CIPR

In January 2011, Ordnance Survey published a report outlining the steady decline of the high street. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, a steady stream of shops has been relegated to ghost town status, falling victim to MDF boarding and heavy padlocked chains.

Thousands of outlets have declined in number since 2008, including pubs, music shops and independent clothes shops. Three years on from then and there are 28 per cent fewer building societies and nine per cent fewer estate agents. Even TopShop, which reported a profit increase of 6.4% in 2009/10 will reportedly close 300 stores in 2011.

With all of these units closing, landlords have been forced to reduce rent in a desperate bid to procure at least a fraction of their former income. Good news for the charity shops. One of the few outlets to succeed during the worst recession of our time, charity shops saw profits grow by nine per cent between April and June 2010 according to the Association of Charity Shops.

And the revenue generation is not to be sniffed at. Barnardo's shops made £5.7m in 2009/10 and are on course to generate profits of £7m in 2010/11. The Salvation Army achieved similar growth, making profits of £8.1m in 2009/10, compared with £1.3m in 2005/06. To achieve these kinds of figures, charity shops are employing much more strategic plans. For instance, Barnardo's has focused on opening shops in areas that enjoy high footfall and offer little competition from other charity retailers. They are already on their way to opening more than 120 shops by 2012.

Despite this growth, it would be wise to remind ourselves that the internet is a fast growing platform for buying goods and services. A fifth of all sales were made online in 2010, and this is predicted to double by the end of the decade. So how are charity shops jumping on the bandwagon?

Despite being in the 'digital age' for the past 20 years, charities have been slow on the pick up. Oxfam was the first to launch an online shop as late as 2007, and only Sue Ryder Care has followed suit since. The Salvation Army has just launched an online store, but this is only available in Australia.

With the increasing decline of the high street, and the rise and rise of internet shopping, one has to question whether charities have been focusing their attentions on the most profitable path? In its first year, Oxfam made £5m from the online site, suggesting that it's well worth an investment. One obvious advantage of selling goods online is the ease of which Gift Aid can be claimed, something which is near impossible within a shop, unless you asked every person that bought anything if they were a UK taxpayer. Claiming an extra 28 per cent Gift Aid on every purchase makes a huge difference to a charity's bottom line and coupled with the continued boom of internet purchasing, it would be advantageous for other charities to take the same bold steps as Oxfam and reap the rewards.