Retail analytics provider ShopperTrak has expanded its holiday forecasting data set and has revised its holiday predictions, supplanting some of the findings in its initial report.

ShopperTrak’s updated forecasts are based on traffic information from every U.S. retail outlet the company monitors and will reflect information gathered from more categories of stores, including home furnishings, sporting goods, office supply, gift, dollar and mass merchandise retail locations.

Southern gospel’s Karen Peck and New River’s “Revival” hit No. 1 for the January 2014 issue of Singing News, and has been in the top spot on AbsolutelyGospel.com charts for four weeks running. “Revival” is the group’s fourth No. 1 song.

The song is the title track from the group’s new album, Revival (Daywind Music/Word Distribution), released Aug. 27. The song was co-written by Karen Peck Gooch, Kenna Turner West and Don Poythress at Daywind Publishing.

More than 800 copies of Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas (Broadside Books/HarperCollins) flew off the shelves as Mardel Christian & Education in Edmond, Okla., hosted former Alaskan governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Nov. 20.

Fans began standing in line at 2:30 p.m. to meet Palin for her 6 p.m. book signing. The only Christian retailer on the author’s tour, Mardel was honored to host Palin as she promoted her new book.

E-book growth has slowed and currently comprises about 30% of books sold, according to a new report by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG).

New findings in the most recent edition of the Consumer Attitudes Toward E-book Reading report show that consumers are very interested in “bundling” print and digital versions of a book, with 48% of survey respondents willing to pay more for bundles.

U.S. retailers have long considered Black Friday the unofficial start of the critical holiday selling season, but newly released results from Nielsen’s Holiday Spending Forecast study indicate that 85% of consumers plan on skipping the stores the day after Thanksgiving this year. Instead, nearly half of consumers (46%) state that they will shop online this Cyber Monday, Dec. 2, compared with 30% in 2012, a significant increase.

Only 13% of respondents plan to shop in physical stores Black Friday, down from 17% in 2012. This is part of a four-year downward trend, where consumers report a declining interest in Black Friday shopping.

Anna Miriam Dunn Knutson, daughter of P. Graham Dunn founder Peter Dunn and LeAnna Dunn, and wife of the company’s president, Joe Knutson, died Sunday, Nov. 17, after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 37.

The following was posted on P. Graham Dunn’s Facebook page Nov. 18:

“At 9:15 Sunday morning, November 17, 2013, our Anna went to be with Jesus. Her husband, Joe, her parents and three siblings were at her side, surrounded by a group of friends. God is collecting many tears right now, and we are feeling deeply the ‘sting of death.’ However, deep within us, we know that Jesus is the Victor, and that because Anna knew Him, we will see her again; we are secure in the goodness and mercy of our Heavenly Father. Thank you for your love, prayers, and words of encouragement. They have sustained us through this five year journey of cancer, and will continue to sustain us in our loss.”

Anna Miriam Dunn Knutson, daughter of P. Graham Dunn founder Peter Dunn and LeAnna Dunn, and wife of the company’s president, Joe Knutson, died Sunday, Nov. 17, after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 37.

The following was posted on P. Graham Dunn’s Facebook page Nov. 18:

“At 9:15 Sunday morning, November 17, 2013, our Anna went to be with Jesus. Her husband, Joe, her parents and three siblings were at her side, surrounded by a group of friends. God is collecting many tears right now, and we are feeling deeply the ‘sting of death.’ However, deep within us, we know that Jesus is the Victor, and that because Anna knew Him, we will see her again; we are secure in the goodness and mercy of our Heavenly Father. Thank you for your love, prayers, and words of encouragement. They have sustained us through this five year journey of cancer, and will continue to sustain us in our loss.”