Leading Bible suppliers on maximizing God's Word at Christian retail

Bibles, the cornerstone of Christian publishing, remain the best category in which Christian retailers can differentiate themselves from other channels.

Christian Retailing Editor Andy Butcher discussed the challenges of the category and what suppliers are doing to help with representatives of five leading suppliers:

Gary Davidson, senior vice president and publisher, Thomas Nelson's Bible Group

, senior vice president for Bible production and ministry, Crossway

Todd Niemeyer, vice president for trade sales, Zondervan

Jeffrey Smith, director of Bible marketing, Tyndale House Publishers

Brian Vos, director of Bibles, Baker Publishing Group

Read edited excerpts here. To listen in on the entire conversation, click here.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: It seems that Bibles are seeing something of a renaissance as an area of focus for Christian stores. Do you agree?

SMITH: I would absolutely agree. ... Bibles are really the DNA of how many Christian retailers started a business. ... If (Christian stores can be) the Bible-selling place ... it can be used as a strategic advantage.

NIEMEYER: I would definitely echo that. We've seen continued interest in Bible training and how to merchandise the Bible department. There is continued confusion from the consumer side of things when they walk into a Bible department, and we are consistently looking for ways to help the consumer select the (right) Bible.

DAVIDSON: I think the opportunity (is there) for Christian retailers ... They have that knowledge and that core belief in the Word of God. ... Among all the other products they sell, (the Bible is) that one thing that can set them apart and bring customers back again and again because they have that kind of expertise.

VOS: I think publishers have a responsibility to help the CBA retailer independents. ... When it comes to the consumer walking through the door and looking at all these Bibles we as publishers have put on the shelves, we need to help (stores) with training, we need to help them with ways to merchandise their department to reduce the confusion.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: There's an almost overwhelming selection of Bibles—styles, editions, translations. How can stores keep on top of things?

JAHNS: I think there is something like 7,000 different Bible editions and it's hard for anybody to get their mind around that. I think they (need to be) very watchful of what's selling well, but also be introducing new things all the time to become part of their core.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: How closely do you work with retailers in initiating new editions?

DAVIDSON: We're working harder and harder to get consumer research on the different styles we bring out, especially line extensions, because we want to be as close to the center core of our audience and what they are looking for (as possible) and not bring out things that are just going to sit there and waste inventory and shelf space.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: What do you offer stores in terms of training and education on product?

SMITH: We have an integrated training program that uses both online training and a CD that the store associate can take home and use at their leisure. We also have manuals. ... It's just vital for Christian retailers to have that strategic (product knowledge) advantage from a service standpoint because if it is all about self-service, I think we're going to lose.

We have to be in tune with our customers, we have got to know what their needs are and we really need to be wise in what we select. Core inventory is absolutely vital. In a tight economic environment, we've almost got to view products as blood money, missional money, and to tell a retailer to take in a great deal of good product means they are going to end up sacrificing very limited economic resources on the best product.

VOS: The sales reps are really critical in the training of stores and communicating about the product. We publish resources that focus on Cambridge Bibles and high-quality Bibles and also information about the God's Word translation. But as far as communication to the stores and training on the product and also the feedback from the stores to us, the sales rep really plays a critical role. We had an instance recently where we had feedback from accounts that their readers were looking for children's Bibles in the King James Version and so that was really informative in directing some of our publishing activities.

JAHNS: We have been involved in several of the industry initiatives for training over the years, some of which I think have been helpful and some we've had to go back to the drawing board on ... but that was for the general Bible category. We also produce online and hard-copy training tools, especially for ESV (English Standard Version) Bible products.

NIEMEYER: We have also been (part of) the industry initiatives. We've had an online Bible training program for several years now. I want to encourage some creative thinking on this whole thing. We educate the frontliners so the frontliners can educate the consumers. But what could the stores do, what can the retailers do to educate the consumers? I know with Home Depot they have their classes on how to build a deck. Where is the model for how to buy a Bible? Where's the model for handing every consumer that walks in the door (a handout about) the 10 common questions that most people ask when buying a Bible?

DAVIDSON: We have, as the other publishers do, online training, videos, DVDs. We are in the process of expanding our Web site to help educate people on the Bible. I think the future will hopefully be on the Web, where we can keep it current and fresh and it not be something that we launch and then three years later it's kind of stale.

