CAN ONLINE SHOPPING HELP CHARITIES?

By: / Charity Shops, News, Retail Advice / Comments Off on CAN ONLINE SHOPPING HELP CHARITIES?

Over the past few years, online shopping has become a huge convenience for many people. Even some of the larger charities have jumped at the chance of having their own online shop!


But is it really worth putting some of your donations up for sale on the web through platforms such as eBay – or even your own website like charity giants Oxfam has done?


It Gives You A Wider Reach

 

Although having a shop on the high street puts your charity and cause right in front of people’s faces, it’s not always a great idea to limit yourself to physical shops – especially in this technology-obsessed society.


Auction key on keyboard


Instead, you could bolster your success by selling some of the stock that you receive as donations online instead of in your shop. This makes it much more likely that someone will buy what you have to offer as you will be able to target a much wider audience, especially as people online generally know what they are already looking for; social media can also be a powerful tool to reach more people, as most shoppers will be present on one network or two.


They will be able to search for an item, find it on your store and buy it from you directly, rather than you having to hope that the right person comes in to buy it from your store.


It Could Potentially Bring In More Money

 

We’ve all been there when donations have come in and we don’t quite know how much it is worth; we head to the net to try and determine what is an appropriate price.


Businessman using laptop computer


However, people on the internet generally know how much items are worth, so it’s often a reliable place to look for those trickier items. If you see that an item has quite a high price on a website, and you start to research it and find that it’s actually quite rare, you can always put your item on for a reasonable price and allow people to bid for it, allowing them to determine the price that they are willing to pay!

This generally brings in a little more in the way of money, which is always a good thing for charity!


You’ll Go Through Stock Much Quicker

 

We’ve seen how busy stock rooms can get in high street shops, especially when more and more donations keep flooding in. While this is always a good sign that people are wanting to help support your charity, space is often an issue, and some items may be forgotten about and never put out onto the shop floor.


Gift Aid on Rag image


However, with an online shop, you’ll simply photograph the item and post it online and then store the item away safely without having to worry about fitting it into your stock rotation! The more items you can get online, the faster you’ll be able to get through your backlog of stock!


Of course, there’s always going to be a need for high street stores, but it can’t hurt to jump on the benefits that come with putting your charity and cause on the internet, too!


If your high street shop is looking like it could use the help of a reliable EPoS system to make your life easier with processing transactions, feel free to get in touch with us today!