I think this is one advantage that the church bookstore has over other Christian bookstores. We know what our customers are accustomed to hearing from their church or pastor. For us, our pastor uses the King James Version, so this is what the customer sees first in our Bible section.

We display by translations. Doing it this way also makes it easier to see what is selling. When you sort by study, devotional, gift and so forth, it makes it more challenging when you know that most Bibles you will sell will come from one particular translation. You would need to move around the display a lot to show your customer what their options are for the translation they picked.

We just finished our huge annual Bible sale. We offer 20% off all Bibles and 35% off for our Zoe Exclusive members. This is a big cut into the profit, but this is a win-win because most customers will purchase the more expensive Bible because of the discount, which makes the profit more at the end of the day.

I make sure I order the month before and order in quantity for extra discounts. For example, Zondervan has an endcap promotion that gives up to 60% off one item if ordered in a certain quantity. That means my profit margin is still there. Also, we used a Bible from Thomas Nelson that retailed for $2.99, with a cost of 84 cents to challenge customers to give it away. Instead of leaving a tract at the table or phone booth, they could leave a Bible. What could be a better tip for the server at the restaurant? Now, we still advise to leave a tip with it...

Chris Gupton

Services & retail manager

Zoe Bookstore

Faith Landmarks Ministries

Richmond, Va.