Operations & Systems

loyalty. People want other products besides Christian products, and when both are available at the same place at the same or better prices, consumers can save a shopping trip by buying where it’s all available.

To reverse the trend, how far should Christian retailers go when it comes to carrying other family-friendly merchandise? If their customers—more than half of them parents—are looking for Disney or Barney videos and music, they may not find them in Christian stores, so why waste a trip?

Customer-centric was Advance’s primary theme, and from Independents Day to Beemer’s closing FOI session, it was apparent that connecting with customers the way they want will drive Christian-retail success. But Beemer emphasized it will take significant retailer innovation and creativity to do it. More challenging, Christian retailers must balance their concept of ministry against what consumers are asking for and expecting from their retailers.

Independents Day featured five Christian retailers who took this concept and either changed traditional store concepts or designed stores from the ground up to adapt to customer needs: Cliff Goins of Sincere Milk (Chicago), Scott Brinson of Saltmine (Overland Park, KS), Kelly Maigaard of Wellspring (Des Moines, IA), Clay Belcher of Signs of Life (Lawrence, KS), and Curtis Riskey of Basic Books (Oshkosh, WI). Each retailer develops specific events and programs that are radically targeted to local consumer and church needs, but some created entire store concepts around customers. For example, Belcher’s presence in a college town prompted him to pursue being an agent of cultural change through arts and literature, offering an art gallery in Signs of Life and hosting literary discussion groups. Brinson’s Saltmine is the result of his being struck by a statistic that 70% of children come to Christ before they’re 17 years old, but many fall away after college. The Saltmine’s apparel and music categories appeal to youth with extreme pursuits— being a place for them, yet offering Christian worldviews and support.

Beemer said Christian retailers must look at what’s in their stores from the customer’s perspective. If half your customers are parents, why not carry children’s activity books, learning supplies, and other child-oriented products?

CATEGORIES: WHERE TO FIGHT THE MARGIN BATTLE Categories are where to fight the margin battle against mass merchandisers and dis-

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counters, Beemer said. Yet Christian-store categories often reflect more what retailers want than what customers want.

Christian retailers must look at what’s in their stores from the customer’s perspective.

Christian stores are the only retail segment Beemer has seen where sales volume doesn’t jump 50% during Christmas. “Why aren’t we in the Christmas business?” he asked, obviously frustrated. Stocking merchandise that culturally defines Christmas, such as ornaments, wrapping paper, decorations—even Christmas trees and Santa Claus—could help bring customers into Christian stores, positioning them as category destinations. (The mention of Santa Claus provoked irritation among some retailers in post-presentation discussion because of the cultural icon’s symbol of commercialism and its substitution for and detraction from Christ’s birth, but others said it also could help tell the reason for the season and influence the cultural message.)

Retailers also might be missing out on broader cultural trends that often have strong links to Christian themes or experiences. Author, movie critic, and talk-show host Michael Medved pointed out in another session that films, such as Johnny Cash’s life story, Walk the Line, might find a place on Christian-store shelves.

Beemer offered numerous marketing recommendations in his research, which will be available for purchase from CBA at www.cbaonline.org this month. All of them address challenges his research identified based on what core customer groups reported about their purchasing habits and needs. Retailers seeking to build and drive traffic will need creativity and innovation to develop product categories that meet those needs, Beemer said.

This is the power of category management. When you look at categories, such as children’s video or music, you’re not looking at products and assortments, but solutions. If you’re solving a parent’s problem of providing appropriate entertainment for their children, why not offer family-friendly titles that support Christian values even

if they aren’t specifically Christian? How retailers define solutions to customer problems—the category—defines everything else: the product mix, the merchandising and displays, the advertising and promotion, the price-point strategy, and the store environment.

WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN STORE?

Much of what Christian retailers are facing is similar to what Iain Murray writes about in his book, Evangelicalism Divided (Banner of Truth, 2000). He analyzed divisions in the church-unity movement driven by Billy Graham’s international crusades and his openness to other religions and Christian denominations if people were led to Christ and sent to church. Murray asks if unity between evangelicals and non-evangelicals in church leadership is possible? Controversy in the church between 1950 and 2000 split along the lines of liberal and conservative theology, and despite all the attempts at reconciliation and inclusion, the split revealed the need to answer a key question: What is a Christian?

In rapidly changing retail where consumers increasingly have the advantage because of access to information and availability anywhere of Christian books, Bibles, music, and gifts, the question must be asked: What is a Christian store? Riskey’s Basic Book Store has nothing overtly Christian in the store name, although “Basic” is an acronym for brothers and sisters in Christ. Yet, he’s finding a need in the community for greater access to the Word and is prayerfully working with his church to hold church in his store instead of putting a bookstore in the church.

Synagogue leaders condemned Jesus for eating with sinners, but Jesus responded that He came to heal the sick, not the healthy. He goes where the sick are and touches them there. So where do Christian retailers go? Beemer’s research suggests they need to go where the customers are. That means where retailers locate their stores, what they put in them, and how they solve customer problems. AR

CBA’s retail technology & strategy manager, Eric Grimm is chairman of the industry’s Christian Retail Solutions Committee.

Questions for Eric Grimm? Please e-mail publications@cbaonline.org

March 2006 | AspiringRetail | 19