Charity Super.Mkt - A passion for preloved fashion
Customer requirement: In-store POS
The cost-of-living crisis and growing consumer awareness of the sustainability challenges around ‘fast fashion’ are changing the way that people in the UK shop for clothes. Charity shops are shaking off their formerly dowdy image and rebranding themselves to get ready for a new generation of sustainable shoppers – consumers who shop with a purpose.
A great example of this new trend is the Charity Super.Mkt in London’s Brent Cross. Once a Top Shop store, it is now a charity retail space operating as a purposeful collective. The Charity Super.Mkt concept works by bringing together multiple charity retailers under one roof and allowing them to display a range of clothing (and other items) in a modern setting that appeals to consumers on multiple levels.
The Charity Super.Mkt concept is pioneering the reimagining of city centres as multi-use spaces, leading to urban renewal and aligning with modern consumer trends.
Service Graphics: Adding Value
For the Charity Super.Mkt concept to work, it had to look and feel nothing like an ordinary charity shop. Instead, a fresher, younger look was required if they were to attract a new generation of conscious consumers.
The “charity supermarket” also required a distinct identity, both online and in reality. Social media was identified as an essential way of communicating the brand message – but the stores too had to be on point.
Charity Super.Mkt therefore required a partner who not only instinctively “gets” retail, but also one that understands, relates to and is aligned with their philosophy: social value, the value of reuse and sustainability.
Service Graphics was able to demonstrate a sincere commitment to the aims of Charity Super.Mkt, and their ability to provide a full in-store branding overly against a very tight deadline.
As this was not a new build project but a takeover of an existing space, the graphics had to be designed to fit the constraints of the legacy software.
Service Graphics assisted with the design, production and installation of wall graphics, window displays, POP and POS elements, floor graphics, screens and branded backdrops. In keeping with the share sustainability ethos, all elements were designed to be re-used and/or recycled.
In-store branding was used to tell the story through creative use of colour, iconography and slogans such as ‘Garms for Good’ and ‘Resale Therapy’. Bright, cheerful colours with a pop-art, almost cartoonish feel helped to create a fun, relaxed shopping experience for visitors.
These impactful pieces of communication helped customers navigate a new kind of retail environment, feel at ease, and benefit from knowing that they were making a difference.
Like all shops, this is also the point of Charity Super.Mkt - the main difference being that the money taken at the tills goes to good causes, while the ecological footprint is minimal as every item offered for sale is preloved, and therefore involved no virgin resources being consumed.
Second-hand clothes; first rate impact!
The charities represented in the Charity Super.Mkt reported attracting a younger demographic than they were used to, with more disposable income. This led to a dramatic increase in their sales, and the good they were able to do for their specific causes.
The quantifiable social value outcomes from the Brent Cross project included revenue generated from increased sales being translated into thousands of hours of supported nursing hours delivered by cancer charity Marie Curie – just one of the many benefits that Service Graphics is proud to have helped to enable.
The month-long pop-up reached its projected turnover after just 4 days, and went on to make 10 times its original target. Pooling resources meant that each charity retail participant was able to achieve higher resources, while other nearby stores also benefitted – overall footfall in the Brent Cross Shopping Centre increased by 6% in the six weeks that the Charity Super.Mkt was ultimately open for.
As the Charity Super.Mkt moves to a new location in Reading, the charities involved are confident of being able to replicate this initial success.
Key growth factors
Service Graphics’ own sustainability ethos made the company the ideal visual communications partner for this charity retail experiment. Our ability to offer a holistic design, production and installation solution – and the creativity and durability evident in each item we provided for the walls, floors, donation bins and windows of the Charity Super.Mkt - meant we could add value in the store that was then reflected in their online presence.
Client Testimonial
“The inaugural Charity Super.Mkt was opened within 4 weeks of finding out about the opportunity at Brent Cross. The brand and all the visuals around it had to be developed at breakneck speed and then the signage and messaging that has had such a big impact on the store’s phenomenal success had to be printed and installed within days. Service Graphics proved the perfect partner - responsive, creative, generous and skilled - all with attention to detail and an understanding of design”.
- Wayne Hemingway MBE
