Haru Ltd - Innovating Charity Retail
Lead Participant:
HARU LTD
Abstract
Charity Shops have become an important part of both the high-street and communities across the UK since the 1950s. An easy way to recycle second-hand items, the charity retail sector directly diverts 337,000 tonnes of textile from landfill annually, saving the taxpayer £27 million in landfill tax, while raising over a £320 million pounds every year for charitable services in the UK and across the world, including essential work in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Charity Retail Sector has very little online presence and relies heavily on being able to sell donated items through their physical shops. With the impact of Covid-19 shops have been forced to shut resulting in the sector losing 98.4% of its revenue.
At Haru, our vision is a thriving charity sector empowered by technology. Our mission is to deliver innovative services that revolutionise how the sector operates, creating a more efficient and effective sector. Over the last year, we have been working with charity shops to develop a solution that would allow any charity shop to easily sell items online. This is a physical service supported heavily by innovative technology.
Using our model, we have been able to empower a small number of shops to sell online and boost their fund-raising capacity. We intend to invest in and develop the software part of our existing service which will revolutionise how the charity sector sells second-hand donations.
This software is an innovative new approach to simplify and make online selling as easy as possible for users of any ability. Our in-store mobile application will allow users to find and price items suitable for online selling. Powered by a proprietary algorithm the application decides the most appropriate sales location, and price for an item, maximising the value of donations.
The mobile application will work in tandem with our unique inventory management system designed to easily process and sell high volumes of second-hand items across multiple online marketplaces.
The Charity Retail Sector has very little online presence and relies heavily on being able to sell donated items through their physical shops. With the impact of Covid-19 shops have been forced to shut resulting in the sector losing 98.4% of its revenue.
At Haru, our vision is a thriving charity sector empowered by technology. Our mission is to deliver innovative services that revolutionise how the sector operates, creating a more efficient and effective sector. Over the last year, we have been working with charity shops to develop a solution that would allow any charity shop to easily sell items online. This is a physical service supported heavily by innovative technology.
Using our model, we have been able to empower a small number of shops to sell online and boost their fund-raising capacity. We intend to invest in and develop the software part of our existing service which will revolutionise how the charity sector sells second-hand donations.
This software is an innovative new approach to simplify and make online selling as easy as possible for users of any ability. Our in-store mobile application will allow users to find and price items suitable for online selling. Powered by a proprietary algorithm the application decides the most appropriate sales location, and price for an item, maximising the value of donations.
The mobile application will work in tandem with our unique inventory management system designed to easily process and sell high volumes of second-hand items across multiple online marketplaces.
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
| HARU LTD | £47,404 | £ 47,404 |
People |
ORCID iD |
| Richard Hill (Project Manager) |