mara