Christian Retailers reported a lift in December sales and traffic, according to The Parable Group. Sales stats by the group show a 3 percent December sales lift over December 2014, and a 19 percent increase in sales for the week ending December 27 over the same week in 2013.

“Dozens of our retail partners had a strong month, many in the double-digits, and it really lifted the group number up,” says Erik Ernstrom, Manager of Business Intelligence for The Parable Group. “That week before Christmas was stronger than most of us anticipated.”

Retailers reported that the 12 Days of Christmas daily deals promoted in their catalogs, targeted shared mail (Redplum/Valassis), newspaper inserts, promotional in-store signage, email marketing and Facebook campaigns developed by The Parable Group were effective in driving consumer traffic and increasing sales in their stores.

“The 12 Days of Christmas Sale that we promoted in Red Plum seemed to have a bigger impact for our Reno store and drove some traffic,” said Deidre Pagni from His Word, a Parable Christian Store in Reno and Sparks, Nevada. “Plus, we did a better job preparing our stock levels for the 12 Days of Christmas Sale traffic as well.”

Matthew Wright of Praises Family Books & Gifts in Chillicothe, Ohio, said his company’s catalog sales helped to boosts its numbers.

“December was a great month for us. We really pushed the 12 Days of Christmas sales hard. We sent an email reminder every day of the sale to our entire email list. We used the aggressive coupon option to generate traffic from our catalogs. Plus, we gave customers a bounce back coupon at the completion of the sale that encouraged them to come back in. Our promotional plan through Parable print catalogs, SnapRetail emails and proper staff training provided us with a great December, and an end to a good year. Higher traffic made the difference in our sales.”

Gift cards were projected to be the most popular holiday gift option, with 80 percent of shoppers saying they planned to buy at least one, according to a National Retail Federation survey. They aren’t counted as part of a retailer's sales, though, until they are redeemed.

“The post-Christmas period is when that starts and that’s a great way to start the new year,” Ernstrom said.

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