Savers who flock to Goodwill stores will now be able to search for more treasures online.
The 120-year-old nonprofit organization Tuesday launched GoodwillFinds, a newly incorporated shopping company that is making approximately 100,000 donated items available for purchase online and expanding Goodwill’s previously limited Internet presence. to auction sites like ShopGoodwill.com or individual stores. selling donations online through eBay and Amazon.
GoodwillFinds’ goal is to have 1 million items on its site within a few years, said Matthew Kannes, newly appointed CEO of the online shopping arm, which has search tools that allow shoppers to search by category. Eventually, GoodwillFinds may be personalized based on a customer’s previous purchases.
GoodwillFinds is a separate entity from Goodwill Industries International Inc. but will support the larger organization by helping to fund its US community programs that provide career training, job placement and mentoring for youth. It should also increase donations, while also helping to expand your customer base.
Unlike rivals like Thredup and Poshmark, customers can’t use GoodwillFinds to make donations and will still have to visit one of the organization’s 3,300 Goodwill stores in the US and Canada to drop them off, for now. But Kaness said that as the business expands, Goodwill will eventually offer that service.
The move comes as the second-hand clothing business is expected to grow 16 times faster than the overall clothing retail sector by 2026, according to a report by research firm GlobalData for Thredup. It’s also happening at a time when rising inflation is pushing shoppers to be more thrifty.
“Our new social enterprise makes it easier for the conscious consumer to shop online sustainably, while enhancing the savings experience they’ve come to love at Goodwill,” said Kaness.
In 2021, retail revenue from donations to Goodwill exceeded $5.4 billion, the organization said. GoodwillFinds follows in the footsteps of ShopGoodwill.com, which launched in 1999 and sells many items through auction.
“Goodwill is a very important part of the second-hand market, but it has been focused on stores. That’s its heritage,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, “Online has been an afterthought and has become very informally with the regions.”
Karness said that when shoppers make a donation to stores, workers will determine which item will be designated online. Workers inspect each item but do not clean it. If it’s too dirty or not of good quality, they won’t sell it. Items designated to be online will then be digitized. Purchases will be packed and shipped from the store or from a mini-warehouse group of stores.
A spokeswoman for the online company said that because GoodwillFinds items ship from a variety of Goodwill locations, shipping options and rates will vary by item. During checkout, customers will be offered the shipping options available for their items based on their shipping address. She said that GoodwillFinds accepts returns for items that arrive damaged or if there is an inaccurate or incorrect item in the customer’s order.
The vision for GoodwillFinds came from a consortium of Goodwill members across the country, including Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington, who wanted to harness the full potential of the organization.
Daryl Campbell, CEO of Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington, said he expects revenue from his 24-store consortium in his area to double from the $24 million it earned last year over the next five years due to the centralized approach. online. He also forecasts that he will be able to double his online business to 32% of his consortium’s sales in the next few years.