SECTOR REPORT: RETAIL — Faith-Based Data

Parable Group, the Christian product seller, will soon be able to track customers across all channels

For years, multichannel marketers have wanted to be able to track customers who find a product in their catalog, get additional information from the Web site and then drop by the retail store in the local mall to actually purchase the item.

The Parable Group, which specializes in marketing Christian products, expects to have such a system in place just before the Christmas season.

According to Jim Seybert, vice president of business development at the San Luis Obispo, CA-based company, the system will give each of its almost 4 million customers an identification number to use whether they buy from one of Parable’s more than 300 affiliated independent Christian bookshops or over the Internet.