Photographer posts Groupon deal -- $65,000 in sales in two days

I was intrigued so I broke down the numbers. I made a long blog post so I'll just link you there, but here is an excerpt...

Read on to find out how one local photography studio made over $65,000 in sales in two days

Dang.
What jumped out at me first was the article author's estimate of 200 photos per session. Sounds way too high for what's being offered. 1 hour and 5 prints sounds like maybe 50 images max with 25-30 images ending up on that low-res CD; the volume to which they're committed would preclude sessions of 200-shot magnitude.
If the studio were careful enough to protect the quality of their product by keeping the Groupon jobs small, it would be a great opportunity. Otherwise they'll risk burnout and starvation

Well, I'm the author I meant 200 frames clicked through per session, not 200 finals delivered. I know some photographers who would normally to 400+ frames per hour and some that might do 40 so I tried to average it out. That was just part of the rough calculation for shutter replacements, so really just a small part of the formula anyway.

You sure they won't take the money and run?

wyofizz wrote in post #10643254
You sure they won't take the money and run?

I would guess Groupon takes that risk. That is part of why they do their due diligence on a company before agreeing to offer a Groupon for them. I would assume that if the photographer took off that Groupon would have to refund their customer's vouchers. The people who use Groupon feel like they purchase things from Groupon, not the retailer, so that is who they would seek refunds from. Then Groupon would seek out and sue the photographer.

Sounds like an easy way to burn out !!!

I figure that means about 2000 hours of shooting and 2000 hours of post production. That's 400 hours, or full time for a year for two people. Petrol, cameras, repairs, prints etc will take up at LEAST $15K. That's $20K per year pay, or about $10/hour.

Good luck to them.

tim wrote in post #10643807
I figure that means about 2000 hours of shooting and 2000 hours of post production. That's 400 hours, or full time for a year for two people. Petrol, cameras, repairs, prints etc will take up at LEAST $15K. That's $20K per year pay, or about $10/hour.

Good luck to them.

Down at the bottom, I figured it at about $8.33/hr, so yea... You're either counting on upsales of more prints / hi-res images from those customers or word-of-mouth getting you bookings worth more, like weddings (but you have no time...).

And you started your quick calculations at $65K -- Groupon is going to take any where from $20K to $32K off the top of that for their cut.

Yeah, I only read what you wrote after I wrote that. Interesting business model, i'd like to know if it works out for them!

Groupon takes a 50% cut. So the Tog is getting $29.5 per session sold.

Groupon pays them in three installments - one right after, one 30 days later and one 60 days later. Generally about 1/3rd of the groupon buyers never use their groupon.

So for 1200 sessions sold at $59, the photographer just netted $35,400 and Groupon netted $35,400.

400 of those sessions will never show up.

800 Sessions to shoot for 35k

Assume he can print 5 8x10s and press 1 CD for $5. That is a material cost of $4000.

$31k to shoot 800 sessions.
Lets assume traffic to and from the session gives him a 30 minute drive each way. Plus an hour session. Plus 2 hours of editing (cause you aren't gettings his best lightrooming abilities for $29.5/session.
5 hours * 800. 4000 hours of shooting, traveling and editing/burning to disc.

$35,400
- 4,000 materials
----------
31,400/4000=7.85/hour
That doesn't include the petrol, wear on your car or gear.

But how can a studio handle 1100 hours of session (it says 1 hour photo session) in just 48 hours? They would need to work around the clock and have 23 photographers shooting for those 48 straight hours. When you put those numbers together and consider equipment for 23 photographers, $65,000 doesn't seems like enough money.

The customers have a year to redeem the session coupon -- and this was extended to two years due to overwhelming response. So basically, they've signed up for two years of doing almost exclusively these discount sessions hoping to make up the money on more prints, higher-res files, or simply expanding their business through referrals.

As others have stated, you couldnt maintain quality and not burn out from this. Not worth it.

IMO, the only one who makes out like a bandit is Groupon.

To me this looks like a job that will be delegated to the unpaid intern...