Working from home kit & pet supplies among most popular online charity shop buys
Melanie May | 27 August 2021 | News
Online charity shop sales are continuing to increase with those made through Shopiago rising 185% between February and August this year.
It reports that pet supplies, baby products, sporting goods, toys and games, and laptops, desktop computers and tablets in particular have all seen a steep rise in online sale prices.
Charities using Shopiago saw an increase of 162% in the average sale prices of donated pet supplies online from February to August 2021, while sales of sporting goods online have seen an increase of 44%, and those of toys and games have gone up by 104%. Baby products have seen an increase in average sale prices of 73% since February 2021, and the number of laptops and tablets sold by charities via Shopiago has increased by 110%, while, prices for business and office supplies have jumped by 42%.
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Coins however moved down the league tables for online charity sales, with sales dropping by 84%.
Thom Bryan, Head of Product at Shopiago, commented:
“It is really interesting to see these trends emerging. Clearly the cultural impact of the various lockdowns saw many people make big life decisions like having a baby or getting a puppy, where others were drawn to classic pastimes like sport and gardening.
“More and more UK charities are realising that there is a huge opportunity to generate funds by listing shop donations online and so in future we look forward to growing insight on how trendsdevelop and how consumer tastes change. Shopiago also enables charities to do ‘click and collect’ at scale online, so one of our predictions is to see a boom in second hand furniture over the coming months, following in fashion’s footsteps.”
The platform’s charity partners include the British Red Cross, Sue Ryder, Barnardo’s and the British Heart Foundation.
Earlier this month, the Charity Retail Association revealed that the average UK charity shop lost over £33,000 in income during Lockdown 3, although figures also show that more charities are now selling online. Shopiago reported a 151% increase between February and July, rising to 185% between February and August.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.