New lines see growing appetite for more expensive, ‘quality’ items; category’s ministry value underscored

It may have been freezing outside, but Christian suppliers at the first big gift show of the year were sensing a thaw in the market when they unveiled new lines in Atlanta.

Though a winter storm meant some buyers were delayed in getting to the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market, held Jan. 12-19, several exhibitors sensed consumers warming to higher price points.

“It’s time to lift the ban on anything over $30,” said Joe Knutson, co-president of P. Graham Dunn, at the AmericasMart showcase, celebrating its 50th anniversary. “We feel that the pressure downward on price point is lifting.”

While many of the company’s new products—including vibrantly colored pens, key chains and memo pads for its personalization centers—would continue to be economically priced, “we are starting to go back to a range of higher prices,” he said. 

The company had been alerted to the shift in consumer attitudes late last year with a surge of interest in an engraved cherry-wood carving of the Lord’s Prayer retailing at $250, he said. “I’m very optimistic. While it won’t happen overnight, I see the consumer bouncing back. There’s a lot of optimism in the market.”

That view was echoed by Andrea 
McKeag, national sales manager of Dicksons, whose new Cathedral Collection of sterling silver jewelry celebrating icons from around the world, ranges from $27 to $50. 

“People don’t just want inexpensive,” McKeag said. “People want quality with a price. We think we are known for great quality, interesting pieces at affordable prices.” There was room for higher prices “if you are offering good product at good value.”

Perceived value is “still very important,” said Luke Harding, director of sales and marketing of the inspirational channel for Gregg Gift Co. and Enesco. “At the same time we are not at all shy of trying to introduce higher price-point items because they tend to drive our business in more meaningful ways.”

With that in mind, Enesco unveiled a 50-plus-piece collection of Vatican-related art with retail prices ranging from $10 to $200 at AmericasMart.

Though Lighthouse Christian Products is continuing to emphasize lower price points, the company has been developing some items with a higher ticket price, said Vice President of Sales Ed Nizynski, as he introduced 90 new SKUs.

“There’s still a lot of people in this economy who have become more conservative in their spending,” he said. “But there’s a danger—we don’t want to create a Dollar Store image—because we are in a specialty market. There are also still a lot of people with a good income who want to buy more meaningful, maybe higher-priced quality products.”

Pamela Davis, whose Davis Marketing Group hosts several Christian gift suppliers in its permanent showroom at AmericasMart, including Lighthouse, agreed that pricier purchases were restricted to “meaningful” gifts.

The mood in the market was “upbeat,” she said. “I don’t think that the recession is totally over, but stores are seeing customers spending. They are loosening up in their ordering.”

Around 40 people attended a special CBA reception at the AmericasMart event, where other Christian suppliers exhibiting in Atlanta included Abbey Press, Brownlow Gifts, DaySpring and Kerusso.

Speaker Michael Hupp, executive director of merchandising for Cokesbury stores and a member of the retailers’ association’s board, encouraged stores to look at inspirational gifts as more than just good margin.

“They have the ability to touch lives,” he said. Retailers were “totally missing the ministry value of gifts,” he said, if they just carried them for the margin on the grounds that “books is all God ever uses” to impact people “and music, on occasions.”

He also acknowledged that shifts in consumer tastes, observing how “the Amy Grant generation bought everything and anything because it was brand new,” but their children “didn’t want the stuff.”

Among those in Atlanta was Michelle Amster, a Christian retail industry veteran and founder of the Merch-It retail design consultancy, who spotlighted some of the new gift areas she saw there that Christian stores might explore in a subsequent presentation at the Munce Group’s CPE (Christian Product Expo) in Hershey, Pa.

She told stores it was “time to take a good hard look at your inventory mix and where your sales are falling off. ... You have to keep sales at a level where you can keep doing your mission.” Some niche areas like gourmet candy or upscale kitchen items, which may not be considered specifically “Christian,” could help draw traffic, she said.