somersault

This article by DailyFinance (@daily_finance) says that, “from a city planning perspective, churches that occupy dead mall space are godsends.”

As malls across the country empty out, it's no wonder their remains are being scavenged. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a third of America's indoor malls are currently in “financial distress.” Retailers are leaving indoor and strip malls for popular outdoor “lifestyle centers,” those cutesy, mixed-use developments that resemble the Main Streets their predecessors helped destroy.

Meanwhile, it is no news that Protestant churches in the American suburbs are growing and franchising. The Hartford Institute for Religious Research defines a megachurch as a Protestant congregation with more than 2,000 members, and estimates that their numbers have grown from 350 to more than 1,200 since since 1993.

Most of the churches DailyFinance identified that reside in malls or former malls fit the Institute's description. According to its 2008 survey, which got responses from about a third of the nation’s megachurches, most practice a generic form of evangelism, view themselves as contemporary, and regularly adjust worship styles to meet demand. While individual church practices vary, many are “seeker friendly” in that they use technology, pop music, and relatable sermon topics to reach non-churchgoers.

Read this in full.

Christian retail stores are changing the way they display product. Christian media-on-demand kiosks by Integra Interactive, called the myMEDIA BurnBar, are now in 500 locations across the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, and England. According to its website

the myMEDIA BurnBar™ enables retailers to virtually stock thousands of digital products and have them burned on-demand by customers. It’s the world's largest retail-based burning kiosk system despite focusing on just the CBA channel. The kiosks sell music CDs, Bible software, video, games, and audiobooks.

Digital products in virtual displays are game-changers in the world of retail.

Be sure to visit a Christian bookstore during the nationwide event, Christian Store Week (@CSW_2011) from Oct. 1st through the 10th.

For more than 60 years, independent and chain Christian retail stores have represented the crossroads of faith and community for all denominations and walks of life. Also a safe haven for Christian consumers, these wholesome, family-friendly environments provide the best selection of the highest quality products in the Christian market.

It’s in honor of these retailers’ steadfast commitment to create a store culture of dependability and outstanding customer service that we celebrate Christian Store Week. The top brass among Christian publishers and music companies will be working together to host Christian Store Week celebrations across the country this October.

Several publishers are sponsoring the celebration, including the Common English Bible (@CommonEngBible).

Visit the official Christian Store Week website.

Also read Christian Retailing's (@ChristianRetail) "Christian Store Week unites 500 retail outlets."

An article by Piet Levy (@pietlevy) for Religion News Service (@ReligionNewsNow) says that “when the Borders bookstore chain — the nation’s second-largest — finishes closing all of its stores this month, Christian retailers see a window of opportunity in the death of a mega-competitor that once threatened to put them out of business.”

With 70% of Christian retailers reporting flat or declining sales last year, and overall sales dropping 3% according to the Christian retail association CBA, proactive Christian booksellers, marketing agencies, and the 1,200-member CBA are taking any opportunities they can.

After Borders announced its liquidation in July, Colorado Springs, Colo.-based CBA sent an alert to member stores: “Post Borders Growth Strategy: As Borders Shuts its Doors, Christian Booksellers Should Open Theirs Wider.”

The letter offers suggestions for retailers including discounts for customers with Borders loyalty cards and trying to lure former Borders customers into Christian stores.

Read this in full.

Also see the article by Lynn Garrett (@LynniGarrett) in Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly), "After Years of Loss, Only the Strong Christian Stores Survive," and The Atlantic's (@TheAtlantic) article, "Is the Death of Borders Really Good for Independent Bookstores?".

Journalist Vicki Barker (@vickibark) reports on NPR (@NPR) about the closing of The Travel Bookshop (@travelbookshop), made famous in the movie Notting Hill. The founder of the shop says people are more interested in taking the store’s picture than coming inside to buy a book.

Read and hear the report in full.

According to research by Cone (@ConeLLC), 89% of US adults see the Web as a trustworthy source of information to verify offline recommendations of goods and services and 85% go online after being recommended a product to aid the decision-making process; 85% also say their purchase intent rises when they discover complimentary feedback.

