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Your cash wrap can be a ministry-driving sales machine

You hear it on TV every day. If you’re like me, you even predict it and chime in with the spokesperson, “But wait, there’s more!” While we laugh, deep down we expect to hear it. Let’s face it: We love a great deal.

If you learn the art and science of how to structure and provide last-minute incentives to your customers, you can add 3% or more sales growth to your store with this one simple, yet powerful strategy. More importantly, you have the opportunity to help your customers grow in their personal walk with Christ and/or equip them to help someone else grow spiritually. In addition to the ministry potential, imagine what 3% sales growth means for your profit, since it can be done without adding any incremental expense to your operations!

First, let me address the scoffers who are already struggling with my 3% claim. Follow me on some simple math. The average CBA customer spends $32 per transaction on average (Note: If you are well below this average transaction, go back to the first Retail Successentials column. Based on a $32 average transaction and the goal of adding 3% in sales, we must add 99 cents to every transaction. Another common way of looking at this is to add $5 to just two out of every 10 transactions. I have seen this strategy applied with successful results time and time again.

Through the years, retailers have tried virtually every possible way to increase their average transaction. The reason many efforts to increase average transaction fail is that they only result in convincing the customer to buy one item rather than another, resulting in little, if any, increase in the total amount spent. So, let’s focus on the one place in your store where you have the highest likelihood for success, and then give you two strategies to drive 3% incremental sales. Of course, I’m referring to how to avoid this pitfall by engaging the customer only when ready for checkout. Naturally, the best place to do this is the point-of-sale cash wrap. Observe the following tried-and-true practices—cash-wrap essentials and suggestive-selling approaches—and watch your average transactions grow:

Let’s first review how you can turn your cash wrap into a ministry-driving sales machine!

Look at your cash wrap again as if for the first time. Make sure you view it as the customer does. Is it easy to approach? Is there room to set down the items the customer wishes to purchase, or is it so cluttered that checking out is a chore? Is this area a bulletin board for the community, or does it help you to place life-changing products into the hands of your customers at the last minute of their visit? What products are presented there—those that are just the right size to fit or those customers have a need for or interest in? Take time to reorganize your P.O.S. cash wrap so that it is inviting and convenient for your customers.

Evaluate the products you have on display at the P.O.S. They also should not be stocked elsewhere in the store, but rather be a final new offering that catches customer attention. They should be mass-appeal products. If you have multiple P.O.S. terminals, the same products should be positioned at each one.

Price the products at your P.O.S. at $5 or less. The $5 or lower price point has been tested across hundreds of thousands of customers and found to be the sweet spot. When setting your pricing, remember to focus on margin dollars here and not margin percentage. Adding none of an item with 50% margin to a transaction gets you nothing, but adding the same item at 30% margin to many transactions will add sales and profit to your operation.

Help the product sell itself. Invest in some eye-catching POP that screams the price and calls out the “why buy me” message. Restock the product several times each day.
Next, let’s talk suggestive selling. One of the most powerful ways to appeal to every customer’s desire for “but wait there’s more” is to hand-suggest a “too-good-to-refuse” offer. Follow the steps below and you will find great success.

Keep special-offer product only at check out. This select product should only be behind the counter and presented as this month’s special offer.

Stick to $5-or-less pricing. This pricing strategy not only applies here, but is critical. Moreover, reach out to various suppliers and encourage them to partner with you on this “plus sell” initiative. If they see incremental unit volume of a title and know that you are focusing on margin dollars and not just your normal margin percent, many will join you gladly by providing titles as they have room to sell them to you at a deep discount. Be prepared for some vendors to not give the discount on the front end, but they may ask you to focus on titles you have deep quantities of on hand and offer you a back-end credit so that you will not return the item, but instead sell through it.

Train your staff to feel comfortable talking about the offers. Practice using simple scripts so they are ready to address your customers with the offers at checkout.
If executed with care and tenacity, these steps can turn your cash wrap into a self-service sales machine and add that last-minute item to each customer with integrity.”

NEXT ISSUE: We will take a look at how to prepare for the holidays to maximize spiritual impact and store profit.

Vineyard Columbus Bookstore in Westerville, Ohio, recently reached out to members of their community to provide a job-training program for the disabled. Teaming up with Central Ohio’s Greenleaf Job Training Services, the store was able to train several individuals in the work of a bookstore clerk.

Bookstore Ministry Coordinator Jeff Baker said he and his staff were able to offer job training skills, which included dusting and cleaning the store, alphabetizing books by author’s last name, burning sermon CDs and mastering basic computer skills.

“I was approached by a Greenleaf job trainer, who told me about their company that helps Ohioans with disabilities to get training for jobs,” Baker said. “They weren’t necessarily training for a job in my store, but we were training them to see what it would be like or to see if they could function in a role of a bookstore clerk.”

