What is driving growth in charity retail?

At this year’s Charitable Reuse Australia Annual Conference, BDO and Charitable Reuse Australia officially launched the Charity Retail Tracker. The Tracker brings together BDO’s retail and not-for-profit perspectives to offer valuable insights into sector performance. The Tracker highlights the resilience of charity retailers in a challenging economic environment, with several jurisdictions recording growth rates ahead of the fashion retail sector despite continued cost-of-living pressures for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.

National revenue, basket size, and store productivity all increased year on year, but the underlying drivers can tell a more interesting story. Improved sector performance appears to reflect consumers seeking value and purchasing more items during each visit.

While positive results are encouraging, understanding what is driving performance will be far more valuable than focusing on headline numbers alone. This first report for the quarter ended 30 June 2026 establishes an initial benchmark, with future reporting adding greater context to the results.

A positive national result

Average shop revenue, average items per sale, average transaction value, and sales per square metre all increased year on year. Viewed together, these results indicate positive movement across several key measures during the quarter and suggest that results were not driven by a single measure alone. The strongest movement nationally was seen in items per sale, an increase of over six per cent, compared with average transaction value growth of less than one per cent year on year.

The comparison between items per sale and average transaction value suggests that basket size increased at a faster rate than transaction value, suggesting shoppers were adding more items to each transaction rather than purchasing higher-priced items. This aligns to the observation that affordability and value continue to be an influence on consumer spending behaviour.

As reporting periods continue and additional results are available, we will be able to assess if this pattern continues over time or reflects conditions in the quarter.

Looking beyond a single measure

Revenue results can coincide with different combinations of basket size, transaction value, item price, and store productivity. A key theme emerging from the Tracker is the value of viewing measures together rather than in isolation, with similar revenue outcomes potentially reflecting very different underlying operating environments.

For example, revenue growth could coincide with higher customer traffic, larger basket sizes, improvement in average selling prices, stronger space productivity or a combination of these factors. Equally, organisations with similar revenue results may arrive at these outcomes through different mixes of volume, pricing, and productivity. The Tracker aims to provide a framework for comparing selected measures and understanding how different performance indicators move over time.

Different jurisdictions, different results

The Tracker highlighted how different jurisdictions produced different combinations of results. Victoria had the highest average items per sale, while the Northern Territory had the highest average transaction value and item price. New South Wales led in sales per square metre, while Queensland recorded the strongest year-on-year growth in this measure.

These differences suggest there is no single model for performance across the sector. In some locations results were associated with higher basket volumes, while in other stronger transaction values or store productivity featured more prominently. These findings reinforce the importance of considering multiple measures together rather than relying on revenue alone when reviewing performance.

Importantly, these observations identify patterns within the data rather than explanations for why these patterns occurred. Local market conditions, store formats, product mix and operational factors all have the ability to influence results.

Improve store productivity, not just sales

One of the largest national growth measures was sales per square metre, indicating stronger productivity across store footprints. The data highlights strong retail performance is not solely determined by the size of a store or the volume of stock available and instead points to the importance of making the most effective use of retail space.

The Tracker found that larger stores generally recorded higher total revenue, while smaller stores recorded higher median sales per square metre. Highlighting that store size and sales productivity are not necessarily linked, and different store formats may deliver different outcomes depending on their operating circumstances.

Turning benchmarking into better decisions

A key message emerging from the tracker is that point in time benchmarking is only the beginning. BDO and Charitable Reuse Australia developed this Tracker to not simply measure performance, but to help organisations understand long-term trends, identify emerging opportunities and make more informed decisions.

The most valuable conversations may focus less on what the results are and more on what is driving them.

Questions to ask to move beyond reporting and towards strategic action:

• What is driving growth?
• How does our performance and growth compare with national and State benchmarks?
• Which trends appear sustainable?
• How do local conditions influence performance?
• What operational changes could improve future outcomes?

As the Tracker develops across future reporting periods, organisations will be able to compare their results against national and State benchmarks and their own performance over time, test assumptions and identify patterns that may not be visible from a single reporting period.

A stronger sector through insight

The charity retail sector occupies a unique position at the intersection of affordability, sustainability and community impact. As consumer demand for value continues to grow, organisations have an opportunity to strengthen both their commercial performance and their mission outcomes.

The first Tracker provides an early indication of what that opportunity could look like. Growth appears to be coming from customers finding greater value rather than spending more. Understanding and responding to these behaviours could help charity retails refine their operations, strengthen customer proposition and help support greater financial results.

If you’re interested in viewing the report, receiving our future reports, discussing the data further or exploring how these insights could support your organisation, contact our Not-for-profit and Retail teams.