Retailers urged to embrace technological change

Written by Eric Tiansay

Monday, 20 April 2009 02:54 PM America/New_York

A Christian products industry veteran has urged retailers to embrace change and harness the possibilities of new technology if they are to survive.

"There's no point spending one additional minute bemoaning that publishers sell direct, that Wal-Mart carries many of your best-selling books, that Internet retailers undercut your prices and that some people illegally swap music files," writes David Amster in an "Industry Forum" column for Christian Retailing magazine.

"None of this is going to change. Debating whether it is right or wrong will not reverse it. The only thing it results in is a negative attitude."

The president of Integra Interactive, with more than 30 years' involvement in Christian retailing, says that while change is not easy, "doing the same thing over and over again rarely challenges us. Lack of competition leads to complacency and rarely leads to advances."

He adds: "If you're focusing on your competitor, you're not focusing on where you should be going. You'll never be charting your course. You'll always be reacting to your competitor's agenda."

Instead, he advises, retailers should look at ways to take advantage of things like in-store digital kiosks. "Brick-and-mortar retailers can compete, but not if they continue to sell music the same way they've always done. ... As a brick-and-mortar retailer, you simply must change your strategy or you will be irrelevant."

Read the full article in the May 4 issue of Christian Retailing.