Approximately two-dozen retailers received a dose of “usable ideas” from experts in the Christian product industry.

The workshop “Retailer Rx: Ask the Experts” sought to help retailers discuss and overcome critical operational challenges by connecting with personnel in marketing and events, gift merchandising, lease negotiations, technology and store operations.

The informal session featured Suzanne Kuhn, owner of author events company Suzy Q, with 20 years’ experience with a regional bookstore chain; Sherry Morris, marketing manager for Carpentree; Dale Willerton, founder and president of The Lease Coach; Tim Johnson, president of Ideakindler; and Sue Smith, store manager of Baker Book House in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Louis McBride, Bible/academic buyer for Baker Book House, told Christian Retailing that he “came to learn how to increase our social media.”

“Suzanne Kuhn provided more than I could have imagined in a short amount of time,” he said. “I’m informed and inspired.”

Cathy Stricklin, owner of the Lord’s Store in Tridelphia, W.Va., which will open in October, attended the workshop with her daughter, Rachel.

“I like that we were able to speak with each speaker/specialist,” Stricklin said. “The speakers offered down-to-earth, simple suggestions. They were usable ideas.”

Chuck Wallington shared tips to help stores ‘figure out what works’

A third-generation Christian retailer encouraged approximately 40 of his fellow retailers to be relevant in today’s culture. 

In the “Retail Trends: What Do Your Customers Say?” workshop, Covenant Group founder and President Chuck Wallington shared tips and pointers to help Christian retailers become “the preferred choice of modern customers.”

“Today’s shopper is more empowered than ever,” said Wallington, owner of Christian Supply in Spartanburg, S.C. “They can do more with what’s in their pockets. … What do we do about it?

“If you’re looking for a silver bullet, the Lone Ranger died a long time ago. The answer is different for each one of us. We have to figure out what works.”

Wallington discussed his five “ex-factors in retail trends”: Examine (look at your store through your “customers’ eyes”); Exploit (find ways to leverage your brick-and-mortar advantage over online competitors); Expand (find products you “can own” and get decent margin with them); Express (find ways to connect with your customers through old-fashioned media such as thank-you cards and new media such as Facebook and Twitter); and Exit.

“If you’re not going to change, you might as well exit,” said Wallington, whose Covenant Group offers ebooks and recently launched a mobile app. “The good old days are not coming back. … We absolutely have to make it. I encourage you to stay the course and finish the race.”

Joanne Sheehan, manager of Promise Book Shoppe in Tarpon Springs, Fla., said that Wallington’s bullet points “help me apply and retain what I learned for our shop,” she said. “I’m now seriously looking into ebooks.”

ICRS Thumbs Up:

• For the overall positive attitude of retailers and suppliers about the show.
• For the Orlando, Fla., location, making it easier for attendees to take a vacation too.
• To Rend Collective Experiment bringing a spirit of joy to the Worship Now service.
• To Phil Vischer as host of the New Voices Showcase.
• To CBA, for honoring the late Charles Colson with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
• To the Christy Awards for offering the keynote to Thomas Nelson’s Allen Arnold, who promotes the power of story.
• To the choice of Orlando Children’s Church as the recipient of this year’s offering.
• For the availability of seating at several tables and chairs at the CBA booth.

Thumbs Down:

• For the low attendance at the Sunday night worship service.
• For the low attendance at “Retailer Rx: Ask the Experts” workshop.
• For the poor quality of food served at the Orange County Convention Center.

Veteran workshop leader sees an invasion of apps and homeschool customers trading up for better value

Best-selling children’s author and educator Mary Manz Simon delivered the latest news in children’s trends, coupled with the wildly popular supplier product giveaway, Tuesday afternoon in her 18th consecutive CBA international convention program.

Emerging technology dominated the talk, but while ebooks are surging in the general market, Simon says the app invasion is a big thing in the Christian market’s new kid products. 

“It’s an ‘appy’ time,” she said.

The Beginner’s Bible from Zonderkidz is coming soon with a free app and free initial story pack. Also, “Five Love Languages” author Gary Chapman made his first appearance at a children’s trend seminar, introducing his first Northfield Publishing children’s book, A Perfect Fit for Peyton, where five pets discover their personal love languages, with a free app and digital pop-ups. 

Simon pointed out that reaching new forms of families is a strong trend with “grandfamilies,” involved grandparents who live miles away from their grandchildren; “mombassadors,” moms who are engaged in product information through various technologies before they even enter the store; and next-generation dads, who are spending more time than ever with their kids, being catered to with marketing strategies and product releases.

Bill Reese, owner of the Working Title Agency, recommended that retailers implement 360 branding. 

“Christian product companies sometimes have the shotgun approach to selling; they throw it out there and see what sticks, and if it does, they go after it,” he said of the practice that is “not healthy.” 

Reese suggested that retailers pick a product or a brand and get behind it, leaving it on display for more than two weeks. 

