Our move in to e-commerce

PICTURE: Our General Manager Julie Russell (left) and Retail Manager Helen Watkinson show off our new online store. (Image by David Harrison)

York Against Cancer is moving into e-commerce so that supporters can shop easily in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Our shops in Huntington and York Hospital are open for business once more, but we've also created an online store to market our brand-new goods to supporters at home and around the world.

The strategy will help meet an increasing public demand for different ways to shop, especially in the wake of Covid 19, and will give our supporters a simple way to boost our income at a time when good causes are facing fundraising challenges.

It will offer consumers the chance to make their purchases wherever they like on their phones, tablets, laptops or home computers. 

The online store is already showcasing a stunning range of Christmas cards, including our well-loved selection of York Christmas scenes by local photographer Chris Shepherd.

Our 2021 ‘The Streets of York’ calendar, featuring atmospheric paintings of York down the centuries, is also available to purchase.

We're now working to put a selection of gifts and homewares including possible web exclusives up for sale through the online shop, which has been embedded into our website at www.yorkagainstcancer.org.uk

We worked with our Vice-Chair Rachel Goddard, who is also Managing Director of local marketing and PR agency Intandem Communications, and design agency Lazenby Brown to create a digital strategy which will be implemented over the next few months, with the first stage being to create the e-commerce site so that it is accessible through a button on the home page of our existing website.

Shoppers make their selections and can choose to have the items shipped to them or to another address, and can pay through Paypal or by using a credit or debit card.

Within hours of our site going live, orders were coming in not just from York but from around the country, said Helen, our Retail Manager.

“Our cards and calendar continue to be very successful, selling well through our shops in Huntington and at York Hospital as well as through orders from our recent newsletter.

“However, we know that more and more people are shopping online, so our e-commerce site is another string to our bow, making our goods easily available to anyone, wherever they are.”

Julie, our General Manager, said: “We’ve wanted to do something like this before, and if one good thing has come out of lockdown it’s that it has given us the time to develop the system.

“We’re really excited to be launching this new development which we hope will make us attractive to even more customers who want to support a charity as they shop.

“We may be innovating, but one thing has not changed - all the profit from the sale of our cards and goods will still go towards our vital work in local cancer care, support and education. “