Christian Retailing

Parable retailers find success with Christmas promotion Print Email
Written by Christine D. Johnson   
Thursday, 11 December 2014 05:47 PM America/New_York

12DaysofChristmas-ParableGroupChristian retailers participating in the fourth annual 12 Days of Christmas Sale, developed by The Parable Group, reported increased traffic, new customers and sales just

two days into the promotion. The 12 Days of Christmas Sale, which started Monday, Dec. 8 and will run through Saturday, Dec. 20, features “one bestseller a day for 12 days at a ridiculously low sale price.”

Retailers reported that the 12 Days of Christmas daily deals promoted in their catalogs, Red Plum inserts, promotional in-store signage, email marketing and Facebook campaigns by The Parable Group are effectively driving repeat consumer traffic into their stores.

Barry Berglund from Parables of Omaha, Nebraska, was one retailer who has success with the holiday sale.

“My customers are not just buying the 12 Days of Christmas items, they are coming in with their shopping lists,” Berglund said. “My customers are also checking out the upcoming 12 Days of Christmas items while they are in the store.

“I have the 12 Days of Christmas Sale set up at the back of my store so customers have to walk through the store to get to it,” he added.

Duck Dynasty Season 5 [2-DVD set], regularly $19.98 but on sale for $3.97, hit the No. 1 position on the group’s best-sellers list Dec. 8—selling eight times as many units as the second best-selling product.

Day 2 featured The Donkey in the Living Room ($9.97 on sale), which hit No. 1 on the group’s best-sellers list Dec. 9. It sold nearly 13 times as many units as the second best-selling product that day.

“Our 12 Day Sale is doing very well—all featured products so far have sold out,” said Debra Allen from Gifts of Joy Parable Christian Store in Lima, Ohio. “We even ordered in heavier than past years.”

Laurie Potratz from The Parable in San Luis Obispo, California, said that “the 12 Days of Christmas Sale has helped to increase our store traffic and transactions. Our average ticket is up almost 20%, and we are up 12% for the month! We’ve seen a lot of new customers coming in to take advantage of the 12 Day deals, and I’m selling out of the featured product every day.”

Parable Group had high expectations for Day 3 (Dec. 10) featuring Jesus Daily by Dr. Aaron Tabor on sale for only $5. Tabor, creator of the No. 1 most active Facebook page, Jesus Daily, shared Parable Group’s deal with 27 million fans. The posts linked to a Parable Facebook landing page listing all Parable partner locations with the $5 deal. Jesus Daily landed atop the group’s best-sellers list Dec. 10—selling 21 times as many units as the second best-selling product.

“We always appreciate the synergistic impact that comes with a traffic-driving marketing campaign, retail stores that are prepared for the traffic and the additional efforts from the authors to sell their books,” said Randy Ross, sales and marketing specialist for The Parable Group. We were thankful for the attention Aaron Tabor and Jesus Daily gave to the 12 Days of Christmas Sale.”

All 12 Days of Christmas deals are vendor-supported with post-sale credits. Parable is monitoring and analyzing participating store data daily and reporting to vendors on behalf of their partner stores.

“The 12 Days of Christmas Sale has been a big success for the last three years, and already stores are seeing the response exceed their expectations,” said Steve Potratz, president of The Parable Group. “It’s an effective promotion that provides customers with quality products at tremendous prices while also motivating them to shop multiple times before Christmas to score the next great deal.”