Charity's thrift stores sell their wares online

This post came out from The Sunday Times (24 January 2016)

Thrift stores shopaholics in Singapore no longer need to trawl through racks of clothes or shelves stocked with electronics or accessories to get a good deal. Instead, they can browse through them from the comfort of home.

The Salvation Army's social enterprise arm, Red Shield Industries, which operates five physical thrift stores here, recently started listing some of its items on the Lazada website. Bargains include a brand new coffee machines for as little as $60, and a second hand, refurbished iPhone 4 for $180.

"The sphere of influence of an online store is much wider," said Mr Nicholas Tan, retail and marketing manager at Red Shield. "Brick and mortar stores draw in people who live in the neighbourhood, but with the internet, the reach is global."

He told The Sunday Times that the charity eventually hopes to sell items directly from its own website, www.redshop.com, which currently acts as a catalogue for its store, as it lacks the resources and manpower to sell goods online. Visitors can find out which items are available for sale at the stores, but must visit the shop itself to make the purchase.

The Salvation Army has been operating the physical thrift stores for about 20 years. It now hopes that using e-commerce will attract young shoppers, "the next generation of customers". Currently, most people who visit the thrift stores are expatriates, families and seniors.

Lazada Singapore last month donated 10,000 items of clothing, shoes and bags. A Lazada Singapore spokesman said: "We are keen to ensure that we give back to the community and were excited to be able to do this through The Salvation Army". Profits from The Salvation Army's thrift stores contribute to 40 per cent of its revenue stream.

The money is used to fund the charity's social services programmes, including a nursing home and a youth development centre. The Salvation Army's new thrift shopping site can be found at www.lazada.sg/the-salvation-army/


Thoughts:

1. The private-public sector has seen a great collaboration in this project - by tapping on its expertise to help a voluntary welfare organisation maximise its revenue which in turn will help those in need! 

Thoughts anyone?

Yours,

Something Small Thinking Big