NEWS

Buy-local initiative addresses retail traffic problem

Written by Christian Retailing Staff

Wednesday, 29 May 2013 11:50 AM America/New_York

Find It Local Today is ‘a win-win-win’ for shoppers, publishers and stores

Christian retailers unhappy with publishers selling directly to consumers now have an advocate.

Covenant Group has announced a new online, industry-wide initiative that aims to “leverage the consumer traffic” from Christian publishers’ websites towards Christian stores.

Available to Christian independents and chains, not just Covenant-member stores, Find It Local Today (FILT) was slated for official launch last month—coinciding with the International Christian Retail Show in St. Louis. Retailers who join FILT must pay a one-time set-up fee of $100 per account, and a minimal ongoing subscription fee of $10 per month or $100 annually.

“This program, which we have asked our supporting publishers to list as the first or primary ‘where to buy’ option on their websites, will give our retail stores a key position before consumers’ eyes on those publisher sites,” said Chuck Wallington, Covenant Group founder and president who came up with the idea for FILT earlier this year.

“With the title of our link focusing attention on the ‘shop local’ appeal, as well as the instant gratification aspect, we feel it will give us a strong opportunity to be ‘in the game’ in terms of competing with other options including major online competitors,” added Wallington, who is also owner of Christian Supply in Spartanburg, S.C.

CBA President Curtis Riskey told Christian Retailing that FILT is “a good concept,” and the association will help promote it.

“CBA will provide information and publicity about the program,” he said. “All of retail is trying to adapt to technology-enabled consumers, and CBA supports innovative experiments that keep brick-and-mortar stores in the technology loop. Christian stores must be able to connect with customers through technology at all points of the customer’s purchasing process.”

FILT has already enrolled leading publishers, including Thomas Nelson, Zondervan, Baker Publishing Group, Tyndale House Publishers, David C Cook, Abingdon Press, Barbour Publishing, Harvest House Publishers, Moody Publishers and Whitaker House.

“The response from the publisher community has been both immediate and overwhelming,” said Wallington, noting that there is no cost for publishers. “Almost every publisher we have approached has not just agreed to participate, but readily agreed. I think our publishers are increasingly seeing the benefit of helping strengthen the Christian retail channel, and the ones we have enrolled are certainly stepping up to the plate to do so.”

David Lewis, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Baker Publishing Group, told Christian Retailing that the publisher supports the initiative.

“We don’t have the actual number of referrals to online stores since we have changed our website during the past year, but based upon the last quarter, our estimate is that we have made over 100,000 referrals to online stores over the past year,” he said.

“In areas where local merchants and their local government have worked together to promote ‘Buy Local,’ the smaller retailers in those locations have actually grown,” Lewis added. “We hope that this campaign will continue to have the same impact in 2013 for the CBA stores. We strongly encourage every retailer to participate because we think is will help their sales, and their continued success is important to us and the book industry.”

Stephen Koenig, vice president of eCommerce for HarperCollins Christian Publishing, parent company of Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, said both publishers also support FILT.

“Thomas Nelson and Zondervan are always looking for ways to help our independent retail partners,” he said. “We see supporting the Find It Local Today initiative as another way to do that. We are proud to say that we refer thousands of customers to our retail partners each year.”

Bill Nielsen, chief operating officer of Berean Christian Stores, part of the Covenant Group, said FILT is a good idea.

“Berean will be participating and we hope to see two to four incremental transactions per store per month,” he said. “This is a program we are pleased to support and would encourage others to as well since it represents a great marriage or retail and supplier. In times like this, we need to come together as an industry whenever possible. Berean has seen strong comp store increases since November and we hope this will help us continue this positive trend.”

Wallington said enrolling in FILT should be “a no-brainer” for retailers.

“The annual fee is less than you’d pay for a decent-sized ad in a local high school annual, and you have the potential to have your store available as a shopping option to literally hundreds of thousands of consumers visiting publisher websites each year,” he said.

“This is a win-win-win situation” Wallington added. “The consumer wins because they are offered the viable option of shopping local and getting their requested product immediately if they choose. The Christian retailers win because they can now demonstrate to potential customers in their trading area looking on publisher sites, not only their store location, but the availability of the very product that customer is seeking. The publishers win because they are both offering a local, immediate purchasing option to the customers interested in their products, but also lending their practical support and vital endorsement of local Christian retail as well.”

Floods impact Christian publishers in the Midwest

Written by Christian Retailing Staff

Wednesday, 29 May 2013 11:56 AM America/New_York

Crossway’s first floor destroyed by flood waters, Tyndale House forced to close due to water-logged parking lot

Christian publishers have been impacted by spring flooding in the Midwest, causing temporary closures and extensive damage.

Mid-April downpours brought on sudden flooding throughout the Midwest, and high water was blamed for at least three deaths in the region, the Associated Press reported.

About 2 feet of water poured into Crossway’s 32 first-floor offices in Wheaton, Ill., and repairs and rebuilding will take five to six months, company officials said.

The substantial flooding forced closures April 17-18. The company appealed for financial support in the wake of the company suffering extensive damage. The publisher also asked donors to help raise $360,000 by the end of its fiscal year, May 31, for “priority projects.”

In an email to supporters, Lane Dennis, president and CEO of Crossway, wrote: “As a not-for-profit ministry, Crossway is not only committed to publishing the ESV [English Standard Version] Bible and gospel-centered content, but also to providing God’s Word to hundreds of thousands of people overseas, either free or at a substantially reduced cost. Because of the recent flood, however, some of these international ministry efforts are now at risk.”

He added that the financial assistance will pay for three areas: damage not covered by insurance; installation of new safeguards to flood-proof Crossway’s building; and “crucial Bible ministry projects.”

“Your support will make it possible especially for us to continue moving forward with the following priority projects: translation costs for the ESV Chinese Study Bible, to be published in mainland China; printing costs for 60,000 copies of the Chinese-English ESV bilingual Bible, also for publication and distribution in mainland China; completion and global distribution of the ESV Gospel Transformation Bible this fall; development of the Knowing the Bible studies, to be offered free digitally worldwide,” Dennis said.

“Though we don’t know exactly how the Lord will use these events for His kingdom and for His glory, we are confident in His grace and mercy and in His gracious provision for the work He has called us to do—trusting His words in Isaiah 43:2: ‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.’ ”

Crossway Executive Vice President for Sales and Marketing Geoff Dennis told Christian Retailing that the company, providentially, moved its warehouse to another location in late 2012—ahead of the publisher’s 75th anniversary this year.

“We were able to minimize negative impact on our shipping and fulfillment,” Dennis said. “We lost only about a day in fulfilling orders and have since gotten caught up. Our office building was closed for two days, with people working mainly from their homes.”

Tyndale House Publishers, located in Carol Stream, Ill., was also closed April 18 due to flooding in the parking lot, which rendered the building inaccessible.

“Many employees have had to deal with flooded basements,” Tyndale House Chief Operating Officer Jeff Johnson said. “Tyndale did not suffer any damages to its facilities or inventory. Even if we had not closed, many of our employees would not have been able to make it to work due to streets and roads being impassable, basements flooding and taking care of children whose schools had been closed. However, many employees worked from home, so it was not a complete loss.”

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