Six years ago, Trinity Hospice had 13 charity shops, with 17 paid staff. Their annual turnover was around £2 million. Paul Guest was employed as Head of Retail and Volunteering Services in 2018, with the mandate to embed growth in the hospice’s retail operations.
Paul has led a huge expansion in Trinity’s retail. There are now 31 shops, including community shops, bookstores, children’s shops, menswear shops, furniture shops and superstores. There are 81 paid members of staff, and turnover has risen to £4.5 million per year.
In four years, the net contribution of the retail operation to the hospice increased from £360,000 to over £1 million.
Embedding growth
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Paul looked at some key factors to embed growth in Trinity's retail operations.
Trinity Hospice operates within a relatively small geographical footprint, which means some of the shops are located near to each other (some are even on the same street). Previously, there were concerns that this could confuse customers and cause unnecessary competition.
To solve this problem, each shop within the same location is allocated a different offering. This means they do not compete with each other. In fact, revenue has increased substantially on streets with more than one shop.
Trinity’s charity shops are all on a six year lease, with an option to break after one and three years. This means there is very little risk to the organisation if they are not successful.
All charity shops rely on items being donated. At the moment, the hospice is receiving a large number of donations from the community. Trinity has two vans that deliver stock to the shops every day, with extra deliveries mid-week if needed. They also collect donations from people’s homes.
Stock needs to be of good quality, and in good condition. Staff have been trained to select and present items effectively.
Products that aren’t suitable for the shops, or haven’t sold after a period of time, can often be put on online auction sites.
Shop managers have a good understanding of their shop’s community and their customers’ needs. They are empowered to make their own decisions on pricing and sales. However, this empowerment comes with accountability. Each shop has its own targets, with mid-week and end-of-week sales reports being sent to everyone. If something isn’t working, the managers are expected to recognise it and come up with a solution.
Retail staff and volunteers build good relationships with their customers. Some people have been regular visitors to the shops for years. Not only does this improve customer loyalty, but it helps introduce people to the hospice and its services.
Trinity has around 600 volunteers, with over half of them working in retail. They can work full or half day shifts, depending on their preference. They are encouraged to have set hours on a rota, which makes things easier for shop managers. Each shop has ‘key volunteers’, who are more experienced and can step in if paid staff are unavailable.
Turnover is low amongst retail staff, possibly because staff are supported to develop and utilise their skills. Recently, the only recruitment needed has been when a new shop is opened.
Tips and advice
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Every time a unit becomes available on your local high street, consider it for your retail offer. If you don’t take it, someone else will, and they will be your competition!
Focus on your stock and your people. If you get those two things right, you will succeed.
Don’t worry too much about average selling prices - each item is only worth what people are willing to pay. Focus on the overall contribution you are making to your hospice’s income.
It's desirable for people working in charity retail to have a commercial background and merchandising skills. They should be flexible and willing to work over the whole week (retail staff need to be available at weekends!). Ideally, they should be able to drive so they can provide cover in other shops if needed.
If you’re short of staff, look at the overall picture. You might be better off closing a shop that has low income, and redeploying staff to a shop that brings in more revenue.
Compare your sales and revenue with the same time last year, rather than the previous week or month.
Future development
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The hospice has two furniture shops, which are successful. They are looking for premises that would be suitable for expanding the furniture offer.
Paul has trialled using digital screens in the front windows of some shops. These are managed by the hospice’s fundraising team, and used to promote events as well as items for sale. This has improved the look and feel of the shop, with neater branding, no hand-written signs and more direct messaging. He would like to roll screens out to more shops in the future.
