Planning, distribution and replenishment
Charity card supplier, Cards for Good Causes
Not-for-profit organisation Cards for Good Causes asked Flourish for help planning its stock distribution for the festive season. And then the pandemic hit. We helped them weather the storm, navigate a change to a more sustainable business model and implement new processes to maximise sales.
Cards for Good Causes (CFGC) is a not-for-profit organisation which sells charity Christmas cards both online and through a network of pop-up shops in the run-up to the festive season. Alongside the charity Christmas cards, it also has its own range of cards and gifts.
2020: The pandemic story
Early in 2020, we started working with CFGC to help plan distribution to its pop-up shops for the coming season. And then in March 2020… well, we all know what happened in March 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit, and those plans had to be redrawn. CFGC’s pop-up shops rely on volunteers, and many were in vulnerable groups. The number of stores which could be opened was also reduced, and plans (and rules) were changing all the time.
We knew we’d have to minimise the impact of disruption for the charities relying on CFGC, protecting their sales and profits where we could. The key would be to send the right stock, in the right quantities, to the right shops – exactly the kind of task merchandising is made for.
2021: Consolidating and clearing through stock
When CFGC returned to Flourish in 2021, distribution was complicated by the remaining fragmented stock from 2020 and the need to clear through as much as possible.
We added trading and reporting to the mix, which meant we could use replenishment to optimise sales, pushing stock to the areas that needed it most and maximising sell-through. This was a new way of working for the shops, and it worked really well.
At the end of the 2021 season, we then produced a consolidated report looking at the season as a whole, helping with CFGC’s financial obligations and charity statements.
2022: A new business model
In 2022, CFGC adopted a new, more sustainable business model. Previously, charities had produced their own cards and sent them to CFGC to sell. Any remaining stock at the end of the season would be returned to the charity. The new model saw CFGC creating the cards in collaboration with the charities and buying them itself.
This meant that CFGC took on the higher risks associated with having excess stock left at the end of the season, so planning to minimise these risks would be vital. Another task that was perfect for the Flourish merchandising team!
We set to work building a bespoke financial planning tool to show all the detail CFGC needs at a charity/category level. We then used this to give CFGC’s buying manager a shopping list, complete with quantities. Alongside this, we reduced the risks that come with ordering large quantities by splitting the orders CFGC placed with its suppliers. The first (larger) part of the order would be delivered for the start of the season, and second (smaller) intakes were pencilled in with suppliers and only confirmed once trends were emerging from early reporting. This allows CFGC more flexibility and minimises the risks.
This plan has also meant we can plan distribution for the season, with a tailored plan for each shop, all the way down to product level.
“Flourish has been a joy to work with. The team has brought some much-needed structure to our company, from the buying plan to the stock allocations and has taken the time to really understand our complicated business model. They have been very adaptable as our business needs have changed (sometimes with very little notice) and are great at making the work they do for us both accessible and understandable.”
—ALICIA GREEN, BUYING MANAGER
The future
A new set of reports will support CFGC’s finance team, shops and charities as the season goes on, and the team at Flourish will also use them to inform decisions around replenishment. And our end-of-season reporting will feed into the next cycle for 2023!