“Consumers want reassurance before opening their purse strings, and personal recommendations alone are just not enough to guarantee a purchase," says Mike Hollywood, Cone's director, new media.

Read the Warc report in full.

Read the Cone summary.

Read the Cone report (pdf).

Reporter Anita Wadhwani says in The Tennessean (@tennessean), “In the past 12-18 months, the religious publishing category has seen its sales jump faster than those of almost every other category of books. The book publishing industry overall has remained relatively healthy during the recession, with a nearly 6% annual growth rate from 2008 to 2010, according to the Association of American Publishers.”

“It’s a great time to be a Christian publisher,” said Byron Williamson, a 20-plus-year veteran of the Nashville Christian publishing industry who has published best-sellers by Newt Gingrich and Max Lucado and launched Worthy Publishing (@WorthyPub) last year.

Independent Christian retail stores, although feeling some pressures from big chains such as Walmart selling religious products, remain a “pretty vibrant” outlet for sales, with 1,500 stores currently selling 30% of all Christian retail products, including music and books, said Greg Bays, senior vice president of sales and marketing for EMI CMG Distribution, a division of EMI Christian Group, a recording company that is now teaming up with Worthy Publishing to distribute books.

The recession may actually have benefited the religious publishing industry, publishers say.

Read this in full.

Do you agree with this rosy outlook? Comment below.

The business journal of The Wharton School, Knowledge@Wharton (@knowledgwharton) interviewed Wharton professor Marshall Fisher, co-author of The New Science of Retailing: How Analytics Are Transforming the Supply Chain and Improving Performance. Among the biggest challenges retailers face is matching supply with demand. Fisher says retailers have the data they need to manage supply chains more efficiently and increase sales and profits.

Watch the video to learn the types of data that are most important for retailers to collect, how they can use this information to identify home-run products, and why the retailing industry might be missing as much as one-third of potential sales.

See the interview on the Knowledge@Wharton site.

A story on NPR (@npr) explains the importance of mannequins in the retail environment.

"As online shopping grows and grows, it seems that people coming into the stores are even more and more interested in a tactile experience," says Craig Childress of Envirosell (@Envirosell), a New York City-based firm that studies consumer behavior. He says a well-designed mannequin will invite shoppers to interact with the merchandise.

"It's really amazing to us how static retail environments are," Childress says. "So anything that actually has perception of moving, or is actually moving, really gets attention very quickly."

While it may start with action, a successful mannequin has to ultimately reflect something that customers want to see in themselves, according to Fusion Specialties' Peter Huston. "A well-designed mannequin will always be far more aspirational than it is realistic. And so you walk a fine line there," Huston says.

Read and listen to the story in full.

Here’s a crazy question: Should bookstores incorporate mannequins into the shopping experience they give their customers?

ICRS (@ICRShow) (#ICRShow) met in Atlanta July 10-13. Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) says, “CBA — the association of Christian stores, which produces the show — reported total attendance of just under 5,000, a 6% increase over last year’s convention in St. Louis. The association itself has seen some growth through new memberships, but store attrition continues. Most publishers say the show is still an important place for them to have a presence, even if scaled back, but they are approaching it with new strategies.” Read the full report.

In another article, PW says, “There was less doomsday talk this year from exhibiting publishers--as with BEA, they have accepted that the show no longer has the same purpose, but most say it is valuable for reasons other than selling books. Read the full report.

Christian Retailing (@ChristianRetail) writes, “Given the economy and other factors affecting retailing in general, ‘I’m very encouraged that so many retailers found this show to be beneficial because this is a time when you need to go to this type of event to challenge yourself,’ said CBA Executive Director Curtis Riskey.” Read the full report.

On the CBA Industry Blog, read Riskey’s “Message to honored guests after successful ICRS.”

US Director of CLC (@clcusa) Dave Almack (@davealmack) wraps up the show with personal reflections on his FaithLit blog:

1.    Less Panic

2.    Less Hype

3.    More Collaboration

4.    More Innovation

5.    More Productivity

Read the blogpost in full.

See photos from ICRS. 

If you were at ICRS this year, write your comments about it below.