Greenleaf is a for-profit social enterprise that serves a niche segment of the Ohio population. The organization’s clients include veterans, individuals with learning disabilities, those who have suffered traumatic brain injuries, people with visual or hearing impairments and others who face significant barriers in gaining employment.

“I thought this was a good way for us to reach out to our neighbors and to be a light in the community,” Baker said.

Baker and his staff worked with each individual and his or her job coach. Each training period lasted two weeks, but didn’t require a lot of time from the manager.

“We trained them on each function,” he said. “The job coach and the person we trained would then go and complete those particular jobs in our store. It turned out to be a win-win situation. We got to know them, and they had the opportunity to ask questions and finish each of the tasks. It went really well.”

The 3,200-square-foot store typically employs one full-time staff member along with four part-time clerks. A team of 37 volunteers assist the store staff.

“The main role of our bookstore clerks is to have a heart for discipleship and the gift of hospitality, to be warm and welcoming to people who come into the church and into the bookstore,” Baker said.

North Florida’s The Loft bookstore relocates as congregation led by Stovall Weems grows

The Loft Café & Bookstore in Jacksonville, Fla., now occupies a new facility—a move necessitated by the expansion of Celebration Church. After the 2013 move, the church campus doubled its seating capacity to about 3,000.  

 Trevor Olesiak, The Loft Bookstore & Café Director, said the store operated in a 250-square-foot space on the old campus.

The new store-café operation “was something that was designed and built in a three- to four-month period, and that really speaks to our incredible designer, so we’ve been operating in this new location for a little over a year,” Olesiak said.

The store and café share the same space, and a storefront roll-down gate leads into the church lobby.

“When we put that gate down and our doors are closed, the bookstore and café are modularly shut off from the rest of the building,” he said. “It allows us to do private events without having to open the entire building. It also enables us to be extremely connected to the building during a weekend experience.”

The café and store share the same colors, with uniform cabinetry and mobile fixtures.

“The vibe of the café and bookstore really matches the entire vibe of the whole campus,” the store manager said. “That’s something I’m really proud of and enjoy. It makes a big difference for us. It doesn’t feel like one environment in the church and then you walk into the bookstore and it seems totally different.”

The store has a youthful, nontraditional feel. Unlike many stores,  there are no endcaps, for instance.

“It’s all cabinetry and shelving that was designed to fit within the environment and theming,” he said.

The store is named The Loft because the space is two stories with an upstairs area. The second floor features open seating for about 250.

“It allows us to do cool events and things like that, from author events to summer movie nights,” Olesiak said.

One recent example was the launch of The God-First Life (Zondervan), the latest from the church’s pastor, Stovall Weems.

The Loft is primarily open Sundays and Wednesdays to meet the church’s needs.

The store’s philosophy is “to resource the kingdom, but we also want to fund ministry, so most of our items are set at retail price,” he said. “We do different promotions and sales, but we don’t do a lot of heavy discounts. Part of our story is that by shopping here, it’s maybe a dollar more expansive than it is on Amazon, or at Walmart, but you’re funding ministry.”

New focus highlights service, marketing and connecting with customers

First Christian Church of Huntington Beach recently relaunched and rebranded its bookstore and coffee shop, which was formerly a combined concept called Main St. Coffee & Books. Now, the California bookstore and café are two separate entities—Crossings Christian Books and Gifts and Red Car Café.

Jon Michell, director of retail and food services, believes that branding the store and café separately gives them their own identities. The rebranding started last fall.

“In the random conversations that we’ve had with guests as they are walking through, they love the change, the fresh idea and the new look,” Michell said.

Michell said the changes are subtle with new graphics and logos as well as fresh paint. A three-quarter wall separates the two spaces, which make up an approximate 1,000-square-foot area.

Crossings stocks a mix of Bibles, study tools, devotionals, fiction and nonfiction titles as well as music and gifts.

When the café and store were one entity, “they had the same hours, and one crew did everything,” Pastor of Communications Matt Walker said. “We had cross-trained baristas that were also working in the bookstore, and we felt like they both needed their own identity to excel with what we are trying to do, so we split the two entities.”

Now, anytime anyone looks up a product, whether online, on social media or by phone, they are dealing with two separate places, he said.

Since the relaunch, there is one part-time bookstore manager who oversees the store along with a dozen volunteers that act as frontliners and handle day-to-day operations. In the café, there are about five paid hourly employees.

The store serves as a central location for staff and volunteers aiming to impact the community.

“People can go anywhere and buy books,” Walker said. “They can go online to websites like Amazon. They can find it at other retailers they like, but we’re offering those connection points for our guests. We are their local bookstore. We offer a level of service and kindness that we feel really goes a long way for what we’re doing at Crossings.”

Walker said that the church as seen a “huge difference” with the rebranding.

