Christian retailers have reported an increase in sales for Black Friday.

Harold Herring of Christian Soldier Bookstore in Goldsboro, North Carolina, said he was “bragging on God” when he reported his store’s sales.

“Our 2014 Black Friday was 35% over 2013, which was 36% over 2012,” Herring told Christian Retailing. “November 2014 was 14% over 2013, which was 19% over 2012.”

Herring believes in sharing the good news because “the Word says we overcome the enemy (of debt and a lack of sales) by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony,” he said.

Sue Smith of Baker Book House in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was pleased with how her store ended the day.

 “Overall, I was content with where we ended up, showing an increase of 7%,” Smith said. “In projecting sales for the Black Friday weekend, there is such a fine line between being positive about possible traffic and staying realistic concerning sales. The key is to be prepared with a great inventory mix that is advertised well. Our vendors were also quite generous with supporting our promotions.”

Lorraine Valk said Black Friday sales at Parable Christian Store of St. Joseph in St. Joseph, Michigan, were better than she expected.

 She added that she was “pleasantly surprised by the number of people choosing to shop locally,” noting that her store did “pretty well” with its eight-day Thanksgiving sale.

Christian retailers utilizing Innovative’s Signature Marketing Network promotion tools reported increased Thanksgiving-weekend sales, in contrast to the decrease in spending reported by the National Retail Federation’s Thanksgiving Weekend Spending Survey.    

Some Christian retailers experienced double-digit growth in transactions and sales for Black Friday and Saturday promotions, according to an Innovative statement. Retailers reported that their Signature Marketing deep-discounted specials—featured on their endcap promotions and showcased in email marketing and store websites—drove traffic and sales during the post-Thanksgiving sales period. 

“Both our transaction count and sales were up because our special price promotions, in-store presentations and outbound marketing helped us compete and win with major retailers every day,” said Danny Vera, Christ Centered Life Store in Fort Myers, Florida. “Signature Marketing gives us the tools to build our own brand by leveraging the national brands, even integrating our online, email and in-store promotions with our marketing group promotions.”

“New products and best-sellers deeply discounted to 40% or more off retail, along with $5, $7.97 and $9.97 price point items, all supported with margin protection by our vendors are critical to our success,” said Bruce Erdel of Christian Publishers Outlet in Springfield, Missouri. “We have found it very important to promote these key products and always have them prominently signed and featured in our store.”

“With another record year for Living Room Bookstore, we are grateful to God, my daughter Kim and our team here in the store for the way we are impacting our world for the kingdom,” said Bill Sharp of Living Room in Bastrop, Texas. “Our in-store sale and new release promotions coordinated with our website, and email promotions have been very effective in driving traffic and sales for us. We take advantage of good deals every month through Signature Marketing, giving our customers the value they are looking for with service they can’t find anywhere else!”

Earlier in the holiday season, Northland Church Bookstore in Longwood, Florida, held a Fair Trade Expo, Nov. 18-25.

“We featured Ten Thousand Villages, Work of Our Hands, The Latitude Store, Claro Candles and Thistle Farms,” said Bookstore Manager Donna Kees. “We gave the congregation exposure to organizations that emphasize fair wages and treat their artisans with dignity and respect. That was the key to the expo, but we did sell a lot of really wonderful product. With each purchase, they received a coupon to use at the Ten Thousand Villages store in Winter Park [Florida].” 

The church store has hosted two Fair Trade Expos this year, the previous one held Mother's Day.

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