Oct 18 2021

Charity Retail Ecommerce – The Glass Ceiling

The glass ceiling is a metaphor for the invisible barrier that prevents some people from rising to a higher level. The term is most often associated with the workplace and, more specifically, the career ladder. Crucially it refers to the impossibility for somebody to grow past a certain point despite absolutely no lack of skills,[…]

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Jan 31 2021

Charity Retail Strategies in 2021

There is renewed hope in the UK that the rollout of a vaccination will bring about an end to the covid-19 lockdowns and that life will begin to return to something approaching normal. But what will this mean for the world of charity retail, particularly when building a strategy to move the operation forwards into[…]

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Nov 05 2020

Peak Season Trading in a Covid World

With the second lockdown now in place across England, it would be quite easy to focus on furloughing the team and then arranging to re-open your shops in exactly the same way we did back in the summer. However, this time around things are going to be hugely different. Assuming this second lockdown ends on[…]

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Oct 16 2020

Seasonal Changeovers

Seasonal change has always been a huge part of the retail calender. Fashion retailers have four seasonal changes a year coinciding with the changing of the actual seasons, which is normally proceeded by a sale. This is all common knowledge. Charity retailers also carry out seasonal change overs that align with the changing of the[…]

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Sep 04 2020

(Retail) Space: The Final Frontier

SPACE ‘The final frontier’ are the opening words on Star Trek, the famous science-fiction series. However, retail space is not science fiction – it is a key component of ‘retail science’, which needs to be fully understood and utilised to generate maximum sales. It may not surprise you to find out that most charity retail[…]

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Aug 17 2020

Volunteering in a Post-Lockdown World

The world has changed in a way none of us could have ever predicted at the turn of the year. The global pandemic has forced us all to accept a “new normal” and the way businesses are adapting, and evolving is astounding – and Charity Retail is no different. However, as much as social distancing,[…]

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Aug 03 2020

Charity Retail Hitting New Online Heights

Charity retail online sales are currently hitting record high levels. It is the one area of charity retail that has seemed to not just hold it’s own, but actually flourish. Whilst not all charity retailer’s online operations are functioning fully right now, many that are ‘back to normal’ are comfortably outperforming last year’s sales. So[…]

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Jul 24 2020

Location, Location, Location

Charity retail location – it all used to be so simple! Find a unit, ensure it had good customer flow, make sure parking was nearby to assist donations and if you could do all of that with reasonably low rents to pay, then you have the cherry on top also! However, before the recent lockdown,[…]

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Jul 20 2020

Current Rag Prices Being Offered

With reopening plans now thoroughly underway, our latest insight that rag prices are returning to a place of normality was some warmly received news.     Covid-19 has forced a turbulent few months on all of us and charity retail (not to mention rag prices) have been no different. Due to difficulties in many overseas[…]

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Jul 15 2020

Brand Directory – Eliminate The Guesswork

“How much shall I put on this?” It’s a question heard in every charity retail shop around the Country at one time or another. The battle to strike the perfect balance between selling greater volumes and generating maximum profit on each sale – it’s not easy! Donations can throw up a whole host of weird[…]

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