Oxfam’s retail profits have fallen 23 per cent due to mounting pressure from rising costs, declining donations and the growing popularity of resale platforms such as Vinted and Depop.
The charity’s retail profits dropped to £4.9m in the year to March 2026, down from £6.4m a year earlier, according to unpublished accounts seen by the Financial Times.
The dramatic drop was revealed despite UK spending on secondhand clothing quadrupled over the past decade to £8.8bn annually, according to GlobalData.
The British Heart Foundation, which operates the UK’s largest charity shop estate, has also reported a £3.3m loss in its latest financial year and is planning to close 150 stores by March 2028.
Cancer Research UK and Scope have also been reducing their store estates.
Charity retailers are facing growing competition from online resale platforms, with consumers increasingly opting to sell unwanted clothing directly rather than donating it.
The rise of fast fashion has also affected the quality of donated stock, while rising rents, wage bills and the costs of collecting, sorting and storing items continue to squeeze margins.
The pressures have significantly reduced the amount charity shops can contribute to their parent organisations.
Oxfam’s latest figures show that just £6 of every £100 spent in its stores now goes towards its charitable work, compared with £22 in 2022.
However, the charity has no plans to reduce its store estate, citing the strength of its books and music offering.
Charity Retail Association chief executive Robin Osterley said online resale platforms were not necessarily damaging the sector, arguing that they had helped make secondhand shopping more mainstream.
He pointed instead to rising employment costs, particularly increases in employers’ National Insurance contributions, alongside wider inflationary pressures.
Oxfam GB chief executive Richard Hawkes acknowledged that the sector was facing difficulties but said the growing secondhand market continued to present opportunities.
He added that charity retailers needed to reconsider their traditional operating models to adapt to changing consumer habits.
Hawkes also highlighted the wider role of Oxfam’s shops, which provide a presence in local communities and opportunities for more than 20,000 volunteers.
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