During my art college days at Leicester, the photographic retailer Jessops held a special place in my education and future career development. The Leicester store was the first that Frank Jessop opened and it was there that I bought my first camera.

It was, at that time, an Aladdin’s cave of goodies, with friendly, knowledgeable staff. Not a week went by when I wouldn’t find an excuse to press my nose against the window to see what else I could buy, to stuff into my camera bag.

Today, you are lucky if you can see any of the goodies, given the volume and proliferation of posters stuck to the windows in an attempt to drive footfall.

Jessops’ turmoil has been well-documented and the pending departure of its chief executive, Chris Langley, will be the fourth departure of a company executive in the past 12 months.

It is said that hindsight is an exact science. I sense that, with hindsight, Jessops’ management would have pointed their strategy lens in a different direction.

The internet and supermarket photographic outlets have had a huge impact on this market, not least by improving availability and driving down prices.

The digital camera has revolutionised the way we take photographs. It has enabled the most ham-fisted of us to take a decent photograph. The delete button means we can snap away to our hearts’ content, capturing pictures on memory cards that are capable of storing hundreds of images.

The quality of this technology, the speed at which it changes and the lowering of price points, means that many of these products – no matter how sexy – are rapidly becoming commodity.

To add to retailers like Jessops’ problems, our computers allow us to manipulate, print, store and share images in a way that, only a few years ago, we could not have dreamt of.

More significantly, the internet continues to make us super-savvy customers. Our ability to gain knowledge prior to purchasing means that in-store service needs to be of the highest standard to stand a chance of getting customers to visit. The future looks grim.

Is there a glimmer of hope for Jessops in taking on the likes of Boots and Snappy Snaps to make it “the ultimate destination for printing and personalising your pictures”?

Unfortunately, the Jessops stores I last visited were dull visually and their services were lost in their carpet-bombing point of sale. If, in its drive to survive, Jessops rebuilds its brand around a compelling service offer, its store format will need a massive rethink. Otherwise, it risks – at best – becoming an Aladdin’s cave of historic curiosity value.

Bernard Dooling, creative director, 20/20

Topics