New technology and old-fashioned charm are the two big needs—if the Christian retail industry is to see business blossom in the coming year.

That is the consensus from a wide range of suppliers, retailers and service providers who reflected on the state of the industry for Christian Retailing and highlighted the importance of digital delivery and customer service excellence for the future.

Stores must secure a place in the growing market for e-books, many agreed—though some expressed concern that a proposed industry-wide digital delivery platform had still not been announced, almost six months after it was identified as top priority by CBA, at the International Christian Retail Show.

Even when an e-book solution is introduced, retailers will need to “figure out how to add value in the distribution equation,” said Mark Kuyper, President of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), which has been working with CBA on the digital platform effort.

Stores would have to “market themselves as a source for digital content in a very crowded market dominated by Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple,” he added. “These are not small challenges for publishers or retailers.”

While technology may be able to level the playing field for stores, it will be their customer service skills that will ensure victory, according to many.

“People will not get in their cars and spend their hard-earned dollars in our stores if they are staffed by dispassionate amateurs being paid minimum wage who treat their work as 'just a job,' ” said David Almack, U.S. director of CLC International, with nine retail and church stores. “This is a signature moment in time that calls for people to see what they are doing as a vocation and calling.”

Read the full report in the January 2011 issue of Christian Retailing magazine.

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