RitzPix.com beams up customer photos

The hardest thing about operating online photo services sites is getting customers to upload their digital photographs, says Doug Gentry, executive director of RitzPix.com, the online photo service of Ritz Camera Centers.

RitzPix has solved that problem, he says, with a new photo service launched last fall that automatically uploads digital images from customers’ computers to RitzPix.com. Consumers then can go to the site to modify, store and e-mail images as well as order prints for pick-up at a Ritz Camera store. “In the first four weeks, more than 1,000 customers used the service,” Gentry says.

Customers download free PhotoSync software from LifePics Inc. at RitzPix.com that automatically uploads files from a designated image folder to RitzPix.com every night. They can use RitzPix at no charge to store and modify digital photos at image resolutions guaranteed up to 4x6 size, or pay an annual fee of $60 for a premium service that offers additional image customization and larger high-resolution images, a LifePics spokesman says.

RitzPix has also launched a new shopping cart that complements the LifePics service by letting shoppers buy several hundred prints in a single order. “The largest order so far is 1,452 prints,” Gentry says.

paul@verticalwebmedia.com