The past several years have completely upturned a legacy market.
In this case, we’re not talking about technology (which is almost always being disrupted by the next latest, greatest invention), entertainment, or travel.
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We’re talking about retail.
Until a couple of decades ago, most of us shopped the same way many previous generations had shopped.
Sure, we may have been shopping for different brands at different stores than generations past, but the process was more or less the same.
We’d get into our preferred method of transit and travel to a retail center — be it a mall, plaza, or market — and get what we needed. Sometimes, we’d get distracted by something we didn’t necessarily need, and we’d get that too.
This process largely defined and built the American retail economy, until the internet came along.
Goodwill is shutting down an online marketplace.
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The internet changed how we shop
Once many of our favorite retailers found their footing online, the majority of us never looked back.
Online shopping only gets more robust by the year, and covid only helped to supercharge our online shopping habits.
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While most of us stayed at home for at least some period of time during the pandemic, we converted our shopping habits — for everything from groceries to clothing — to e-commerce.
And old habits die hard. In 2020, it’s estimated that online sales rose by 43% to $244.2 billion compared to 2019.
But not all retailers are built for online
But the online retail boom isn’t applied equally across all businesses.
Some retailers are simply built better for in person, or brick and mortar business.
Goodwill is one such retailer.
The iconic secondhand store takes a highly individualized approach; its stores all carry different inventories based on donations and location. Goodwill has a treasure hunt model, where you have to go into an actual store to hunt for inventory.
Some folks may find this frustrating, but many second-hand enthusiasts would say they enjoy the pursuit.
And now, Goodwill is shuttering one of its online marketplaces, GoodwillFinds.
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The online retailer collected a number of high-interest items from across multiple Goodwill stores and allowed customers to shop directly from the site. It had been operational since 2022.
The online marketplace wasn’t generating enough interest, however, and Goodwill is now closing the service.
“We want to express our sincere gratitude for your loyalty and support of GoodwillFinds over the past few years. As of March 28th, GoodwillFinds.com is no longer able to accept new orders,” the site reads.
Goodwill’s main website, ShopGoodwill, is still available online and functions as an auction site, similar to eBay.
