Founded in 1891, Lifeway closed over 170 stores in 2019 and had to become a digital-first business. Yates led ecommerce as a fractional executive through the change.
Ecommerce revenue
Net income
Subscription revenue
Lifeway spent 130 years as one of the largest names in Christian publishing and retail and for most of that time the stores were how customers found it. In 2019 it closed more than 170 of them. That left one route forward: the whole business, from how it sold books and curriculum to how it talked to churches, had to work online.
A change that size is organizational before it is technical. Every department had been built around the stores and the ecommerce team had been one channel among many rather than the front door. The mission and the audience were not changing. The way the organization worked had to change.
Yates stepped in as fractional head of ecommerce, working inside the company with the Chief Strategy Officer and the technology leadership. The engagement produced the marketing and ecommerce strategic plans for the digital-first model and a creative overhaul that redefined how the brand looks and sounds online. Cross-functional workshops put leaders from every department in the same room to build one plan. Alongside that, Lifeway’s own directors ran the conversion, site experience, SEO, and paid search programs, with recommendations reaching into team structure, process, and technology.
Ecommerce revenue grew 50%, net income rose 60%, and subscription revenue grew 32%. The business now runs online first where the stores had led before. The plans, the processes, and the teams that came out of the transition belong to Lifeway.
Fractional leadershipOrganizational strategyBrandingCROSEO
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Yates served as fractional head of ecommerce while Lifeway moved from more than 170 stores to a digital-first business. The engagement produced the marketing and ecommerce strategic plans, a creative overhaul of the brand online, cross-functional workshops across departments, and changes to teams, process, and technology, while Lifeway’s own directors ran the conversion, site experience, SEO, and paid search programs.
Yates worked inside the company as head of ecommerce for the transition, alongside the Chief Strategy Officer and the technology leadership, rather than advising from outside. Lifeway’s directors kept running the programs. The plans, the processes, and the teams that came out of the transition belong to Lifeway.
Lifeway closed more than 170 stores in 2019 and had to make the whole business work online. The move ran on strategic plans for the digital-first model, a creative overhaul, workshops that put every department’s leaders in one room, and changes to teams, process, and technology. Ecommerce revenue grew 50%, net income rose 60%, and subscription revenue grew 32%.
