Maximize your store’s profits in order to boost and broaden your mission field

With sales of music and books trailing off in today’s Christian retail store, we must face reality. In that light, there are two approaches we can take—give in or continue to serve our communities, but in a new and different way. 

I believe we should choose the latter. As a Christian retailer, you are an important part of the ministry in the “mission field” you serve. Your mission field may be a six-block, six-mile or 60-mile circumference. Imagine leaving that area without the witness of your store!

So, how can you offset declining departments? The good news is it can be done! The best way is by increasing other key departments. Gift and lifestyle products are trending well, and they traditionally carry a better margin. Consider reallocating some energy there. Look at floor space and buying systems, and see if you can give that section of your store a lift. 

MOVES AND MARKDOWNS

Since coming to Parable in 2009, I’ve observed some trends in this area. 

I see so many gift buyers purchasing only what will fit into their home. Your customers don’t live with you. Keep their tastes in mind, not just your own! 

Educate yourself on trends. Go to the mall with the purpose of coming out with three new ideas for products, color trends and display ideas. When you change the clothes in your closet from season to season, refresh your gift department, too.

When merchandising your gift area, think about the lifestyle the product promotes. If someone is buying a tote in the summer, they are going to the beach or the lake. What else do they need? Some great fiction, maybe a family devotional, cool T-shirts and flip-flops. Expand the sale to that customer. Also, go to the dollar store, and for $5, you can buy a lot of props to help sell those summer totes. 

Exploit what has become known as “Hallmark holidays.” For Administrative Professionals day, pull together some grab-and-go gifts—journals, a box of cards, pens, anything with an admin theme. By putting together three $3-$5 items and tying them up with a bow, the package becomes a $14.99-$19.99 gift. Your average ticket will go up along with your margin. Bundling is a great way to move product and makes a great themed display. 

Vendors want you to be successful with their product. If something is really not moving, ask for some “mark-down” money. That is not a coffee mug; it’s a $5 bill! 

Too many times as retailers, we get emotionally attached to a product, when we could just mark it down. I hear store owners say, “I can’t afford to sell it at cost.” I agree. You can’t sell everything at cost, but that item is eating up your “open-to-buy” in that category.

As you evaluate the success of an item, it’s important to consider the profitability of the entire line. If you brought in five items and three of them sold quickly, bring only those three back. Aim to maximize the profitability of the line, not merely individual items, by stocking only what sells. 

BRANDS AND BUYERS

Let’s say you just opened up 400 square feet that previously displayed music and you are expanding your gift offering. What products should you carry now? NOTW and Duck Commander are two key brands you can jump on in a big way and take advantage of the brand awareness that is already in the marketplace. 

Bill White, vice president of sales at NOTW, informed me that the NOTW Edgy Logo window decal is among the top three licensed window decals at Wal-Mart nationwide. 

Clearly, the brand is doing very well—and many of the same Christian customers that go to Wal-Mart are shopping in your stores! So, how deep are you carrying this brand? Don’t believe the idea that if Wal-Mart is carrying an item, you can’t sell it. When your customers are there buying milk and they see NOTW, you want them to think, “My local Christian store carries a full line of that brand.”

Duck Commander is another brand that is worth watching with its “Faith, Family, Ducks” motto. With Howard Books, New Day Christian Distributors and Carson Home Accents bringing Duck products to market, you can have 8 feet of the hottest brand in the marketplace today. When one of the top brands in the world is in the CBA wheelhouse, we need to get our ducks in a row.

Cedar Springs Christian Store in Knoxville, Tenn., saw the success of The Duck Commander Family (Howard Books) and went out and found season one of Duck Dynasty, the reality show on A&E Network. 

Vicki Geist, who brought in the DVD, said: “We’re not able to keep it in stock!”

Geist also pulled into the display Montana West camo handbags designed with a “big bling cross.” The handbags sold well, too. Apparently hunting is not just a man’s sport! 

This is a great example of a retailer seeing a trend and being proactive, building a lifestyle display and serving her customers with product they actually want. 

FAIR AND FIT

Fair Trade is doing well in some markets. Paul Kuntz of Arrowhead Parable Christian Store in Johnson City, N.Y., has reported “a lot of growth” with Exotic World products.  Not only does the product “fit our mission,” Kuntz said, but the company also understands that “we need to make some margin as we serve.”

Like other product, you need to commit space and energy to Fair Trade to evaluate its success. 

Here is what I know is true about the gift category—the customers who are coming into your store buy gifts and home décor. So, stretch yourself and attend a gift show. 

Tap into your CBA friends, and look at industry gift best-seller lists or those generated through your store’s P.O.S. If there is something there that you aren’t carrying, ask yourself why not and give it a try. 

Overall, even if some areas of the Christian products market are in the decline now, you can offset that by making gifts and lifestyle products an important part of the mix. Identify what your bailiwick is, and do it better than anyone in your market. Do these things and you’ll live long and prosper. Okay, while I can’t exactly promise that, I’m pretty sure it will strengthen your store and help you stay in your mission field serving your community.

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