Profits at some of the UK's best-known charity shops have plummeted as the shops face a number of pressures, according to a report in The Guardian by Harry Cockburn. The report links the decline in part to a shift in the secondhand clothes market, including pressure from online secondhand clothes platforms.

According to The Guardian, the trading difficulties have prompted claims that a key part of the sector's fundraising model could be under threat. The summary of the report available to this desk does not say who made those claims, or how the claims are supported.

The Guardian reported that Oxfam described trading as "exceptionally challenging" after retail profit reportedly fell 23% year on year. The summary does not say which shops the 23% figure covers, and it describes the fall as reported rather than confirmed.

The Guardian also reported that the figures draw on unpublished accounts. The summary says those accounts were seen by a party, but the description is cut off before it names that party, so the source of the accounts cannot be identified from the summary alone.

The shift in the secondhand clothes market is described in the report's headline and summary as the context for the profit decline. The summary does not give further detail on the size of that shift, the number of shops affected, or the response of the charities involved.

This account draws only on the title and summary of The Guardian's report, not the full article. Details beyond those the summary provides are not reported here, and readers who want the complete account of the report's findings should consult the original story.

Sources: The Guardian: UK charity shop profits plummet amid shift in secondhand clothes market.