Upright Local gives us the ability to reach customers that might not otherwise go to a store, add additional sales, and also gain new donors.

Before Utilizing Upright Local

• Goodwill Industries of South Florida accumulated a large stockpile of large, non-shippable inventory that lived in the backrooms and on the display floors of their various retail locations.
• Potential shoppers were unaware of the great inventory options that their local stores had for sale.
• Stores were not able to drive targeted traffic in-store or effectively market to the community their unique inventory on-hand.

Background

Goodwill of South Florida is a non-profit organization with over 34 retail locations and employs over 3,000 members of the community. Goodwill of South Florida is a lot more than just a resale store, and is also a mission-driven organization where people with disabilities are rehabilitated and trained to be productive members of society.

Through various community efforts and donations, Goodwill of South Florida accumulated a large stockpile of large, pickup only inventory that lived in the backrooms and on the display floors of various retail locations.

All 34 retail locations carried furniture, but “nobody has any idea what is offered or available for purchase unless they frequent the store often” said Kevin Martin, Director of E-Commerce for Goodwill South Florida.  The staff at the retail stores lacked an efficient and easy-to-market process for driving interest in the items and buyers to the store to purchase the pickup only inventory.

Upright Local is proving to be an invaluable tool to drive more foot traffic to our stores.

Solution

Goodwill of South Florida implemented Upright Local in 11 stores, enabling store managers and associates to list large, pickup only inventory items from their stores across online marketplaces from a mobile device. "Upright Local gives us the ability to reach customers that might not otherwise go to a store, add additional sales, and also gain new donors." said Martin.

Using the Upright Local app, employees walked around the store to photograph, describe, and list large inventory online. The implementation and onboarding required minimal IT involvement and employees were posting within an hour of downloading the mobile app. Using the Upright Local app, store employees were empowered to focus on listing inventory and driving revenue while Upright Labs dedicated support team handled any inbound inquiries about items from customers.

"Upright Local is proving to be an invaluable tool to drive more foot traffic to our stores," added Martin. Through the listing of large, pickup only inventory, Upright Local helped Goodwill of South Florida create new revenue on old items, increase foot traffic to stores for additional sales and gain new donors.

Two Weeks of Results with Upright Local

• 66% sell-through rate of listed inventory
• $5,510 in revenue from 11 stores
• 300+ items listed
• 5.6X ROI

Products Used by Goodwill of South Florida

• Upright Local
• Upright Lister
• Upright Services

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About Goodwill of South Florida

Goodwill South Florida, serving Miami, Broward and Monroe counties, is a top 20 employer in South Florida. The nonprofit’s mission is training, employment and job placement for people with disabilities and other barriers to work, helping individuals increase productivity and achieve greater independence. The agency provides disability services to 6,400 South Floridians.

Goodwill engages in a unique social entrepreneurism model that funds mission services and employment for over 3,100 persons.  Although most known for its Goodwill donation centers and retail stores, the organization’s other entrepreneurial businesses include Apparel Manufacturing, Custodial Services and Laundry Services, which train and employ a large number of people, while providing mission funding. Goodwill South Florida is one of the most cost-effective non-profits in the U.S with 96 percent of its budget going directly to programs that are aimed at people with disabilities and other barriers to work.

For more information, please visit goodwillsouthflorida.org or visit us on Facebook/GoodwillSFL or Twitter at @goodwillSFL

About Upright Labs

Upright Labs, based in Washington DC, launched in 2017 to help companies navigate their e-commerce journey. Upright labs signature products, Upright Lister and Upright Local help secondhand retail stores list inventory online.

Upright Lister, enables e-commerce divisions to track inventory from donation to outbound end shipment while efficiently and consistently enabling inventory to list online to multiple platforms.

Upright Local helps drive traffic from the local community into retail stores based on the items for sale in the specific store. Stores can list an item online in under 1 minute and hyper targeted interested customers in the product. Interested customers, visit the retail store to purchase and pay for the item in person.