Snapfish is a web-based
photo sharing
Image sharing, or photo sharing, is the publishing or transfer of digital photos online. Image sharing websites offer services such as uploading, hosting, managing and sharing of photos (publicly or privately). This function is provided through ...
and photo printing service owned by
Shutterfly
Shutterfly, LLC. is an American photography, photography products, and image sharing company, headquartered in Redwood City, California. The company is mainly known for custom photo printing services, including books featuring user-provided ima ...
based in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
.
History
Snapfish was launched in 1999 by business partners Rajil Kapoor, Bala Parthasarathy, Suneet Wadhwa, and Shripati Acharya.
Ben Nelson
Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 37th governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1999 and as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 2001 to 2013. He is a member of the Demo ...
joined soon thereafter as corporate development operations lead, to become
CFO and later president and
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...
. Jasbir Patel was named president and
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...
in January 2017.
On October 30, 2001, the service was acquired by
District Photo for an undisclosed amount.
In 2004, Snapfish opened a physical retail concept store in
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C.
In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...
, but later closed it.
The next year, Snapfish was bought by
Hewlett-Packard for $300 million while Nelson was CEO, even though the service's revenue at the time was less than $100 million.
Nelson continued to run the company as an HP
subsidiary. During this time, Snapfish partnered with
Walgreens
Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, a ...
,
Costco
Costco Wholesale Corporation ( doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores ( warehouse club). As of 2022, Cost ...
, and
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
.
In August 2013, Snapfish announced on their local websites (and through a mailing to members) that they were shutting down the service in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
,
the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Nether ...
and
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
.
In April 2015, HP reached an agreement to sell Snapfish back to District Photo. Under the terms of the sale, HP allowed the company to continue to use its printing services.
During a website conversion in 2016, the service experienced a data loss. Photos prior to January 2014 were unable to be migrated to the new website system. Snapfish said that although some photo albums were recovered, others would remain empty. Typically Snapfish has three versions of images: high resolution, low resolution, and printable images. Both the high and low resolution images were lost and the backup files for the printable images were not recoverable.
On September 28, 2018, it was announced that Snapfish would acquire
CafePress
CafePress, Inc. is an American online retailer of stock and user- customized on-demand products. The company was founded in San Mateo, California, but is now headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky along with its production facility. In 2001, Caf ...
for more than $25 million. The acquisition was completed on November 9, 2018.
On June 10, 2019,
Apollo Global Management announced that it would acquire both Snapfish and its rival
Shutterfly
Shutterfly, LLC. is an American photography, photography products, and image sharing company, headquartered in Redwood City, California. The company is mainly known for custom photo printing services, including books featuring user-provided ima ...
in separate deals valued at around $3 billion in total. The two companies will be merged into a single entity, with Snapfish parent company
District Photo as a minority stakeholder. The merger of Shutterfly and Snapfish was completed on January 8, 2020.
On May 4, 2020, it was announced that Snapfish will no longer be providing the platform for
Boots
A boot is a type of footwear.
Boot or Boots may also refer to:
Businesses
* Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England
* Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom
* The Boot, Cromer Str ...
Photo in the UK and Ireland from May 13, 2020.
On September 1, 2020, it was announced that PlanetArt had acquired CafePress from Snapfish/Shutterfly.
See also
*
Snapfish Lab
Snapfish Lab was a web portal and application framework that HP Labs provided to showcase some of its imaging research, and to solicit feedback from users and the imaging research community.
Overview
The site contained a series of new experime ...
, a service of
HP Labs
HP Labs is the exploratory and advanced research group for HP Inc. HP Labs' headquarters is in Palo Alto, California and the group has research and development facilities in Bristol, UK. The development of programmable desktop calculators, ink ...
References
External links
* {{official website, http://www.snapfish.com
Image-sharing websites
1999 establishments in California
American companies established in 1999
Companies based in San Francisco
American photography websites
Internet properties established in 1999
Online retailers of the United States
Hewlett-Packard acquisitions
2001 mergers and acquisitions
2005 mergers and acquisitions
2015 mergers and acquisitions
2020 mergers and acquisitions