Oxfam donated sales up 23 per cent on last year

Fundraising | Niki May Young | 19 Jan 2012

Oxfam GB has seen sales in the five-week period up to 31 December increase by 11 per cent on the previous year, bolstered significantly by an increase in donated goods sales.

The aid charity, which relies on donated goods for more than 80 per cent of its income, saw an increase of 23 per cent on donated sales over Christmas and achieved some of the best results for five years. Across its network of 700 shops in the UK it saw donated books sales increased by 19 per cent, with week 39 of the year proving the best for the past five years. Homewares were up 25 per cent on 2010 and music was up 24 per cent. Both results were also the best for the past five years.

Overall the charity boasted a five per cent like-for-like increase in the 14 weeks up to 31 December, although Andrew Horton, director of trading at Oxfam, admitted this was in part due to its comparison with a "terribly snowy December the previous year, with a lot of shops closed because volunteers were unable to travel to (Oxfam's) shops".

"However," he said, "in what has been a challenging year for retailers, for the NGO sector and for consumers - all feeling the effects of the continuing global economic crisis - we are pleased to report that Oxfam's trading income and donated sales continue to increase."

The bumper Christmas sales and continuing sales success has prompted the charity to issue an urgent call for donations. A spokeswoman for Oxfam said: "In times of austerity, people tend to turn to charity shops for good value, but people also tend to hold on to their belongings and this means less donated stock."

In May 2011 Oxfam suffered the loss of £100,000 worth of stock when its Oxfam Wastesaver textile sorting warehouse went ablaze. The charity is yet to move into new premises.

Directory: Oxfam

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.