2023 State of Social Impact Report Shows Significant Growth For Retailers in Relation to Charitable Giving and Sales
ShoppingGives & Coresight Research report reveals increasing number of consumers are turning to businesses creating societal change through impactful commerce; average sales with donations per merchant up 67%
ShoppingGives, the social impact commerce platform that creates purposeful and profitable relationships between brands and nonprofits, today released data from its 2023 State of Social Impact Report with Coresight Research. The report features analysis of 500 eCommerce and Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) brands on the state of impact in 2023 in addition to outside research.
The State of Social Impact Report takes a closer look at giving patterns for consumers and businesses over the last year, analyzing how pivotal moments like the Ukrainian invasion, the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and natural disasters like Hurricane Ian and Fiona are driving philanthropy.
“Consumers are increasingly looking towards businesses to lead social change as their spending decreases and global issues rise,” said ShoppingGives CEO Ronny Sage. “It’s becoming more important for businesses to implement any form of social impact strategy into their operations. Brands can create a giving strategy that is in alignment with their customer’s values and implement either year-round or periodically to suit their business and goals.”
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Key findings from the report include:
- More brands are adopting charitable giving into their ethos: 58% of surveyed merchants say they are integrating social impact strategies into their business and regularly remind customers. 66% of respondents also have a team dedicated to social impact initiatives within their organization
- Increasing contributions: Of the 500 merchants, 75% hope to increase the amounts donated to targeted charities in the coming year
- Despite recent economic conditions, customers are willing to give to their preferred causes: ShoppingGives’ community of merchant parents reported that average sales with donations per merchant were up 67% YOY and the average amount of donations per store were up 58% over the same period
- Giving Tuesday initiatives showed growth in 2022 with more brands jumping onboard: Despite market predictions, the spirit of giving during the holiday season increased 50% in 2022 compared to 2021 when merchants offered a matching donation. There was also an increase by 145% of brands that directly mentioned on their homepages their involvement in “Giving Tuesday” [This survey was based on data taken from 500 internet retailers and the top 500 direct-to-consumer retailers]
- Providing various organization options is important for consumer engagement: 28% of merchants reported partnering with 1-5 nonprofits and 46% reported collaborations with 5+ organizations
“Regardless of the pullback in consumer spending and corresponding marketing dollars by brands, we feel it’s still important to represent the causes we believe in and are authentic to the brand,” says Steve Madden President of Direct to Consumer and Global Digital, Josh Krepon. “Further, we know, from the analytics, that our customers are aligned and that it’s contributing to growing lifetime value.”
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