The items produced by Photocreate have proved to be a popular option for online shoppers and major retail outlets alike with such items as personalised snow globes, calendars, mugs and teddy bears with shirts featuring customer images along with the increasingly popular photobooks.

More than 180 workers were on hand during the Christmas rush last year to produce 130,000 gifts and managing director Rob Tolmie said the number of Father’s Day gifts demonstrated that the business is continuing to grow.

“We did as much, if not more, in August than our peak Christmas period in November and December last year. It gives a good indication of what we can expect in the future,” he said.

“Our clients consist of the majority of the photo retailers like Harvey Norman, Bing Lee, Big W, Camera House and Rabbit Photos as well as almost all of the online operators. There is a constant flow of contacts, both in Australia and overseas, who want to have fulfilments in Australia.”

Preparations are already beginning to substantially boost the number of staff as Christmas approaches. Photocreate is currently seeking to increase their core production staff of approximately 40 to an anticipated 250.

In the peak Christmas period last year 8,000 gifts a day were produced and an Australian Post truck used entirely for the company to accommodate the deliveries. This is expected to be even greater this year.

“We are anticipating twice as much as we had for Christmas last year. It begins to get very busy mid October and we can have up to 250 people employed across three shift. We are beginning to start tours for prospective employees now,” Mr Tolmie said.