The summary discusses how gift giving in Christian retail is becoming increasingly important and expanding into new categories. It provides insights from retailers and suppliers on trends in the Christian gift market, strategies for selecting and marketing gifts, and challenges they face. Popular gifts mentioned include cards, jewelry, kitchen items, home decor, and more. Margin issues and keeping up with trends are cited as challenges.

1. 24 CHRISTIAN MARKET / JANUARY 2017 / WWW.CBAONLINE.ORG
The giving of gifts is a ritual going back thousands of
years that has significant impact on relationships and
even cultures. While experts cite social, psychological, and
philanthropic reasons for why people give presents, retailers
know Christian store shoppers often buy gifts to share
an uplifting or biblical message. Gift categories today are
expanding and playing a more prominent role in the life of
Christian retail.
“It used to be that our books provided the business and gifts
were a sideline; now it’s becoming a gift business that allows us
to continue to sell books,” says Katrina Skinner, CEO of Sacred
Melody & Gift Shop in Syracuse, New York.
Christian MARKET recently spoke with retailers and gift
suppliers to learn more about the inspiration behind Christian
gifts, their buying and selling strategies, and the challenges they
face.
VISION
Christian gift manufacturers bring a unique perspective to the
product they create.
“Our mission statement is our vision: to bring glory to God
and inspiration to people in all walks of life,” says Sherry
Morris, marketing manager at Carpentree. “As we review what’s
happening in the market, we design into our vision. Our goal is
to be on trend and on message for our Christian stores.”
Peter Graham Dunn, founder, CEO, and board chair of P.
Graham Dunn, hopes his “dealers can provide non-commodity
products that are a one of a kind, produced in the USA, and
that provide for the retailer markup margins that may not be
available through the merchandising of commodity items. Our
gift items aren’t as readily purchased online as are commodity
products. Our customers like to touch, feel, lift, and scrutinize
our products before they make the decision to purchase.”
Skinner agrees “gifts are different as you have to touch and feel
them. It’s more conducive to a shop where staff is really hands
on. We also carry many more general market ideas. It’s a very
delicate balance, but gives us an extra ministry.”
Changing lives is why Jaylen LaGrande, chief steward at the
3:16 Collection, is in Christian retail. He sees gifts as a tool
of inspiration, so he carries “a large selection … that uplifts
hearts, encourages believers, and plants seeds of salvation for
nonbelievers.”
STRATEGY
For Carpentree, occasions drive a lot of what they make. “The
research bears out the need for offering a variety of gifts for
all occasions,” says Morris. “We also look at demographics. A
design has to be more than cute. It needs to speak to an age
group for whom it is targeted.”
Skinner also relies on research, tracking gift categories carefully.
Her approach takes into account how product looks on the
shelf. “There’s a balance between buying by company, price,
type, and look. Some product we stock because it sells, but it
doesn’t look pretty, so we put it where we have to take fans to
it. Other product we buy because it looks good. We’re buying
more décor items that make the store look good and that are
selling well, as long as we keep a good price point.”
Ashleigh Steele, gift buyer for Baker Book House in Grand
Rapids, Michigan, tries to “keep things modern and current
while still keeping a Christian message and meaning. I actually
keep in mind three or four different people that I know—and
who have very different styles and tastes—and try to envision if
they would buy the product or not.”
When ordering, Skinner always starts “with our staple
companies, and then [we] look to be on trend with new
product, interesting things, or items that make you smile or
laugh. We’ll pick a few items from a new company to try out
(usually a good ‘try’ purchase is $200-$500 max). For the most
part, we don’t sell very deep on items; variety seems to work
better in our market.”
Dunn’s approach to gifts is fed by information. His company
closely follows competitors, secret shops retailers, studies trade
publications, and travels to China at least once a year to get
ahead of what’s being imported by major importers.
TRACKING
Retailers and suppliers may have different approaches to
giftware but both have similar goals: to inspire and reach
people. It’s important to Skinner to select vendors of integrity
and mission.