“Because we are branding our bookstore as a bookstore and a gift shop, we are gaining higher traffic, people are more intrigued because of the separate branding, and we are finding people are seeking out a bookstore that is an actual facility rather than something that’s online with no connection points,” he said.

The rebranding also allows for more direct promotions for each fan base such as a customer loyalty program in the café or a newsletter with new releases.

“We’re finding with Red Car Café that our coffee and café business is also increasing, due to the fact that people are finding what they want where they want it,” Michell said. “We felt like we were trying to do too much with one staff. By separating the two, we are able give them more individualized attention and the community is definitely responding.”

How to drive traffic with store marketing—but not until you’re ready

Be sure you’re really prepared for guests before inviting them

Retailers must get their house in order before inviting guests to their store. It’s a simple principle, but sometimes we get the cart before the horse!

I am an adamant believer in never inviting guests to a party without first making sure the lights are on, the door is open, the table is set, the food is ready and directions have been given, so I held off on addressing marketing and advertising until we had tackled such foundational issues as omnichannel, value proposition, service and selling.

Unfortunately, our email inboxes and mailboxes are filled with invitations to visit stores that have invested in marketing before they got their house in order. Why? They were  desperate for traffic and sales. If you have ever responded to an ad only to find out it is not in effect yet, it has expired, the store is out of stock on the item or the staff was at best uninformed and at worst rude, then you know why one of our Retail Successentials is to never drive in store traffic before you are ready.  

But when your store is ready and you spend a dollar on advertising, it may just produce a sale.

1. Reach the customer who is already in your store. Your first and most profitable advertising dollar will always be the one you spend reaching your current customers. Did you know that only 20% of customers who shop the average CBA store received a catalog, but 100% of them will see your product displays and point-of-purchase (POP) materials? So, don’t skimp on investing in visual merchandising and POP materials. 

Take time to create “feature” displays on endcaps and gondolas near the front of your store. Stock them with seasonally relevant product and use clear, single-price messages like 20% off, $5 off or $9.99 each.

Last but not least, consider creating a “bounce-back” piece that you hand the customer with their change at the point of sale (POS). Giving them an attractive, time-sensitive offer that’s good only in the next 30 days is a great way to bring the customer back sooner than the 90-day average you are probably experiencing with most guests.

2. Institute a loyalty program. You can go as basic as a “punch card” or all the way up to one that is integrated into your POS. You can also find third-party solutions that are run through your credit card swipe reader.

Start by finding out how often your average customer comes in and then how much he or she spends per visit on average. Next, create incentives that reward frequency, amount purchased or both.

3. Capture email addresses and/or cell numbers.Having this customer contact information allows you to engage in inexpensive electronic advertising such as e-blasts or text messages. Make sure you also have adequate privacy statements and opt-in policies in place.

Focus all of your communication on events, new product releases and special offers to increase the number of times your customer shops with you each year and/or the amount of money spent on the average transaction. If you are a novice here, consider reaching out to a company that can help guide you or simply use a third-party email/text service to jump-start your results.

4. Use direct mail to bring known customers back to your store.Segment your mailing list into at least three groups and create offers as follows:

?New customers who shopped for the first time in the last 30 days. The goal here is to get them back in within the next 30 days. Since most customers do not shop within 30 days of their last purchase, be sure to provide them with an aggressive offer. Think margin dollars. Wouldn’t you rather make $5 in margin on a $30 transaction than to make 40% on a sale that may never happen?

?Valued customers. These are people who have shopped with you two or three times in the last six to nine months. Your goal is to get them to spend more on their next purchase than they normally would. Give them an offer good for the next 60 days that offers 20%-30% off a much higher transaction.

?Old customers. These are people who have not shopped at your store in more than nine months. Send them a postcard that looks like it is worth $5. Set a minimum purchase amount of $20 to get them to think of something to buy in this price range before coming to the store.

5. Remember that customer acquisition is your store’s lifeblood.Consider reaching out to acquire new customers with mass distribution of catalogs in your local newspaper (free-standing inserts) or placing a coupon in one of the “marriage mail” envelopes that companies like ValPack offer. These options give you the ability to target the ZIP codes in your area, so buy the inserts accordingly.

6. Employ no- or low-cost forms to reach your community.Consider  writing a book-review column for your newspaper’s religion editor, doing on-air reviews with a Christian radio station, creating events like Christmas shoebox collection days and getting the local media to promote it, or handing out “Be My Guest” cards that give your customers a free book just for coming into your store.

In closing, take time every day to make sure your store looks and smells great and that your staff is ready to serve. Don’t forget to dedicate the day to the Lord!

NEXT ISSUE: Learn how to use an age-old retail secret to drive 3% to your comp-store sales.

Bill Nielsen is a 25-year Christian retail veteran having served in C-level positions with Family Christian Stores, LifeWay Christian Stores and Berean Christian Stores. Nielsen is now president of The Equation Team, a consulting firm that specializes in retail and publishing.

