What Drives Individual Sales at Nonprofit Thrift Stores?

In a though economy thrift stores have become increasingly popular and are growing at a faster pace than other retail stores, in part because nonprofits are using thrift stores to raise funds for other programs. Understanding what factors influence sales is important for the nonprofits that run thrift stores. But this is not necessarily easy because thrift stores have become less stigmatized and now cater to the middle class and the wealthy as well as the poor. In this paper. we use data collected at a nonprofit thrift store in Washington. DC. to analyze the determinants of sales. The analysis suggests that client characteristics such as gender, race, age, unemployment, income level, and time required to come to the store all affect sales per visit, the frequency of visits, and/or total sales. In addition, in the specific store where the survey was carried, quality plays a more important role for total sales than pricing and service do, essentially because clients who have high regard for the quality of the merchandize come back more often.