Products build on strength of top-rated cable show as family aims to see ‘the gospel presented to all’

A clan of duck-hunting, beard-sporting, tea-drinking hillbillies may not seem like a huge magnet for Christian retailers, but that is all about to change. Books and products by the family that runs Duck Commander, a multimillion-dollar business made popular by the A&E reality show Duck Dynasty, are beginning their reach into Christian retail with a power nearly unprecedented in the industry.

“The Duck Commander products and books are critical to Christian retail because the whole family is Christ-oriented and wants the gospel presented to all,” said John Howard, contract administrator for Duck Commander.

Howard’s daughter Korie is married to Willie Robertson, CEO of the Duck Commander enterprise based in West Monroe, La., where Howard’s father, Alton Howard, started Howard Publishing. The publisher became Howard Books, which is now owned by Simon & Schuster and based in Nashville.

After several years in teaching and commercial fishing, Phil Robertson began making duck calls in 1972 in a small shed on his West Monroe property. He made them by hand: cutting the trees, using a lathe to make the round calls, whittling each one. He and his wife, Kay, fed their family of four boys a lot of fried bologna in those early years. Since then, the business has grown into an empire that includes duck calls, seasonings, T-shirts, mugs, caps, bandanas and even bobble heads.

Duck Dynasty, A&E’s most-watched series now in its third season, had 8.6 million viewers for the season premiere Feb. 27. This is up from 6.5 million viewers at the end of the last season. The program, which started in 2012, is cable’s top original show on Wednesday nights, according to the website TV by the Numbers. The first two seasons are available on DVD from Thomas Nelson through its partnership with Lionsgate.

For Jonathan Merkh, vice president and publisher of Howard Books, it all started with a visit to his office about a year ago from Senior Editor Philis Boultinghouse. Boultinghouse, who has been with the company since its beginnings in West Monroe, knew the Robertson family well. Phil Robertson had been her Sunday school teacher for 25 years. 

“Philis asked me if I’d heard about Duck Dynasty, then put the cover of a USA Today Life section down that featured the Robertsons. She thought she could do a book with them and I said go for it,” Merkh said.

That book, The Duck Commander Dynasty: How Faith, Family, and Ducks Built a Dynasty, released in October 2012. 

“The book has far exceeded our expectations,” said Chris Long, national accounts manager for the CBA market for Simon & Schuster. “It’s doing extremely well in our CBA stores. It started off slowly, I think because people who didn’t know the show were hesitant; we got some strange looks. But now there have been times we struggle to keep it in stock.”

Boultinghouse made the original contact with John Howard, who acted as agent for the Robertson family for the first two books. Co-author Mark Schlabach helped the Robertsons write the books. 

Howard Books will release Happy, Happy, Happy: My Life and Legacy as the Duck Commander by Phil Robertson in May, followed by Si-Cology 1: Tales and Wisdom From Duck Dynasty’s Favorite Uncle by Si Robertson in October and Miss Kay’s Duck Commander’s Cookbook in November. Howard is exploring other books with the family including a devotional, children’s products and more.

“They are being wise and cautious about what they do,” said Merkh. “On one hand, they want to capitalize on these 15 minutes of fame, as well as be wise and deliberate with their message, especially when it comes to sharing their faith.”

Fans are flocking to all things Duck, and CBA retailers are poised to respond. Some are doing in-store displays, some are planning Duck Commander events. LifeWay stores are going to stock products from books to T-shirts to Si’s tea cup, thanks to New Day Christian Distributors. New Day offers 42 different SKUs with more to come, including mugs, key chains and duck calls.

“I’ve just never seen anything like this,” said Michael Turner, who acquires products for New Day. “We had independent stores placing orders when we began selling the products six weeks ago, who began calling and upping their orders because they’ve been preselling so much. One store has preordered 140 of Uncle Si’s tea cups.”

Turner has seen no difference in enthusiasm in stores whether in the East, West, North or South. The excitement of independent stores as well as chains and marketing groups such as LifeWay and Parable is palpable.

“We placed our first order with Duck Commander in early March and will probably have to place another in three weeks. Every time we get a number to preorder, we have to add more and the numbers keep going up,” Turner said.

He calls the buy dollars per store “outrageous,” saying the average order per store for Duck Commander products is $375.

Randy Maricle, vice president of marketing for Parable Group, plans a full page dedicated to Duck Commander products in Parable’s June/July mailer. 

“This is the biggest brand in the marketplace and there is an overt faith message; this is one of those times the CBA brick-and-mortar stores will be competitive on the front end,” Maricle said.

Parable stores stocked The Duck Commander Family when it released, averaging 15 units sold per store in November and December, which is about 1,000 units in two months. Those numbers put it in the top 5% of sales during that time.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a mainstream brand come on strong in the CBA stores,” said Maricle. “We’ve tried similar things in CBA stores, but they’ve only done well in pockets. This is the first time I’ve seen a mainstream brand do well everywhere. The key is going to be the ancillary products, the gift products around the books. Gifts are critical to stores’ success, and these gift products will keep stores viable in the marketplace.”

John Howard said that Duck Commander plans to release new products each year, including new duck calls and T-shirt designs. Duck Dynasty products come from A&E, though Duck Commander approves them. Before the show, the most popular products were duck calls and DVDs, sold primarily through hunting stores. 

“Never in a lifetime would I have ever guessed Duck Commander would do this, though I certainly knew they had it in them,” Howard said.

Maricle is quick to say Parable Group is in for the long haul. 

“This is not a one-and-done thing for us,” he said. “Right now the plan is that the show will be on for a long time. As long as they’re under contract, we’re going to be on the product.”

Merkh of Howard Books sees only benefit for Christian retail stores. 

“We hope it will energize Christian bookstores, perhaps bringing new customers to them that they wouldn’t have had,” he said. “If Christian retailers embrace this, they’ll be pleasantly surprised at the volume Duck Commander will bring in the store.”

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