Is your charity retail business resilient enough for what’s approaching? In early-November, I spoke at the Hospice UK National Conference and was fortunate enough to share many insightful conversations with CEOs and Finance Directors about the year they’ve had and their thoughts about 2022. The good news is that the sales figures achieved throughout charity[…]
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,[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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,[…]
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 markets, coupled[…]
“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[…]
Within retail like most industries history has taught us, or it should have after every financial shock or realignment you need to reflect and analyse every aspect of your business. Covid 19 has caused the biggest financial shock in a century and those charity retailers who believe everything will return to normal a few months[…]
