In a nod to the changing shopping habits of consumers, St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria has launched an online retail platform. ‘Vinnies online’. Billed as the ‘shop that never sleeps’, it draws on a warehouse in Melbourne’s industrial south-east that is filled with goods sorted by volunteers before being photographed and uploaded to the website for sale.

St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria has previously sold select products via online retail platforms such as eBay but will now consolidate all its online selling from one website.

St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria head of merchandise and retail innovation, Liz Randle, said, ‘E-commerce now comprises 22 per cent of retail sales, so it was critical to meet customers where they are at. Our customers have been asking for this for a while,” Vinnies’ Liz said, “so we thought, right, let’s go, let’s get serious about this.’

From clothing to electricals, the online store sells quite an array of items, the benefit being to find a market for items not able to be stocked in-store.

Ms Randle said, ‘The other day, and I’m not even joking, someone donated a caravan. We sold that in 48 hours.’

Also snapped up have been a hospital bed worth $7000 and an Olympic-level training bike for paraplegics, both bought up through the website at bargain prices.