Munce’s CPE Hershey 'exceeded expectations'

Written by Eric Tiansay

Thursday, 21 January 2010 05:11 PM America/New_York

The Munce Group’s Christian Product Expo Hershey—held Jan. 17-19 at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pa.—saw a 25% increase in sales from last year’s event, which drew 261 retailers representing 213 stores, according to organizers.

An upbeat group of more than 250 retailers and 70 suppliers took part this week in the Munce Group's Christian Product Expo (CPE) Hershey. CPE Hershey--held Jan. 17-19 at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pa.--saw a 25% increase in attendance from last year's event, which drew 261 retailers representing 213 stores, according to organizers.

"We thank the Lord for a great event where effective ministry and profitable business was experienced by all attendees-retailers and exhibitors alike," said Munce Group President Bob Munce.

Munce Group Chief Operating Officer Kirk Blank added: "It was a joy to see Munce, Parable and Covenant member stores, and church bookstores and non-affiliated independents together in one place. The past few days exceeded my expectations."

The theme for CPE Hershey was based on 15:4-6, which says in part "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus... ."

The event featured a Bible conference led by Lysa TerKeurst, president of Proverbs 31 Ministries and Zondervan and Harvest House Publishers author. CPE Hershey also featured author Sheila Walsh, musician Guy Penrod and best-selling author David Jeremiah.Additionally, there was a screening of the new movie, The Imposter, starring Kevin Max and Jeff Deyo.

"We had four DaySpring reps in our booth and we wrote a bunch of great orders," DaySpring representative Kevin Backes said. "We were busy the whole time. ... There's nothing else in our industry like CPE."

David Austin from Bridgestone Multimedia added: ""We wrote more business in the first day of CPE than we did at any tradeshow we did last year--and maybe even combined."

Munce emphasized order writing at CPE Hershey by motivating retailers with a reimbursement program that helped offset travel, food and hotel expenses based on reaching order-writing goals.

Munce serves more than 560 member stores in 49 states and Canada. Munce's CPE Nashville is scheduled for Sept. 12-14 at the Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro, Tenn.