
Charity retail is leading the way on the High Street
Our latest Quarterly Market Analysis for July to September highlights a further strong charity retail performance. Our members can download the full Quarterly Market Analysis July – September (Q3) 2019 in the members’ area of our website.
Charity retail like-for-like consumer sales increased by 3.8 per cent between July – September 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. This compares to a 1.7 per cent fall in in store non-food retail sales reported by the British Retail Consortium. Over the last year, charity retail sales have been growing at a substantially faster rate than wider commercial retail sales.
Key factors behind the growth of charity retail sales include:
- an increase in the average amount spent per transaction in charity shops.
- strong growth in the sale of donated goods.
- an increase in gift aid donated goods.
These areas of strength have helped outweigh falling income from goods sold to recycling merchants and more subdued income growth in the sale of brought in goods.
The continued growth of charity retail cannot be linked to one particular factor but the following are likely to have contributed to this growth:
- increased consumer focus on shopping in an environmentally sustainable way.
- consumers seeking unique and interesting shopping experiences.
- a growth in the number of specialist charity retail stores including new charity retail superstores.
Jonathan Mail
Head of Public Affairs
Charity Retail Association