123RF.com — is it a radio station? Or an online shopping website?

It is neither. It is a website that supplies stock photographs and graphics.  In short, individuals or businesses looking for images to use in their marketing and branding materials or for personal use can purchase them on the website.

A homegrown company, 123RF Technology Sdn Bhd is reportedly the fourth largest stock image website in the world, boasting the largest micro stock library globally.

The website witnesses 16 million unique visitors every month, according to Stephanie Sitt, co-founder and group CEO of 123RF’s parent company, Inmagine Group.

The company currently has a presence in 44 countries across seven continents, which it has expanded through joint ventures and partnerships. It wholly owns 12 of its global offices and the bulk of its business is derived from the US and Europe.

“Our estimated revenue for this year is RM120 million,” says Sitt, who is a nominee for the woman entrepreneur category of the award.

The “123” in the name was intended to represent the ease of use and simplicity of the online platform while RF stands for “royalty-free”.

123RF now accounts for 95% of the group’s revenue and profit.

Sitt had initially co-founded premium stock photography service, Inmagine Sdn Bhd, in 2000 while still an undergraduate marketing student in a local university with her then boyfriend Andy Sitt.

The couple, now married, has since grown Inmagine into one of the world’s leading suppliers and distributors of royalty-free, rights-managed and editorial digital stock photography, according to the company’s website.

Nevertheless, five years after 123RF, Sitt decided to launch micro stock website, 123rf.com, thus disrupting her own premium business that charges higher prices.

As a business unit, 123RF is fully bootstrapped. In the first nine years of the company’s operation, the couple prudently reinvested its profit and continued to pump personal funds into it.

However, limited financial resources have become one of the company’s main concerns, considering that its competitors are spending billions on marketing and branding each year.

“We have to do things differently because we only spend a few million (US dollars) a year on branding and marketing.

“A lot of it boils down to how we leverage social media,” Sitt says, citing growth-hacking as a cost-effective measure of spreading brand awareness.

Finding the right talent to grow the company is another obstacle 123RF has faced since the beginning.

“Because the royalty-free idea was quite new in the market, we had to do a lot of coaching and sharing on how it could add value to our customers,” says Sitt.

Moving forward, she envisions building an ecosystem that connects the photographers, designers, videographers, composers and customers that 123RF currently works with.

“We [want to] build a fast-forward system or platform that is driven by design, creativity and leverages technology and innovation,” she says.

Sitt’s other expansion plans reflect her vision of a socially responsible company.

“It’s not just about building [the company] but also about helping people to earn a living. Even in Malaysia, we have been doing some roadshows to teach photographers,” she says.

Sitt intends to tap the talent pools in Indonesia and the Philippines and deliver regional masterpieces to companies for their branding exercises.

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) may invoke imagery of companies launching initiatives to give back to underprivileged communities, but Sitt believes CSR goes beyond merely wanting to be seen.

“We look at the people who helped shape the organisation,” Sitt says during a recent interview.

For her, this stretches from the company’s 500 employees to its contributors and clients.

“In those days, consignment photography was actually quite expensive. Not everyone can afford that,” she recounts.

“What about small and medium enterprises, startups and those that do not have the funds for branding and marketing? How do they get content without risking their business by simply downloading online?”

These questions formed the basis of 123RF Technology’s inception in 2005. And the couple has not looked back since then.

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