A top business analyst has offered a free seven-point action plan for struggling Christian retailers.

The rescue report that recommends aggressive cost control and heightened customer focus among its "disciplines of business" proposals has been produced by Cathedral Consulting Group (CCG) based in New York City.

The 13-page document, which sees a good future for Christian retailers despite the present "stress" of market challenges, was co-written by CCG Managing Director Philip Clements, a former senior executive at financial market giants Standard & Poor's, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Coopers & Lybrand.

After speaking with retailers and suppliers across the country, Clements and associate Sharon Nolt concluded in "Christian Retail Industry Research" that while there is no "silver bullet," there are things retailers can do to improve their businesses.

Among the steps they advise are paying close attention to cost control, warning that it can be "more deadly than overhead," and "an intimate knowledge of the customers and a passion for them."

Retailers need to focus on "the disciplines of business," they said, commenting that beyond external factors and increased competition, "independent Christian bookstores also tend to suffer from weak basic business disciplines."

Read the full report in the May 19 issue of Christian Retailing.