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How Prospect Hospice encouraged ecommerce operations across its shop network

In May 2022, Prospect Hospice - a charity providing end-of-life care to people in Swindon and North East Wiltshire - rolled out Shopiago Ecommerce to grow online retail operations across its central ecommerce hub and high street shops, and maximise funds for the charity. Shopiago

‘Easier, Faster, Simpler’ - Looking ahead to our 2023 Ecommerce strategy

As we continue to push ourselves and work with our partners to deliver innovative solutions to the sector, Shopiago’s Business Development Director, Thom Bryan shares our 2023 strategy and journey. Shopiago

Discover our new Shopiago Trade-in App

Get started on your Shopiago Trade-in journey with our new App, available to download for Android and iOS. Shopiago Trade-in is for anyone with second-hand books, CDs, DVDs, or computer games taking up space in their warehouse or shop. Shopiago

Are you getting your Five-a-Day with Shopiago Trade-in?

Short-staffed and run off your feet with an endless mountain of preloved books and media to shift? With Shopiago Trade-in, the barcode scanning technology which scans books, CDs, DVDs and computer games for resale, it doesn’t have to be that way. We understand the struggles of shifting all the donated books and media that come through the door, leading to dangerously towering piles and full stock rooms. Yet, these are precious donations from generous supporters and ensuring that you have the means to shift excess stock is vital. Shopiago

Talking Shop: celebrating the everyday heroes of charity retail

Charity shop workers and volunteers keep the sector ticking, so celebrating and rewarding them in every way we can is at the top of our list.  At Shopiago, we are constantly impressed and inspired by the brilliant teams working at the heart of the charity retail sector, and we want to profile the ecommerce superstars quietly working behind the scenes every day to raise vital funds for good causes.  Welcome to Talking Shop, where we are shining a light on some of the brilliant employees and volunteers working to promote the benefits that online retail can bring to charities, and encourage more volunteers into the sector. We recently spoke to three incredible charity retail workers who are hell-bent on maximising funds for some of our charity partners through retail operations. Shopiago

5 ways to celebrate and motivate volunteer workers

Volunteers are the glue that holds the charity retail sector together, so it’s vitally important that charities motivate and reward their volunteer workers.  According to the CRA, as of May 2022 there were 186,800 volunteers in the charity retail sector nationwide - working on the shop floor, sorting donations, and listing and dispatching stock for online sale.  Volunteers can be hard to recruit, particularly in the face of a cost of living crisis. For charity retailers, this means that once you have volunteers on board, you really need to look after them.  At Shopiago we are constantly impressed with the commitment, creativity and tireless work we see every day from the volunteers we work with. Based on our experience, here are five tips on how to motivate your volunteer workers throughout their on-boarding, helping them to stay committed and motivated: Shopiago

Digital Transformation for Charities at the CRA Conference 2022

Retail with Impact - the case for digital transformation in charity retail could not have been clearer at the 2022 Charity Retail Association Conference. Shopiago’s Customer Success Manager Ryan Oskwarek shares his experience as a Conference first-timer. Shopiago

Why Collect in Store matters in online selling

Online selling became synonymous with delivery because the biggest successes of early ecommerce were not traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers. But the tide is turning back towards Collect in Store, driven by a number of factors, and the travel circle is widening as buyers decide if the effort of the journey outweighs a delivery process that has the potential to become more difficult. Some buyers are even opting to send their own courier to collect items, rather than make the journey themselves or rely on the offered delivery service. Shopiago

Which items should your charity list and for what price?

Your shop is full of things that people want, but you can’t list all of them online. So how do you know what to list? And once you do, how should you price them? To answer these questions, you need to engage in research. You will have your own (anecdotal or formal) findings on what sells well in shops and that can be a good marker, but listing items for re-use on ecommerce sites such as eBay, Etsy and Shopify may throw up different trends entirely. When it comes to pricing, you need to think about not only how much you’d like to get for your item, but how you’re going to sell it. Should you auction it to the highest bidder? Or set a fixed price? There’s no generic ‘right’ answer to these questions but with a little research you can turbocharge your online sales power. Shopiago

Photography tips to help your charity sell on eBay

With 187 million users, opening a ‘virtual’ charity shop on eBay is a great opportunity for you to raise more income for your cause. But with an average of 1.6 billion items listed on eBay at any one time, your listings need to stand out amongst the crowd and show your items at their very best. The photographs of your items are often the first thing that grabs a buyer's attention, so it’s important to get them right. In shops, your customers have the opportunity to pick up your items, to feel the quality, check labels or branding and to examine the condition. This is particularly important for second-hand items and helps buyers make informed decisions about whether or not to part with their cash. Online, this obviously isn’t possible. However, with good photography you can replicate the in-store shopping experience and help your items fly off the virtual shelves. You don’t need to be a professional photographer or even have a professional camera. By following some simple rules, you can help make your online listings a success. Here are our top tricks and tips for taking photos to help your charity sell on eBay. Shopiago

How Shopiago can help you maximise your Gift Aid potential

In case you’ve forgotten how important Gift Aid is to the third sector, £1.4bn of additional funds were claimed through the government scheme in the 2019-20 tax year, benefiting 71,350 charities. That’s an average of nearly £2,000 per charity. And they’re not even claiming all of it. At the last count, the government reckoned more than £560 million of Gift Aid had gone unclaimed, largely through simple administrative mistakes and human error. Shopiago

Spotting trends when selling online

In June 2021, the delayed Euro 2020 football championship finally took place. Sports fans who had waited an extra year to watch their national team vie for the trophy took to online marketplaces in search of deals – clothing, memorabilia and technology being among the biggest sellers. Shopiago’s data showed this trend clearly, with an increase in listings and sales for sports memorabilia in June. Listings were up 124%. There was a 105% uptake in sales. Sellers who had identified that the Euros would create additional interest in football-related items had listed relevant items and were primed to sell, and achieve the best prices. Shopiago

Why it’s important to motivate your shops to sell online

One element of retail fundraising for charities lies at the very heart of this model: the shops. And that remains the case as you take your sales model online. At Shopiago, we want to help charities maximise this core resource in the move to ecommerce and use it to their full advantage. That means motivating individual shops for the wider good of the charity and its cause. And to ensure more items go to new homes, not to landfill. Shopiago

How to list clothing for online selling

‘Edit’ has become a buzzword in fashion circles. And when it comes to online charity clothing sales, the importance of editing your choice of items and your listing is crucial. Clothing is the highest revenue maker for charity shops, it’s relatively easy to package and post (although Collect in Store is also an option) and it has environmental benefits. According to Clothes Aid, 350,000 tonnes of wearable clothing goes into UK landfill each year. That’s £140 million worth that could be recycled, reused and have a positive impact on charities’ fundraising efforts. Shopiago

How to Build the Perfect Listing to sell online

At Shopiago, we want your Ecommerce listing to sell and we want you to get as much as possible for it. You’ve got items that people want, and our job is to help you get them into the biggest marketplaces on earth so pre-loved items can go to a new home, not a landfill site. Sites like eBay, Etsy and Shopify will put the things you’re selling in front of potentially millions of eyeballs, all of them looking for quality second-hand goods. That means you can sell your stuff faster and for top prices. There are two downsides to online marketplaces: you’re likely to be competing with other people selling similar things, and it can be hard to get your listing found among the thousands of other options. That’s why you need to become an expert in listing. Read on to find out how...

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