McVan Blog

The holiday season is not isolated to the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas – there are important holidays all year that provide moments for people to celebrate their faith, family, and friends in meaningful ways. Holidays are built on memories and your customers will build new memories with any of the top-quality products you are able to provide. To help you through the different holiday seasons, we compiled a retailer's guide with merchandising best practices for all holidays.

The holidays are fast approaching, and soon everyone will look for the perfect gifts for their family, friends, and loved ones! While the holiday season is the most beautiful time of the year, it can also be stressful for both customers and retailers. This year, let your shop be a haven for those hoping to find beautiful jewelry by taking advantage of the holiday rush.

Jewelry is an excellent way for your customers to showcase their religious beliefs. Necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and pendants are all simple, beautiful ways for your customers to keep a reminder of their faith close at hand.

For religious retailers with brick-and-mortar stores, it is essential to have these products displayed in a way that is attractive and easily accessible to customers. Point-of-Sale displays for jewelry are a great way to showcase your store's religious jewelry.

Selling Christian jewelry for children is a great way to keep Christian values at the forefront of your company. It can also offer parents a way to help integrate their child’s faith into their everyday life. Having Christian jewelry available gives parents options for giving their children ways to express and affirm their faith through jewelry. The ability to give reminders of their Christian faith along with fun and enjoyable pieces of jewelry is a great way to integrate moral values with material goods.

Religious jewelry has been a staple of religious communities for centuries, and the trend is still going strong today. As with any kind of jewelry, trends are always changing, and faith-based jewelry continues to adapt to the times. Choosing pieces based on popular jewelry trends is a sure way to boost your profits while providing customers with access to a special reminder of their faith.

As a retailer of religious goods, you rely heavily on your suppliers to ensure you get the products you need - and products that will sell. Building a strong relationship with your suppliers and their salesforce is a critical part of your success.

Have you ever asked yourself if your salesperson has your best interests in mind or are they just trying to land a big order?

Most people are familiar with the international bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. What if we could apply this knowledge to religious retail business? That's what we're going to do here!

As any business owner knows, success doesn't happen overnight. Rather, retailers must repeatedly apply core principles to achieve their goals. This has become especially important with the rapid shift of retail in the past decade. Consumer buying habits have evolved, with many people turning to online sources. While the religious gift shop industry is generally growing, the demographics and methods for reaching consumers will continue to change.

Fortunately, the core tenets of running a business are future-proof. Follow these 7 habits of highly successful retailers to improve customer service and grow your business for years to come: 

Many of our retail partners have voiced their concerns about store spending. Logically, reducing spending seems like a simple way to lower business expenses. However, cutting costs in the wrong places can harm your customer experience, which damages your business's reputation. Thankfully, it’s possible to avoid these pitfalls and set your store up for success – smart spending is the key.

It shouldn't come as a surprise, but most religious retailers have to make it work with a small team behind them. During our 2018 Religious Retail Survey we found that 82% of retailers have less than five employees.

With a lean crew of five employees, it’s of the utmost importance to develop a team who is friendly and knowledgeable about the products you offer. This type of unique product understanding and personal communication is the experience that shoppers look for in a store of your size. Customers have the option of shopping online or from other larger stores. What’s the secret to creating a memorable experience for visitors? How do you accomplish this?

“Slow moving inventory” might be every retailer’s least favorite phrase. Most retail stores have been faced with unsold merchandise at one point or another. Many retailers perform their due diligence with market research and sales forecasts, but still end up with unsold inventory. Over the years we've gained a fair amount of knowledge from our religious retail partners. Today, we'll shine the light on how to sell slow moving inventory.

With religious products, many retailers purchase too many products around the holiday season. Your store's excess product can cause a slow down in cash flow, a lack of prime shelf space, and result in the lost opportunity cost of showcasing more popular items. Online retailers have the same issues, which can lead to a storage room filled to the brim with unsold merchandise.