Literary agent explains disparity between popularity of fiction and its slow retail sales

The Christian products industry is experiencing some hesitancy with regard to Christian fiction. Some publishers are nervous about the current state of affairs regarding Christian fiction and are in a wait-and-see mode before they attempt to expand their fiction offerings or try new things. Two Christian publishers either downsized or suspended their fiction programs last year. 

On the other hand, there are some Christian publishers who are truly excited about the growth potential of the category and are taking an aggressive stance toward it.

Similarly, some Christian retailers are doing quite well with fiction, while others are feeling lukewarm about it and, sadly, some are not doing well at all with fiction.

So, an important question has come to the fore: Is Christian fiction dying? Well, no, but it is interesting to explore the reason behind such diverse opinions on the subject. How can one group see great potential and another see little or none?

SOURCE OF CONFUSION

 Here is why I think Christian fiction is causing some publisher and retailer confusion right now:

First and foremost, fiction is the segment of book publishing and retailing most affected by e-book sales. In some cases, 50% or more of unit sales on a particular title can be digital. Because e-books are cheaper than printed editions, overall revenues to the publisher will decrease or remain flat while readership increases. For a particular novel, digital sales might be 50% of the units and 20% of the revenue. Because of e-books, a new business model eventually will emerge, but it takes time for publishers and retailers to adjust to new realities.

Retailers can easily recall how the decline in physical product sales were affected by music downloads (iTunes started in 2001), video download/streaming and audiobook downloads. The migration to digital delivery in music, video and audio resulted in a corresponding drop in physical product sales at retail. But knowing the cause doesn’t make it easier to handle.

The second major contributor to confusion about fiction is the relatively small number of titles published. Even in good years, the total output of new Christian fiction titles by the main Evangelical Christian Publishers Association members is not more than 250-300 annually (not counting Harlequin Love Inspired and Heartsong Presents mass market lines).

R.R. Bowker data from a couple of years ago indicates that the entire U.S. publishing industry (not including self-publishing) released more than 250,000 new titles annually, of which about 40,000 are novels. The data on Christian publishers is not completely accurate, but not long ago, the total output of books from Christian publishers was around 10,000 new titles annually. If Christian publishers followed the same ratios in fiction as the general market, there should be more than 1,000 new novels each year, not 250-300. Not every category growth problem is solved by doing more books, but in this case, I believe that factor has something to do with it.

Similarly at retail, when a category suffers a slowdown, reducing shelf space for it only hastens the decline. The huge disparity between fiction in general market retail and that in the Christian market would leave one to wonder whether some are giving up too early on it.

The final reason for confusion about fiction is there are a limited number of genres published by Christian publishers. Christian publishers cannot publish in as many genres as a general market publisher. For instance, erotica will never be a category in Christian publishing.

Combine these three things—eroding physical sales due to digital delivery, a small number of titles and relatively few categories—and maybe we can understand why it is rather confusing time in the Christian fiction category. 

HOW TO HELP

Beyond the usual store practices of stocking current best-sellers and new titles, what can retailers do about it?

• Begin with inventory. Carry the classic backlist, not just In His Steps or The Pilgrim’s Progress, but also authors who made the category successful in the last 30 years—Janette Oke, Frank Peretti, Jerry Jenkins/Tim LaHaye, Bodie and Brock Thoene and Francine Rivers, to name a few.
• Add a new genre of fiction that heretofore you have not carried or promoted. This is to grow your customer’s taste for a wider type of fiction.
• Consider rearranging the fiction section by genre to help readers find new authors. Perhaps employ a variation of the umbrella categories that the Christy Awards uses.
• Encourage fiction reader groups among your customers. They will help show readers how fiction can communicate spiritual truth in an effective manner.

Steve Laube, founder and owner of the literary agency with which I work, was a retailer before getting into the publisher side of the equation. In 1989, his Berean store in Phoenix was named CBA Store of the Year. I asked him to give his perspective on how retailers can sell more fiction:

“The key was that great story that got people telling their friends. Word-of-mouth. Second was a staff that was knowledgeable about the various fiction offerings. Hand-selling is still a critical piece of what makes the physical store a destination. Hand-selling is a form of word-of-mouth. For example, when Mrs. Sally came in the store each month and asked us, ‘What’s new?’ we could direct her to the latest and greatest because we knew the type of stories she liked and the type of stories that were on our shelves. That principle has not changed over the years. I am always attracted to the part of any bookstore that has a ‘Staff Recommendations’ section. I find it fascinating to see what other people think is worthwhile to read.”

Keep in mind that if readers don’t find what they need in the Christian store, they will look elsewhere, and personally, I’d rather they find a lot of great reads among titles from Christian publishers in Christian retail stores.