Industry cutbacks in tough economic times make staying current with the latest and greatest product ‘very difficult’ for stores

In an uncertain economy, with digital distribution of e-books and music coupling with online retail giants, one ongoing issue has made the work of brick-and-mortar Christian stores even more challenging: the decline of sales representative coverage for independent stores.

Part of this development stems from the fact that more Christian retail stores are joining marketing groups like Parable and Munce, while others are forced to close up shop because of high overhead costs and lagging sales. Publishers and vendors have been forced to cut back on field sales representation, and chains and stores joined to large marketing groups are the most cost-effective places to spend much of those vendors’ valuable man-hours.

Independent stores not tied to marketing groups often are left on their own to find their way through the myriad catalogs and collections of their various suppliers.

“It is very difficult,” said Vicki Geist, co-owner of Cedar Springs Christian Stores in Knoxville, Tenn., and new CBA board member. “We have to see what’s new on our own.”

Despite the fact that Cedar Springs is “one of the bigger stores,” Geist said that the “music reps have cut back,” and they “haven’t seen a Tyndale sales rep all year.” 

With cutbacks in those companies, she recognizes that the decreased number of sales reps remaining “can’t possibly see all the stores.”

The cuts were not a one-time occurrence either, as the number of sales reps is continuing to decline. Damascus Road Christian Books in Sacramento, Calif., has only been in business for three years, but even in that time, owner Telly King has noticed a drop in sales rep visits.

“They’re having to schedule things months and weeks in advance,” King said of the companies sending representatives. “If I couldn’t get things scheduled with a rep during the window they’re in the area, it could easily be three or four months before I get another chance.”

It’s not all bad news, though. For some store owners, the very technological revolution that has caused so many issues for the retail marketplace as a whole has also offered a helpful method of assuaging some of the difficulties caused by the present dearth of field sales reps.

“It’s kind of a mixed bag,” said Bill Ballou, owner of The Solid Rock, a Christian store that has been serving Kearney, Neb., for 40 years. Sales rep visits “used to be how [companies] would introduce their products. You didn’t get a catalog in the mail.”

Located in a relatively small community, the store would sometimes miss new releases since it didn’t get the best sales rep coverage even before the current decline. 

“With fewer sales people, there are more emails and more online presence,” Ballou said.

As many consumers and retailers alike have found, the Internet can be the great equalizer when it comes to staying informed. More and more, cost-cutting vendors and independent booksellers are turning to their online relationships and databases to compensate for the lack of in-person visits.

“The ones that we have, they are very good,” King said of her sales reps, with whom she communicates between visits via email and phone. “They understand the layout of our store, and they’re pretty good at letting me know what’s going to work.”

With limited coverage, however, “It’s a little harder,” she admitted. 

That sentiment seems to be the prevailing one, even as a greater presence in digital catalogs and online communication helps to blunt the effects of the reduction in rep visits.

“It’s just not the same,” said Geist. Though email can help independent bookstores stay in contact with their reps, it can’t truly replace “looking over the product, talking about the product and discussing what we can do to promote the product” in person with sales reps. 

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