
Did You Know?!?
The
Parable Group Has Benefits to Media…
- The Parable Group can
provide you with bestseller lists for major product categories from its
member stores free-of-charge at www.parablenews.com. Weekly, monthly and yearly bestseller
lists are available for adult books, children’s video, children’s audio,
music, adult video, software and Bibles.
- The Parable Group can
provide Christian lifestyle statistical information and customized surveys
from “Frequent Church Attendees”—including buying trends, denominational
differences, and Christian media exposure.
- The Parable Group has
the largest database of active religious consumers with more than 3.5
million names.
The
Parable Group Has Benefits for Member Stores…
- Parable is America’s
Leading Christian Retailer®, and ranks as #3 in sales for bookselling
“chains” behind only Barnes & Noble and Borders.
- There are more than 330
Parable Christian Stores across the U.S. and Canada. All are locally owned, operated and
individually named. Much like True
Value Hardware® or FTD®, The Parable Group works to help the independent
retailer survive and thrive in today’s competitive marketplace.
- Parable Christian
Stores share services such as marketing promotions, catalogs, flyers,
in-store point-of-purchase, promotional kits, consumer research, bulk
mailing processing, and an Internet information and e-commerce site (www.parable.com).
- The Parable Group is
the only marketing association that provides turnkey e-commerce sites for
member stores. For $500, a Parable
Christian Store can have a completely customized web site, including site
maintenance, fulfillment and customer service.
- The exclusive web site
for Parable Christian Stores is www.parable.com. This site provides member store
listings, promotional plans for Parable Christian Stores and e-commerce.
More than 70,000 items are available for sale on the web site. From November 1999 to December 1999,
there was a 360% increase in sales through the e-commerce site.
- The Parable Group’s
mission is to provide Parable Christian Stores innovative, Christ-centered
marketing and management tools, enhancing stores’ ministry and
profitability.
The
Parable Group Has A Rich History….
- The Parable Group has
grown from two employees in 1985 to 14 employees in 1994 to 65 employees
in 2000 and is based in San Luis Obispo, CA.
Parable Fact Sheet, Page Two
- In 1985, The Parable
Group started with two stores, growing to 50 stores in 1987. In 2000, there are more than 330
Parable Christian Stores in U.S and Canada.
- Parable Christian
Stores were founded in 1985, when Steve Potratz created a flyer to promote
his own Christian store, The Parable, in San Luis Obispo, CA. A fellow
Christian bookstore owner liked the flyer, and asked Steve to print
additional copies to use at the second store. Within the year, Steve was producing marketing materials for
10 other stores, and within two years, he and his marketing team were
creating materials for more than 50 stores.
- Parable Christian
Stores has combined cumulative store sales of more than $422 million in
1999, and a same-store sales increase of 8.5%. Parable expects cumulative store sales to top $452 million
by the end of 2000.
- In 1999, Parable
Christian Stores distributed 35-million consumer catalogs, newspaper
circulars and specialty mailers.
Circulation in 2000 is predicted to reach 40-million mailed pieces.
The
Parable Group can be reached at 805.543.2644, 3563 Empleo Street, San Luis
Obispo, California 93401, www.parable.com.
Contact Jim Seybert at Parable or for further publicity opportunities,
call Jana Muntsinger, McClure Muntsinger Public Relations, 615.370.0043.
# # #
May
2000