For us, insight and data are fundamental to everything we do that supports charity retailers to be their very best.
Benchmarking performance against reliable sector data, is key to helping charities better understand where they are succeeding, and where they might be able to improve and increase their profits.
As Charity Retail Association members, you can access this fantastic resource as part of your membership – and the more that you contribute to it, the more powerful the data becomes.
Why does it matter?
In these challenging times, using all the tools available to us as charity retailers is essential. Retail is a big investment for any charity, so understanding how to get the best possible return is key to maximising the return on investment.
Data and insight are a great way to do this, for lots of reasons – here are just a few:
Benchmarking – seeing where you perform well against the sector, and where there’s room for improvement, is a great way to find your areas of focus for the coming year
Knowing where your operation sits versus your sector colleagues on areas such as staff rewards, turnover, volunteer hours, and more can help you build a competitive and strategic offer to attract and retain the best people
Tracking KPIs such as Average Selling Price, Average Transaction Value, and Customer Numbers can help you make sound decisions on pricing, marketing, and customer engagement
The Quarterly Market Analysis (QMA) provides commentary and thoughts from those closest to the sector – so you can hear what the latest challenges and opportunities are, and how others are responding to them
Preparing business cases for new shops or projects is simpler and more compelling when backed with data – your Board and Leadership teams will value the insights and be able to make better-informed decisions
Sharing data on how your retail offer performs can really help with motivating teams and driving commerciality, through celebrating success and understanding where to place focus for improvement.
Who should take part?
Everyone! One of the joys of our sector – helped enormously by the CRA – is our willingness to share. The more members that input into the research programme, the more robust and relevant the data becomes.
We know that time is precious and filling out these surveys may sometimes feel onerous, which is why we highlighted some simple tips and tricks for saving time in our presentation last year.
Whether you’re big or small, new to charity retail or you’ve been here for decades, the CRA research programme has something for you.
We’re fortunate to have a fantastic membership association in the CRA – make sure you make the most of it by accessing the insights provided by its membership – you – to help make the very most of your retail operation.
Vicki Burnett, Senior Consultant, The Charity Retail Consultancy
