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Directfoto Shop
Directfoto is an award winning, family owned business established in 1982. We supply carefully selected, Top branded products in retail packaging. Our products are primarily for photo, music, PC, data storage and fun use.
All products have a manufacturer warranty and Directfoto promises a no quibble Money Back guarantee.
Directfoto's mission is to provide the best quality at the lowest price whether on products, digital prints or film processing.
Directfoto Imaging
Directfoto is a family owned digital Film Processor with over 70 years experience of producing photographs. Directfoto uses only Kodak systems and materials to provide the highest quality. Directfoto have provided photographic services for The Daily Telegraph, Times, RSPB, RNLI, many others and have over 900,000 customers. Our mission statement is to guarantee you first class quality at the lowest prices. Why not try our digital printing services today?
Directfoto Film Processing
Directfoto is the third largest mail order film processor in the UK. Backed by over 70 years experience in the photographic industry, this family owned business prides itself on first class quality services at the lowest prices. 'Which?' Best buy film processor in 2002 and 2005, Directfoto uses only Kodak paper, chemistry and film.
Directfoto's timeline
The Directfoto story started in the early 30’s when Britain was in the midst of the great slump and mass unemployment. Geoffrey Stead, a Glasgow pharmacist with a keen interest in photography offered a local developing & printing service to his customers. In order to expand that business he decided to offer postcard prints as standard in place of the usual 3 1/2” x 2 1/2” size. This worked well until the Wholesale Photofinishers Association blackballed him and expelled him from their membership for offering unfair competition, which materially affected his ability to trade.
Geoffrey then decided to offer his processing service to the public by mail order, solicited by newspaper adverts-a totally revolutionary operation in the photo business. More than that, in order to promote effectively, he offered a free black & white film with every film processed. Ingeniously this film had a paper negative and could only be processed by reversal in special printers, which he designed & only he had. So Gratispool, as the company was named, could only process Gratispool films.
Family friendship between Geoffrey Stead & Directfoto’s chairman Ron Houslip led to an updating the concept in 1967, by offering a free Kodakcolour negative film with the processing of negative colour films, and promoting it by mail order. This was offered at a very competitive price compared with normal retail, and the new company Free Film Service was formed. From their kitchen table Ron & his wife Jean conducted the initial activity, and the local post office scoffed when told that their normal 15” cube box would be inadequate to hold the volume of films envisaged! Promotion progressed with the distribution of a special strong envelope, printed with the offer designed for the customer to use to send his/her film. Actual distribution of the 100,000 sequentially numbered envelopes was carried out by the whole family, who posted them through letterboxes, under car windscreens, along the beaches in Clacton on Sea and Southend, and handed to people in queues anywhere. The response was carefully calculated as to source and mass distribution followed. Within several years 10 million films were handled. Over time innovation continued until in 1980 the company was sold to 3M.
In 1982 Ron's son John, having worked in the photographic industry since the mid- seventies, created a new company in Guernsey. Express Film Service initially provided high quality film processing services for many household names, before evolving into Directfoto. Directfoto, in line with today's customer requirements, brings you a solution whether it is for camera film, digital prints or photo and computer accessories. Today Directfoto is still a family owned and independent family business which still maintains a proud tradition of supreme customer service, just as it has for over 70 years.
DIRECTFOTO SHOP
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