Today’s economy is dictating many trends, Simon said. Products that have resale ability are wildly popular, especially for moms looking for a good deal. One example given was Baker Book House in Grand Rapids, Mich., which buys books from customers, integrates them into the store shelving and resells them for 40%-70% off retail. 

“Today’s consumers factor resell value into the purchase price,” she said, adding that today’s homeschoolers are an excellent example of “re-commerce” or reverse commerce, where they trade up or trade off products. 

“Homeschoolers zip through books, and when they start the first book, they may read every book in the series,” she said. “They might not be able to afford two new books, but might buy one new and one used one.” 

Simon encouraged retailers to take part in their own version of a growing trend available in 24 states called Little Free Libraries. The concept is for people to pay it forward and take a book for free and then return another book. She envisions stores using it to promote outreach or evangelism by suggesting customers buy a single copy of a book for themselves and donate one for a library or ministry. 

“It’s a form of upselling that is growing,” she said. 

Simon reported strong general market interest in books that combine adult and teen interests, as well as interest in dystopian or counter-utopian titles. The Christian market has positive alternatives to The Hunger Games and other general market books, but customers need to be able to find them, she said. 

Simon said the core Christian message is still that “we are passionate about connecting children to Jesus Christ.”

Foreign publishers, retailers, suppliers and distributors encouraged to ‘be consumer-centric’

A panel discussion during the convention pondered the “myriad of challenges” facing international publishers, retailers, suppliers and distributors.

During CBA and Christian Trade Association International’s (CTAI) inaugural International General Session: International Business Vision, Chris Johnsen, founder of Christian Art Distributors based in South Africa, moderated a panel that discussed findings from an international business survey conducted by CBA and CTAI.

Panelists included Paul Bootes, managing director of Koorong, Australia’s largest Christian retailer; Modupe Ehirim, president of the Christian Booksellers Association Nigeria; Thomas Tang, general secretary of Christian Communications in China; and Melvin Rivera Velázquez, interim head of the new global Bible publishing unit of the United Bible Societies.

Johnsen noted a “myriad of challenges” facing suppliers and retailers outside North America, including the weakness of foreign currencies versus the U.S. dollar, a plethora of online and mobile options for shoppers, print-on-demand publishing and the continued growth of digital books.

“Christian retail has come to a fork on the road,” Johnsen said. “The day and age of the traditional retailer is over. We cannot determine the channel anymore. We must be consumer-centric.”

Comfort Tonkumoh Isokrari, managing director of Wisdom Books in Ikeja, Nigeria, agreed. 

“This made me understand what happens in other countries. We have very similar challenges. We’re all in this together.”

Mark Hutchinson, president and CEO of British Columbia, Canada-based Blessings, was the featured speaker during CTAI’s Global Worship Gathering.

Hutchinson developed a multimillion-dollar carpet-cleaning franchise, then sold it to Home Depot before entering the Christian products industry in 2006. Buying a bankrupt company with a $2.1 million debt, he took Blessings from a chain of 27 corporate and franchise stores to three physical outlets and an online store whose sales volume is a third of the larger former group.

Speaking from Matt. 25:14-28 about the parable of the talents, Hutchinson said: “We are all in sales; we are all farmers. Our goal is to sow seed, and sow it well where we have been planted.”

He then shared several ways how Christian retailers and suppliers can be good stewards in business, including identifying their biggest fear, being flexible, living their passion, crafting a marketing message and being creative.

“Serve well, but not pushy,” Hutchinson said. “Humility underpins everything. … People buy people before any product or service.”

Michael Berghof, publisher of Copenhagen Publishing House in Copenhagen, Denmark, said Hutchinson gave “a very well-thought and practical introduction to what it means to be Christians in business.” 

“It’s not a journey without struggles and problems, but a journey where God is with us and wants to use us as His good stewards,” he told Christian Retailing.

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.

The owners of Pennsylvania-based charismatic publisher Destiny Image recently formed Nori Media Group (NMG) as the parent company of their expanding divisions.

Nathan Martin, who has been with the company for 13 years, most recently serving in the role of chief financial officer, will serve as president of NMG to oversee and support the divisions Destiny Image, Sound Wisdom and Destiny Image Films.

Owners Donald Nori, Jr. and Jon Nori made the move "based on the need for strategic development."

Martin is "like a brother to me," said Nori Jr., who will serve as NMG's CEO. "I believe he will not only pick up where I left off, but I am confident that he will take all ventures of the Nori Media Group to new and exciting heights, only increasing the company's momentum for the years ahead."

Destiny Image is home to New York Times and USA Today best-selling authors, including T.D. Jakes, Cindy Trimm, Jackie Kendall, Bill Johnson, Tommy Tenney and Myles Munroe.

"We've taken on several new challenges—curriculum development, church market growth and digital products," Martin said. "We're cutting back the number of titles released per month and focusing more time and marketing efforts on each new release. I am truly excited about the opportunities ahead of us.

"My vision is to unlock the potential of our employees, authors and company, and by doing so, see our readers genuinely impacted by the quality of resources we produce," he added.