Pubtrack, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's (ECPA) new generation sales data system, has been unveiled to a “great response” from publishers and retailers, according to the association's Information and Education Director Michael Covington.

Replacing the ECPA's STATS (Sales Tracking Analysis Trends Summary) service, which launched in 1999, with a wide range of improved and heightened features, Pubtrack has been demonstrated to Advance attendees this week and goes into general operation Monday.

Currently more than a dozen publishers and a total of about 500 Christian retail stores are signed up with the program, which provides peer-to-peer access points to allow suppliers and retailers to confidentially swap detailed reports.

Originally to have been launched last year, Pubtrack was put on hold for discussions on sales data practices between the ECPA and CBA, which introduced its own system, CROSS:SCAN (Christian Retail Official Sales Statistics), because of retailer concerns that STATS data was finding its way to competitors outside the Christian retail channel.

In the meantime, Pubtrack's user interface has been “completely redesigned,” making it “more accessible, more useable and much more secure,” Covington said.

With many one-click features, Pubtrack has been specifically designed to improve data collection and analysis for both publishers and retailers while simultaneously protecting data integrity and confidentiality, he added.

Publishers and retailers will be able to communicate sales and performance data through a retailer-driven, customized interface, giving access to proprietary and customizable sales reports and product information to enable users “to make more meaningful decisions about product demand and replenishment.”

Heightened security features mean that retailers determine who sees their data and how. Products can be tracked by ISBN throughout the supply chain from publisher to store. “Pubtrack is unlike any other data collection and interpretation program available in the Christian bookselling industry,” Covington said.

Although the ECPA is not disclosing details of the retailers' part of the program, the Munce Group and Parable Christian Stores are among those who are supporting store involvement with Pubtrack.

Publisher participants include Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, Tyndale House Publishers, Barbour Publishing, B&H Publishing Group, Howard Books, Standard Publishing, NavPress, New Hope Publishers, Meredith Publishing (Jordan House), Cook Communications Ministries and Good News Publishers/Crossway.

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