The president and CEO of the retailers group outlines the new services in his latest exclusive online Christian Retailing column at the magazine's Web site. The initiatives are driven by the organization's commitment to providing "Real Help for Your Business," the theme for this year's International Christian Retail Show (ICRS).

The programs aim to "address the changing needs of our members and provide solutions that help our retailers more effectively compete in an ever increasingly competitive environment," Anderson said.

Among the initiatives are a slate of Christian retail channel exclusives that "raise consumer awareness and give our retailers competitive advantage" through programs and products available only in Christian retail. They "elevate Christian stores in the market, give consumers more reasons to think and shop Christian retail, and position Christian retail as the ministry initiator in the community," Anderson said.

The first two of four channel exclusives planned for 2009 have been "very successful," with retailers selling more than 340,000 copies of the Bibles for the Troops, and more than 132,000 copies of Surviving Financial Meltdown.

Another CBA program is CBA Connect, a Web-based, e-business platform with a learning management system enabling retailers to train a frontliner for less than 5 cents an hour. CBA Connect officially launched at ICRS in July, but Anderson says that through a "soft launch," 650 retail students are already using the platform, with another 3,000-plus scheduled to join this month.

Click here to read Bill Anderson's full "Industry Insights" column in the Features section.