Details of an industry-wide platform to help brick-and-mortar Christian retail stores secure some of the growing e-book market could be announced soon.

CBA Executive Director Curtis Riskey told Christian Retailing that the e-book wish-list solution drawn up following discussions with retailing and publishing leaders had been shopped to possible providers with hopes that the successful candidate might be announced this month.

The need to help stores offer e-book purchase options to customers was identified as a top priority at the International Christian Retail Show in June, since when the CBA-led working group has been looking to come up with a solution that fits as broadly as possible.

"The problem is not having a solution," said Riskey. "Everyone has one, it seems. Anyone can buy an expensive solution, but not all of our retailers--including some of the larger chains--can afford to do that. Our prayer is to provide an infrastructure that allows industry cooperation, while enabling individual stores to meet their customer needs and expectations."

The working group had to "determine if a cooperative solution is in the best interests of participating retailers and publishers," Riskey added. "Solutions have complexities that may not work for the entire industry. However, if the industry can aggregate its resources to develop a practical solution, and it makes technical and financial sense, we will move toward implementation."

Read the full report in the November issue of Christian Retailing.

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