According to a story in today’s Tampa Tribune: mass-market retailers such as Wal-mart, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble, and Sam’s Club have latched on to one of the hottest areas of retail: Christian products, “a $4.2 billion industry on the upswing”. The competition has gotten so intense that the large retail chains are putting local Christian bookstores out of business. “Across the country, 271 merchants specializing in religious products closed shop in 2003… figures are not in for 2004… [but] we expect to stay on the same track… It’s not for lack of interest… Mass-market retailers have discovered Veggie Tales videos, the Left Behind blockbuster novel series and the Christian rock group Third Day, just to name a few.” Also we are seeing the emergence of national Christian chains like Lifeway and Family Christian Stores. So, is America on the verge of a “Great Awakening”-type revival? Any comments?
Hasn’t this been going on for some time? The WWJD thing was over a decade ago. Perhaps we are seeing some sort of revival- I imagine these things move in cycles- but I sort of hope that a modern civil society can head things off before it gets too out of hand. Though I am probably being too optimistic.
People can, and should, spend their money however they see fit. Just keep religion out of our common courts and schools, and we’ll all be okay.
Stonebow: *Hasn’t this been going on for some time? *
Yes, I think so. But apparently the mass retailers are just now really latching on to it.
What has this to do with selling Veggie Tales in Wal-Mart?
It’s just about the money. People, for better or worse, are spending more and more money on “Christian” products and the big stores want a piece of the action. More spending, because more products are available, because people have discovered there’s a market for this type of stuff.
I heard an ad on the radio here in PA the other day for an insurance company that is for a certain Christian branch ONLY. I was wondering why a company would exclude other paying non-Christian customers.
That part doesn’t bother me. It’s roughly equivalent, in my mind, to the insurance policies lodges sometimes offer members, or credit unions being set up by individual churches.
Also, being from Pittsburgh, I’m well familiar with a local institution there, the Slovak Savings Bank.
It could be because it is not a company, per se. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is a “fraternal benefit society” and, as such, is “required by law to be nonprofit, and to conduct charitable, benevolent, social, and educational programs and activities to benefit their members and the communities in which they live.” You can find loads of others at: http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Organizations/Fraternal/Benefit_Societies/ . (My favorite is the Alliance of Transylvanian Saxons because the name is so cool!) Most of these date back to the late 19th century with roots in helping newly-immigrated members of a specific ethnic or religious group, helping especially with “final expenses.”
I have no idea. Here, we had a food service company that billed itself as a ‘Christian Food Service Company.’ I don’t have any understanding of what that means, but I know that it works as a marketing strategy (several people on the search committee were impressed by it) Their food sucked, though.
As for my earlier comment- I was unsure as to the OP’s motivation, so just wanted to throw out the thought that while I find this all very stupid, others’ buying habits don’t really affect me, so i don’t really care. It’s only when this sort of thinking infects our shared institutions that it bugs me. Sorry if it was unclear.
Actually, I read an article about this in *Newsweek * about a week ago. It seems that because Barnes & Noble, Walmart, etc. are carrying more Christian books, it’s making it harder for Christian bookstores to stay in business. I’m a devout Christian but, I very seldom go into a Christian bookstore and when I do, it’s usually to not to buy a book. Frankly some of the titles on their shelves are unnerving at best! :eek:
I don’t think this is a sign of a new revivalist movement in and of itself; indications of such things have been around since the Moral Majority first came on the scene if not before. I’d say it’s more a sign that Timothy LaHaye and company have been making money hand-over-fist and the larger chains want a piece of it.
CJ
They sell books in Christian bookstores? Who knew? I guess they must be in the back somewhere, behind all the kitschy knick-knacks.
I don’t think we’ve ever seen Christian bookstores going out of business before like they are now. The Tribune article mentioned four local stores that are closing shop, all of whom were doing just fine in the era before Tim LaHaye etc. They should still be OK even if they lose Left Behind, Veggie Tales, and Third Day product sales to the mass-marketers. These products have only come out in the last few years; some of these Christian bookstores have been in business 30 or 40 years. What were they selling before? Has their entire traditional inventory been taken up by the mass-marketers? Bibles, music, Christian fiction, study guides, biographies, videos, teaching aids, trinkets, inspirational materials, choir robes… ? If this is true there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye.
Like this charming number, designed to appear hip to today’s youth?
We have a long distance phone company that advertises here called One Christian Voice. Their commercial talks more about patriotism than either phone service or religion, but it skeeves me out nonetheless.
My uncle is in the Christian music biz - his company manages solo artists and bands. It’s a poorly-kept industry secret that some musicians prefer the Christian market because there is a built-in fan base, less competition, and you can give your fans a religious guilt trip if they don’t buy your t-shirts.
Sort of an oddity that if you run a specialty store today (like a christian bookstore, or comicbook store, or whatever) it’s in your interest that your market segment not not become to successful, as that attracts the big boys (Wal-Mart, Best Buy, whatever) to join in and drive you out of business.
The grammer in this sentence fragment is an oddity all its own. It should read “it’s in your interest that your market segment not become too successful”
The people responsible have been sacked.
If I had to guess, I would say the reasons would be the explosion of Internet sites carrying religious gear. There are more net retailers of this stuff now - it’s just the mom and pop shops having problems (unless they’re selling on the web too).
Also, chain religious bookstores, Zondervan in particular, have long been competing with the independent stores.
I’ve heard a number of ads for Christian mortgage companies. It would be great if they followed Biblical teachings concerning usury, but I’m betting they don’t.
I don’t have much to say about the debate, but I thought I’d share this story about the demise of a Christian Bookstore and how it was much more profitable when the store sold porn instead.
You’d probably win. I’d say they would be not unlike the “Christian” food service above - probably poor quality or service, but claiming to be Christian is a good marketing ploy since there are plenty of devout Christians who feel obligated to support Christian businesses.
I’m Catholic, and I’ve learned to be very wary of businesses that advertise themselves as Christian. I’ve had some bad experiences with them- the most notable was the accountant that my mother took her tax return to, paid him $200 dollars and… the guy cashed her check and never did her taxes. She called several times, her calls were never returned. When she finally sent me two months later to pick up her return and information, along with the refund of the money she’d paid, I found that the firm was playing loud Gospel music in the waiting room. I had to sit for nearly a half hour and wait for them to cut her a check, even though they knew in advance that I was coming.
I wonder if people like this are actually churchgoing types who at least nominally believe the Gospel or if there was a scene like this…
Owner: How can we make our company more profitable without actually putting any money into creating a good product and giving good service to our customers?
Manager: Well, we could put the word “Christian” in our ad. It would cost a little more, but it would be a helluvalot cheaper than actually improving the quality of our product and paying a couple of customer service people?
Owner: Why would that increase profits?
Manager: Well, it’s like this. A lot of church pastors strongly encourage their congregations to support Christian businesses, plus there are quite a few people who assume if a person’s religious, they’re going to be honest. So if we advertise that we’re a Christian company, a lot of people will feel morally obligated to do business with us instead of the guy up the street, plus some others will figure we’re less likely to screw them than our competitors are.
Owner: Hey, that’s great. I want the new ad on my desk tomorrow morning. Oh and stop by Wal-Mart and see if you can pick up a couple of religious knickknacks and maybe a cheap Gospel CD or two. If we’re going to advertise that we’re Christian, we ought to look the part.
How timely–I just got a spam for “Christian Mortgage USA”: for “Christian homeowners” looking for that lower rate.
It’s produced by “We are Brilliant Marketing.” Someone should also tell those guys about the Biblical teaching that “pride goeth before a fall.”