Workshop leaders Dan Balow and Larry Haege provide practical suggestions for selling ebooks in physical Christian retail stores

Christians are embracing computer tablets and e-readers at a faster pace than most consumers, according to CBA-commissioned research by the Barna Group. 

Barna Group President David Kinnaman summarized the findings of The Rise of E-Reading: What Digital Content Means for Customer Loyalty, Products and Retailing study during the opening general session. Dan Balow, publisher at eChristian, and Larry Haege, president of Innovative, also discussed the report during their ebooks workshop.

Kinnaman shared that some 44% of pastors, 30% of Christian store shoppers and 25% of practicing Catholics reported that they owned a mobile tablet device or e-reader, compared to 18% of shoppers who don’t visit Christian stores. 

The survey found that the most popular device was the iPad—44% among Christian store shoppers. Additionally, nearly 70% of Christian store shoppers said they would definitely or probably buy an ebook or digital download from a Christian store. Kinnaman encouraged retailers to embrace the technological changes and master digital marketing. 

More than 800 Christian stores are now able to sell ebooks through their own websites. The physical store is still the best option for book discovery and sales, according to Curtis Riskey, CBA executive director. During the “Stores as Ministry Connectors” session, he said brick-and-mortar stores offer “a sense of place and engagement.” 

At the ebooks workshop, Balow offered practical suggestions to retailers to cultivate ebook-buying traffic, including using ebook signage next to physical books and conducting reading groups using e-readers only.

For more information on the ebook study, visit www.barna.org.

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