Zondervan is getting rid of its Symtio digital distribution service less than two years after launching the initiative to give Christian retail stores a foothold in the e-book market.

Sales of the in-store Symtio cards that enable at-home downloads have been suspended, with a new owner for the online portion of the business due to be announced soon.

A letter of intent has been signed to sell the part dealing with commerce and fulfillment services to retailers through a white-label or store-branded platform, said Zondervan spokesperson Tara Powers. The deal is due to be finalized June 25, when the new owner will be announced, she added.

Discussions are taking place about a sale of Symtio's in-store cards aspect. "Zondervan and the new ownership will honor the redemption of all cards that have been sold for up to six months following the completion of the sale," Powers said.

Zondervan decided to end its Symtio effort "because we recognize there is a broader audience for Symtio, and we are not as well-equipped as other digital-content specialists to meet the rapidly changing needs of the market," Powers told Christian Retailing.

"We think retailers will be best served by putting this business into the hands of someone with the experience and know-how to take the foundation we've established, build on it and take it to a broader audience," she added.

Launched at the International Christian Retail Show in 2008, Symtio was introduced as a "low-tech, no-tech solution to the digital issue," by Zondervan President and CEO Moe Girkins, who said the system could do for books what iTunes had done for music.

More than 500 stores carried Symtio cards, though some reported mixed results in promoting the idea to customers.

Publishers who supported the effort with titles available on Symtio included Baker Publishing Group, where David Lewis, executive vice president of sales and marketing, said: "We applaud Zondervan for trying to find a way to include brick-and-mortar stores in the digital economy. It is not surprising that it did not work, but it is a disappointment. Most people with electronic toys buy their content on the Web. It is difficult to fight that reality."

CBA Executive Director Curtis Riskey said that Zondervan had been "very forward-thinking in attempting to provide a digital model that works for Christian stores."

The retail association had been under the impression that the project would evolve to give stores a Web-enabled way to deliver digital content directly from the Internet. "While the card-sale model worked initially, consumers came to expect to purchase digital content directly on the Web, and the Symtio model was not ready to do that," Riskey said.

He added that CBA lauded Zondervan for "taking a bold step in a very uncertain and complex business environment" with the Symtio service. "Christian store retailers must have a way to connect directly with the customers they serve through their brand, whether it's in the store, on the Web or through a mobile phone," Riskey said. "There needs to be industry dialogue on what this might look like, and moving forward, retailer input needs to be included as to how it all might work."

Evangelical Christian Publishers Association President Mark Kuyper also said that Zondervan's initiative had been laudable. "Zondervan is a leading publisher because they are innovative and take risks," he said. "I'm sure they have done an analysis identifying any number of possible factors. However, one of the drawbacks of being an innovator is that you are sometimes too early for the market. I'm sure some publishers were not ready digitally, and consumers might not have been ready to embrace the concept."

Joe Questel, Symtio's vice president of business development, told Christian Retailing: "Symtio was an attempt to bring the retailers into the digital space, and we tried very hard, unlike the music companies, to bring the retailers into the e-book arena. The technology was good and it will live on."

Powers said that most of the 20-odd Symtio employees would be retained by the buyer.

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