Target Corp. has tapped Yahoo Inc.'s online expertise and back-end IT architecture to host a digital-photo site where customers can upload files to store, share, and print.
Target Yahoo Photos will offer more in the fall, letting customers order prints online and pick them up at any one of its 1,330 stores. Drop-down menus on the site will let customers locate a store to print the photos and create custom image-bearing gifts such mugs, aprons, and magnets. Target initially will offer same-day service, "but the plan is to shorten that time in the future to a few hours," says a Target spokeswoman. "A few technology features on the site are still being worked out."
Yahoo has built into the service various privacy features, such as password protection. That will allow private communications among groups of friends and families. The new site offers customers unlimited photo storage and tools for sharing pictures via E-mail and instant messaging.
Five Target stores in Denver have begun to receive updated photo-lab equipment as part of the rollout, says a Yahoo spokeswoman. The growing popularity in digital cameras has prompted new photo-printing services from retailers that let customers upload files to a dedicated server on the Internet and print them out in stores within hours. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in November began rolling out a one-hour digital-photo service through its Wal-Mart Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, and Sam's Club's stores at approximately 3,000 locations.
Wal-Mart developed software called My Wal-Mart Digital Photos Center at Home to equip home computers with functions similar to those at the photo kiosks inside its stores. The software is available to download online at Walmart.com or Samsclub.com Photo Center sites; hard copies can be picked up at any Wal-Mart store.
