Gift and award Bibles offer 'high value at a low cost'

Christian retail stores looking to connect more with  local churches—recognized increasingly as an important customer base—can count on one key subcategory to help them do that: gift and award Bibles.

"Gift and award Bibles appeal to a broad range of customers," said Chip Brown, senior vice president of Bibles at Zondervan. "They are great for childhood milestones like confirmation and graduation, as well as for adults. They are value priced, and many churches give them to parishioners. They also make a great gift or presentation Bible."

Bill Westfall, vice president of sales at Barbour Publishing, agreed: "Many churches provide Bibles to students as they complete confirmation classes or when they are baptized. Also, these Bibles are typically very affordable and can be given away to people who do not have a Bible."

Bookstore Manager data for the year 2010 shows Thomas Nelson and Zondervan as the strongest companies in the top 10 of gift and award Bible sales, with Tyndale House Publishers and B&H Publishing Group also competing for a top spot. The top award Bible sold last year was a burgundy King James Version (KJV) edition retailing for $6.99 from Thomas Nelson, according to Bookstore Manager. Gift and award Bibles also regularly appear on the monthly Bible best-sellers list from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

"These Bibles are about fine-tuning the price/value equation," Brown said. "Binding choices, readability of text, presentation page, paper quality, features such as maps, dictionary-concordance, two-column format and so on are what make them appealing."

Tyndale offers softcover, traditional imitation and premium gift Bible options, said Kevin O'Brien, director of Bibles and reference. "These Bibles are designed to offer a high value at a low cost and certainly have churches and other ministries in mind," he said. 

Tim Jordan, marketing manager at Holman Bibles, a division of B&H Publishing Group, observed that technology has helped to keep the costs down for gift and award Bibles, but noted that times have changed. 

"I think churches are behaving a little bit differently in terms of purchasing gift and award Bibles," he said. "How people are doing church kind of shifts around, especially in the children's area." 

Although churches may give a commemorative Bible to recognize a child's promotion to the next grade, some may opt to purchase other text or children's Bibles rather than the traditional choices. "We've given them as publishers so many choices that I think you might see a diminishment of your gift and award purchases," Jordan said.

Thomas Nelson's Gary Davidson, senior vice president and Bible group publisher, agreed that the market has changed. "We don't produce as many as we once did, but that's because our market is saturated with these types of products," he said. 

Betty Goeckner, manager of Lifeline Christian Books & Gifts, a Logos store in Effingham, Ill., sees award Bibles as "probably decreasing, but we still stock them and we still sell them."

Goeckner, who stocks award Bibles heavily during graduation season, suspects the decrease is because they are not used as much as other types of Bibles. "The print size for many gift and award Bibles, I won't say it's tiny, but it's not as inviting as some other Bibles," she said. "They tend to be given more as a keepsake than with the thought of the person reading it."

TRANSLATIONS AND COLORS

In this Bible subcategory, the King James Version "is the dominant translation," Davidson noted. 

While sales show the KJV as the old standby—with six of the editions listed in Bookstore Manager's top 10—a few New International Version (NIV) titles and one New Living Translation (NLT) Bible appeared in the 2010 list. 

Zondervan publishes both NIV and KJV in both leather—look and softcover, and softcover—only editions of the NirV (New International Reader's Version), Brown said. 

Barbour Publishing also sells gift and award Bibles, so far restricting its offerings to the King James, said Barbour's Westfall. B&H sticks to the KJV and also publishes gift and award Bibles in its Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Thomas Nelson publishes gift and award Bibles in KJV and NKJV. Tyndale has a number of best-sellers in the NLT, including softcover editions in blue and in a pink floral cover, while Crossway publishes two gift and award Bibles in the English Standard Version.

Traditional colors—black, red, burgundy and blue—seem to be the standard in this subcategory. These continue to be in strong demand, Davidson said, though Thomas Nelson has added "some different colors, including pink and purple, which have been popular."

Zondervan has also expanded its offerings to include more "kid-friendly" colors, Brown noted. However, B&H has "whittled down to the basic colors," Jordan said.

GROWING SALES

To increase sales of gift and awards, Davidson suggested that stores mail flyers to area churches detailing the offerings available that cater specifically to congregations. 

"They could offer discounts to area pastors and churches who would buy in bulk," he said. "It's also an opportunity for retailers to form unique relationships with churches in their area by hosting pastor breakfasts or providing samples to local church leaders." 

Brown recommends gift and awards be sold on an endcap, faced out in the Bible section or on a special table during key purchase seasons such as graduation, confirmation, back to school or Easter. "These value-priced Bibles as an easy impulse if they are featured prominently in high-traffic areas," he said.

Jordan suggested stores visit with pastors with a "house call" approach to see how they might meet the congregations' needs for Bibles, and pass along publisher discounts.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

Though gift and award Bibles are largely standardized, there are some variations. Zondervan has two new Italian Duo-Tone bindings in its NIV Gift Bible. A blue/tan edition was the No. 5 seller last year, according to Bookstore Manager. 

Zondervan is also bundling the NIV Gift Bible with the classic Streams in the Desert for the Survival Kit for Grads graduation gift pack. The $20 package is available in chocolate/forest green and chocolate/pink.

For the first time, Zondervan has recently issued four imitation-leather editions of the NIV Gift & Award Bible for Kids in kid-friendly colors.  

"With adding 'for Kids' to the title, we are encouraging stores to merchandise these Bibles in the kid's Bible section and not just in the adult Bible section," said Brown, aiming to "increase their exposure" in stores. 

Zondervan is looking to those learning English as a second language with two softcover editions of the NIrV Gift & Award Bible. The Holy Bible for ESL Readers retails for $7.99.

Tyndale's O'Brien has observed "a tremendous amount of growth in the premium gift category, which indicates to us that a significant portion of our customer base is looking for the value of a gift Bible in a nicer package."

Thomas Nelson also has introduced a women's gift Bible line. "New pink and purple covers have proven popular with female consumers," Davidson said. 

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