Kristen McLean

Plenary: The Future of Retail, The Future of Faith

What does it mean to be “spiritual” in today’s world? What does it mean to be “religious”? Why in the last five years is there a growing and statistically significant number of people under 65 self-identifying as “spiritual but not religious”? And how does this shift fit with other types of profound changes we are tracking in the way people are thinking about their homes, their activities, and what they want to include in their daily lives including the books that we publish? Join NPD Book’s Kristen McLean as she shares some of her latest thinking on the Future of Retail, the Future of Faith, and why we are in a unique moment in our industry’s development.

Kristen McLean is the Executive Director of Business Development at the NPD Books practice, the team behind NPD BookScan. Kristen is a twenty year veteran of the publishing industry, with a career spanning many roles including retailing, buying, field sales, marketing, and business development which gives her an unusually deep perspective as a market analyst. In addition to working closely with a number of key clients, her current initiatives include the development of a Licensed Brand Reporting Service within NPD's wider Entertainment Group. She speaks broadly to industry leaders about trends in the Book and Media industries, and she is deeply interested in the confluence of emerging consumer behavior, technology, literacy, and generational shift in the Digital Age.