FOR LASTING IMPACT
Books &Gifts
B A L A N C E
By Lora Schrock
jancm.indd 24 12/8/16 2:00 PM

2. CHRISTIAN MARKET / JANUARY 2017 / WWW.CBAONLINE.ORG 25
“I look for local companies whenever possible to build
community,” she says. “We look to build relationships with our
salespeople and that drives a lot of our vendor purchases.
“Inventory tracking has allowed us to build our gift department.
I started using ISBN codes and tracking gifts 17 years ago, and
it has made all the difference. Time and again we’ve looked at a
product and thought it sold well or didn’t, and the numbers told
a different story,” she says. “You can’t run on intuition alone; it
has to be checked and backed by fact.”
TRENDING
When it comes to what’s popular in giftware, Morris says the
Christian market follows general market trends overall, “but
sometimes there are special events—movies, books, etc.—that
are outside the typical gift focus.”
Going strong in 2017, according to Dunn, will be repurposed,
distressed, rustic, antique looks with a lot of black and white,
grays, and limited bright colors. Also popular are pallets, wood
boxes, coasters, photo frames, and peeled paint. He observes
“that ‘soft inspiration’ is in demand in both Christian bookstores
and in the secular market.”
LaGrande believes Christian retail needs more unique gift
items. “I would love to see some stuff with new Scriptures.
The Bible has such a wide range of verses yet we see the same
Scriptures on everything.”
Steele also wants to see more variety in Bible verses on product
and would like “an inspirational line that comes from some
of today’s best-selling authors.” For Baker Book House, she
says plain wooden crosses, newer concepts, (i.e. Calvary cross
necklaces), and modern flair items, such as chevrons, arrows,
and the Boho look, are selling well.
Popular in Skinner’s store are cards, jewelry, baby items, kitchen
product, angels, lighthouses, small magnets, pocket tokens,
bookmarks, Bible covers, home décor, scarves, lotion, and soaps.
CHALLENGES
LaGrande believes one of the biggest hurdles he faces with gifts
is margin. “Being a retailer in the mall and competing with so
many other stores, sometimes the 50 percent margin (nearly 40
after paying shipping) is too slim.”
“Margin is a big one that I don’t think has caught up in the
Christian market,” agrees Skinner. “Smaller stores just cannot
survive on 40 to 50 percent margin. We’ve been pricing items
minimum 55 percent, but moving toward 60 percent whenever
possible, and customers are paying. At 50 percent, by the time
shipping and discounts are factored, the margin really drops.
When companies pre-price items, we can’t upsell. General
market gifts are more used to 60 to 70 percent margin, and we
really have to move that way in the Christian realm.”
While stating many suppliers do a good job, Steele believes
“keeping up with trends can be a hit or miss when it comes to
gifts in Christian retail. Sometimes Christian vendors are stuck
in an era, or they get on track a day behind everyone else.”
From the suppliers’ side of the table, Morris says her company’s
challenge is always to be watching the trends. “The market shifts
quickly, so to stay ahead we have to be diligent to watch both
the market shows and all available research to know what might
be coming.”
Dunn notes that while his company’s success has led to
unexpected challenges, such as keeping up with the space
requirements to accommodate the manufacture of domestic
goods and maintaining efficiencies of production, he always
keeps in mind retailers and shoppers.
“The purchase decision is driven both by emotion and
affordability,” he says. “We strive to hit each of those hot buttons
with the consumer.”
With more than 20 years in magazine and book publishing,
Lora Schrock is owner of Editorial Answers, LLC,
www.editorialanswers.com.
PANTONE’S TOP 10 COLORS
Pantone’s annual forecasting of the top colors for spring
2017 are reminiscent of nature. “One of the things that
we saw this year was a renewed sense of imagination in
which color was appearing in context that was different
than the traditional,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive
director of the Pantone Color Institute.
The colors for this spring are led by Niagara (a
denim blue) followed by Primrose Yellow, Lapis
Blue, Flame, Island Paradise, Pale Dogwood,
Greenery, Pink Yarrow, Kale, and Hazelnut.
jancm.indd 25 12/8/16 2:00 PM