We have all those tools now, but we are not sure how effective they are as far as, does the store use them? I think that the struggle for all publishers is how do we train the stores better to sell our product. It would be nice if there was one comprehensive thing that we all have, our own translation charts, all of those things are available.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: We are in a time when people are very price conscious, but are stores discounting too much on Bibles?

VOS: Because of the price pressures, we had been in the mind-set for a couple of years that we needed to always focus on the lowest-priced Bibles, even with Cambridge, and we learned that we need to always present the best Bibles first. I would like to see more emphasis on the quality and the value and not always on the lowest price, but that's somewhat of a unique perspective with the high-quality Bibles.

NIEMEYER: It's important to have promotions, but I think it comes to a point where you kind of devalue the brand.

JAHNS: There are Bibles that are priced very inexpensively for various purposes—for outreach and other things—but many people are coming to purchase a lifetime kind of Bible and so they are very willing to invest in a good-quality one. I would like to see more of those carried, even if they are in small quantities.

SMITH: I think that when we are driving Bibles into a commodity zone, in essence we are hurting each other and hurting Christian retailers by cutting margin.

VOS: We are setting an expectation for the consumer. If we keep doing it and keep doing it, the consumer walks into the store and immediately goes to the sale Bibles and not necessarily the Bible that they need.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: Some of the recent Christian retail channel exclusives have been centered on the Bible. Are there plans for any more?

JAHNS: We are still getting some results back from our Share the Good News at Christmas (ESV New Testament), I know that somewhere between 700,000 and 800,000 units were delivered to homes and we felt like it was a great way for retailers to connect with churches and for churches to connect with their neighbors. We would like to figure out ways to make that available for other occasions or certainly on an annual basis.

NIEMEYER: We are currently looking at an exclusive for some of the marketing groups and a couple of other things. For the past several years, we have done a graduation Bible that has specific graduation packaging, and at the end of the time frame, you can take that packaging off and it becomes just your typical compact. Another thing we are doing, we have come out with The Case for Christ Study Bible with Lee Strobel, and we are doing samplers specifically for CBA with, hopefully, the opportunity for the consumer to come back and purchase the entire text.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: What has been the impact in the last couple of years on the Bible categories of both audio and digital?

NIEMEYER: I think it's been a good thing for print Bibles. I think a different way of getting people into the word is nothing but good for business, as well as the CBA independents.

DAVIDSON: Well, of course, the Word of Promise was huge this last Christmas, and it does have a positive impact on our translation and the print Bible as well, so we are excited about that. Digital is coming, but I don't see it decreasing the Bible itself in the print form. People want those as heirlooms and to take to church, that sort of thing.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: Do you have any basic suggestions for stores in terms of Bible merchandising, display and promotions? For starters, where should Bibles go?

SMITH: Up front ... both from ministry impact and strategic importance. (That helps) differentiate Christian bookstores. But there is also a cash-flow standpoint. I know there is a fundamental business principle that you put destination shopping in the back and people are supposed to walk through there, but if you can get Bibles closer to the front of the store, I think, frankly, we can get a higher ring that would be advantageous to the Christian retailer.

NIEMEYER: Basic, number one, is making it easy for the consumer. Retailers should put themselves in the shoes of a consumer, walk in your store and look to see what they see. How easy or how difficult is it to purchase a Bible? The second thing is have a best-seller section for Bibles. Make it easy for the consumer, again, to see what folks are buying, what the popular Bibles are. Have a new release section for Bibles.

VOS: Part of seeing the Bible section from the customer's eyes, building on that, is also getting to know the readers as they come in and building a relationship with them—whether that be through a discussion in the store or inviting those people to a Facebook group for your store or that sort of thing.

CHRISTIAN RETAILING: Do you have a major Bible project or product coming up?

NIEMEYER: We have The Case for Christ Study Bible coming out (in March), and we're very excited about it.

VOS: This summer we are releasing a King James study Bible for boys and a study Bible for girls that we are very excited about. That is by our best-selling author Dr. Larry Richards, and then we are also working on an exciting project with a best-selling and teen author for next spring.

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