FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jana
Muntsinger, 615.376.9442
jana@mmpublicrelations.com
Super
Saturday 2002 Proves to Be a Super Success
Enthusiastic
Retailers Report More Than 50% Increase in Sales
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA–-Parable Member Stores’ Fourth Annual Super Saturday Sale, held February 23, was an overwhelming success. This year, 123 stores participated in the one-day national sale. According to the sales statistics submitted by more than 100 stores, 97% posted a significant increase in sales, with more than half of the stores (60.5%) reporting sales gains of 51% or better. Nearly one-third (31.7%) of the stores saw their sales jump by more than 101% over a typical Saturday in February.
Sponsors for the nationwide event, held exclusively at Parable member stores, included Chordant, Thomas Nelson and Big Idea/Word Distribution—offering a great mix of music, book and Bible, and video and children’s product. Sponsors provided prizes that were awarded throughout the day, plus grand prizes—libraries of selected product—that were awarded at the end of the day.
Enthusiastic retailers included Randy Ross, music buyer at Wellspring Christian Bookstore in Des Moines, Iowa, where sales volume doubled its usual Saturday sales. “We did $28,000 for the day, with almost $10,000 in the music department alone,” Ross said. When Ross arrived at the store a half-hour before it opened, about 75 customers were already waiting outside in 40-degree weather. When he left in mid-afternoon, the store had already posted $16,000 in sales, and Ross expected the traffic to slow down. But it never did. Between 3:30 and 9 p.m.—typically a slower time, even on a major sale day—Wellspring posted an additional $12,000 in sales. “Our store is within two miles of Borders, Barnes & Noble and Best Buy, but we’re the ones who had the business that day,” Ross said.
Results from the Parable Super Saturday survey show significant sales increases in all product categories at more than half of participating stores:
· 63.8% of the stores tallied an increase of 51% or better in music sales;
· 62.5% reported sales gains of 26% or better in books, with nearly half (45.2%) posting a 51% or higher jump in book sales;
· More than three-fourths (76.7%) of participating stores saw an increase in Bible sales; nearly half (43.7%) reported sales gains of 26% or better;
· Gift sales increased at 74.9% of the stores, with 39.3% reporting a gain of 26% or better;
· Video sales were up at 82.4% of the stores, with a little more than half (51%) showing sales increases of 51% or better;
· 80.4% reported an increase in sales of children’s product, with 36.1% posting a gain of 51% or better.
Super Saturday 2002 release, page two
Echoing the across-the-board enthusiasm is Steve Herrod, owner of Corinth Christian Store in Frankfort, Kentucky, a small city with a population of only about 45,000. Even so, Corinth more than tripled its sales on Super Saturday. Sales jumped from an average of $2,500 to $8,700. “That’s about what we’d do on a really good day at Christmastime,” Herrod said. “We’ve tried to be a regional store, to draw from our county and the surrounding area, and with Parable’s help we’ve been able to accomplish what we set out to do.”
Every hour throughout the day, customers in each participating Parable store were given the opportunity to win product. Three grand prizes were awarded in each participating store; they included a set of 10 Thomas Nelson titles (by such authors as Max Lucado, John Eldredge, Anne Graham Lotz, and Hank Hanegraaff); a library of 18 Chordant CDs (by artists including Petra, Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline, and Michelle Tumes, plus a bonus, the WoW Hits 2002 DVD); and the complete collection of 16 VeggieTales videos plus the Silly Songs With Larry CD from Big Idea/Word Distribution.
By far, Parable’s Super Saturday insert to the February sale catalog proved to be the most effective tool for getting the word out about the event; 57.7% of participating stores ranked it highest, with clerk-to-customer invitation running a distant second (12.5% ranking it highest). Also getting high scores from retailers were promotional items provided by Parable, with more than half the stores reporting particular success with posters, shelftalkers, and bagstuffers. Parable promoted the event through kits provided to participating retailers that included coupons, banners, merchandising bags, radio spots, sample newspaper ads, free CD samplers and a comprehensive strategy guide.
Parable is a California-based marketing and retail services company that provides marketing materials for more than 1,000 Christian retail outlets located in the U.S. and Canada representing over $400,000,000 in annual sales of Christian products to consumers. Parable Interactive provides the infrastructure and technology to more than 250 retailing and ministry websites. The Parable Group serves a select group of 275 member stores.
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