"The Christian indies that survive are those that find the capital to upgrade their stores to meet the expectations of more sophisticated consumers, to improve their business systems and to achieve every possible efficiency. Stores must also manage debt well, and it helps to own their real estate. To survive, many Christian indies have banded together to increase their purchasing power and get services they don’t have the time or money to obtain on their own, such as catalogue production, building a Web presence and securing insurance. They’ve done this by joining “marketing groups” or by buying into franchise arrangements."