WalMart.com and Hallmark team up with a new photo and card service

WalMart.com has started offering digital cards from Hallmark Cards at the photography section of its web site. Wal-Mart customers who take their film to a Wal-Mart for photo processing can have the images uploaded to the WalMart.com site where they can access them, or they can upload their digital pictures themselves. Once the pictures are at the site, consumers can choose to have them printed to a variety of card designs. The customer can then choose to have the service print and mail the cards on behalf of the customer.

Hallmark says this partnership is the next phase of its entrance into the $11 billion “memory-keeping” products market. In August, the company launched Hallmark Stories, an online service that gives consumers the tools to combine digital pictures with Hallmark storytelling and design expertise to create personalized memory products, like albums, snap books and magazines, ranging in price from $19.95 to $44.95. "We know that once consumers start using digital images on cards, they`ll begin experimenting with other Hallmark Stories products such as creating albums, memory magazines or snap books for a variety of occasions,” said C.J. Howe, group marketing manager for Hallmark Stories.

The cards at WalMart.com will cost $1.36 to $2.48 each.