With the economy continuing in a tailspin, a growing number of Christians retailers are stepping up their efforts on the Internet to generate sales.

Embracing the cyberspace commerce that has been partly blamed for the demise of many mom-and-pop bookstores, some brick-and-mortar stores have converted to an online presence in order to stay in business.

Ben Kish—who opened The Master’s Loft in Winston-Salem, N.C., in November 1996—“moved the store” to the Web beginning in February. Kish said the 10,000-square-foot store and a warehouse would concentrate on sales of church supplies and discipleship materials. The new enterprise now has six employees, down from 25 full- and part-time workers.

“We opened the Internet site back in 1999, but did not do a lot in sales until around 2004,” he said. “Since 2004, we have seen significant growth in Web sales—significantly more than retail sales.”

Kish added that his online sales grew November-January, but his in-store sales were down from the same period in 2007 and 2008.

“This can be explained by the same channel shift that is impacting many retail categories,” he said. “Many of our customers are now using the Internet as a primary source for our products.”

CBA President Bill Anderson said it was difficult to determine the number of Internet-only Christian retailers “because of the ease with which someone can create an online presence with no real inventory or business structure.”

“Many of these may be in the re-sale business, but not necessarily be a full-service retailer,” he said. CBA estimated that there are “about 40 serious Internet-only Christian retail stores at this point,” Anderson said. “A few brick-and-mortar stores have transitioned into Internet-only, but I wouldn’t say it is a clear trend.”

Anderson added that Christian retailers “need to provide a seamless experience between their online presence and in-store experience.” CBA will offer a workshop on the topic during the International Christian Retail Show in Denver next month. “How to Supercharge Your Web Site” will be presented by Bill Goodyear, president of DeeperCalling Media—which handles Internet retail sales for approximately 800 retailers, most of them Christian stores.

Goodyear said DeeperCalling’s clients’ online sales grew 6% during last year’s fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2007.

“We were extremely pleased with the result (because) during 2008, a number of our clients had run into bankruptcy or fiscal failure, which meant we had a smaller retailer base, and yet achieved a higher sales result,” he said. “We believe the current market offers one of the best opportunities for online retailers. … Online retailers do not have the overheads associated with physical retailers. In this economy, not having to worry about premium retail rents, energy and employee costs is giving online retailers a major advantage.”

Goodyear, who has been commissioned to conduct an online marketing study by CBA, projected a 15% Internet sales increase for DeeperCalling clients this year.

Meanwhile, Innovative Inc.—a leader in providing Web sites to retailers—recently acquired Ministry Web Stores (MWS), The Parable Group subsidiary that provided online commerce for Christian retailers and ministries.

Parable CEO Steve Potratz said MWS was sold “in order to continue a strong focus on Parable.com and other essential services to both our member and franchise stores.”

“Parable.com will handle online retailing … by driving traffic to the local stores,” he said. “Just like in the past, each of our 64 franchise stores will be using Parable.com as their Web site.”

Innovative founder and CEO Larry Haege said with the acquisition of MWS, his company’s Signature Websites now provided online services—including e-commerce—to 700 Christian retailers, with Web sites for more than 400 Christian stores.

Haege said his company’s Christian retailer clients saw 8.5% Internet sales increase over Christmastime, with some stores reporting 32% online sales growth during the holidays compared to the same period in 2007.

Christian Book Distributors cut staff

While Internet sales seem to be booming, the Web is not immune to the economic ills. Christian Book Distributors (CBD) announced in February that the Peabody, Mass.-based company would cut 37 positions, reducing its staff to 528 employees.

“In this environment, we felt it was critical to put the company in the best position for the long term,” CBD President Ray Hendrickson said. “It is very difficult to part with CBD staff members, but we are offering a generous severance package that takes into consideration each employee’s length of service.

Although CBD had fared better than most in the industry, “it is important ... to position the company to be as healthy as possible,” Hendrickson added. “Eliminating 7% of our current staff, we feel will right size our workforce and position us properly in the current environment.”

The catalog arm of Christianbook.com, CBD is the largest religious catalog company in the world, sending out more than 60 catalogs to millions of customers each year, company officials said. CBD’s customers have access to more than 200,000 books, Bibles, CDs, DVDs, gifts, toys and games.