Shutterfly
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Shutterfly, founded in December 1999 by Eva Manolis and Dan Baum, was an online photo printing and personalized products company selling photo books, cards, stationery and gifts through a family of consumer brands. It went public on NASDAQ in 2006. In 2012 it launched Treat, a mobile and online custom greeting card service built with Hallmark, letting users design one-to-one cards from their phones.
02 / Shutterfly FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Treat failed to attract a large enough standalone user base, and the cost of acquiring each customer was too high relative to the revenue that user generated. The app drew little demand, ranking around #1,118 in its app store category, while Shutterfly was simultaneously consolidating platforms and closing sub-scale operations. In February 2015 the company announced it would discontinue the Treat brand and fold one-to-one cards into the flagship Shutterfly brand; the service ended in March 2015.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Shutterfly is founded as an internet-based photo printing and personal publishing service.
- Product launch
Shutterfly launches Treat, a custom greeting card service developed with Hallmark.
- Closure announced
Shutterfly announces it will discontinue the Treat brand; Treat.com orders end on March 17, 2015 and users are redirected to Shutterfly.com.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Online photo printing company launched greeting-card brand Treat
- 02
Treat failed to build a standalone user base
- 03
Customer acquisition cost exceeded per-user revenue
- 04
Treat discontinued in March 2015, folded into Shutterfly