It’s a new day for retailing - even for the big boys!

A friend of mine is a veteran of several Florida hurricanes. Four big ones hit the Sunshine State in a couple of years¾all affecting him and his household. He was so tired of hurricanes he moved.

To Louisiana.

Just 25 miles northwest of New Orleans.

Right before Katrina.

He evacuated his home and stayed with friends in Alabama for awhile finally returning home -- just in time for Rita. He had to evacuate again, so he went back to Florida to stay with family just as Wilma rolled onto the Florida coast.

“I feel like I’ve got a target on my back!” he told me in frustration.

Retailers seem to be feeling the same, especially Christian-store retailers. Internet competition, big-box competition, ruthless discounters, sagging economy, rising costs¾retailing just seems to be tougher than ever.

We’ve even heard talk about the death of Christian retail from some industry media. Well¾as Mark Twain once said¾the report of its death is an exaggeration. I’m not Pollyanna here. Just give God 300 men who lap water from their hands when they drink and He’ll help us take on 20,000.

Christian retailers are uniquely positioned to compete for consumer loyalty and sales. Who knows the customer better? Who can speak to customers better? Who can change lives through the work of the Holy Spirit better than virtually any other store?

But Christian retailers must be able to rightly divide not only God’s Word, but also the details of business. Increasingly, that means knowing who your customers are and what they want.

Department-store magnate Marshall Fields said it this way, “Give the lady what she wants.” But as Los Angeles Times reporter Leslie Earnest said, writing a story on how retailers don’t have specialized assortments they once did, said, “It helps to know what that is.”

Technology is enabling retailers of all sizes to use computer tools to keep track of customers in a whole new way. For retailers, it’s all about being able to see and understand business data. But it can be challenging¾even for the big boys. It’s become so complex that the National Retail Federation’s Association of Retail Technology Standards is creating a business-intelligence standard to help turn overwhelming amounts of data into meaningful information and reports that anyone in a retail store can see, understand, and act on.

While Above the Treeline and CROSS:SCAN already do that, the ARTS standard means other retailers¾even the big boys¾could have similar tools. As that playing field levels, the art of retail will be a higher priority as retailers become creative and innovative in connecting with customers on whole new levels than what’s seen today.

Read more about it in the May Retailers + Resources Operations & Systems column.

It’s a new day.