Our Community

At Shop Direct, we see ethical sourcing as a fundamental part of our business model. We’re proud to be an active member of the United Nations Global Compact, a progressive group of businesses and other organisations that align their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

As well as supporting the communities we source our products from, we’re committed to the ones we operate within. Our charity of choice is Alder Hey Children's Hospital - the largest children's hospital in Europe. Over the last two years, we’ve donated around £2.25 million to help set up and run a specialist Neurosciences wing.

But our relationship with Alder Hey is about more than just corporate giving. We encourage everyone who works with us to get involved too. And it’s something they jump into with both feet, hosting regular raffles, staff events, sample sales, tombolas and toy collections at Christmas.

We also recognise the importance of investing in young people. Which is why we organise corporate enterprise days for groups from local schools. The idea is to get students out of the classroom and give them an insight into how the business world works. So they spend the day getting to see what our people do, up close. The feedback is universally positive. Not only do the young people enjoy themselves, but they get to see what working at Shop Direct is all about.

Giving back is something we believe in from the top down – even our Chief Executive is in on the action. Mark is a member of the North West Business Leadership Team, an independent group made up of top executives from the region’s major businesses. Their goal is to make the North West a better, brighter place to live and work. And supporting skills development projects, getting behind high-profile initiatives like the North West Climate Change Campaign and lobbying for improved transport links, they’ve already made their presence felt.

We’re also acutely aware of the impact a business like ours can have on the environment. And do everything we can to minimise that impact. In the last year alone, we’ve reduced our carbon footprint by 10,000 tonnes. We now recycle more than 75% of our waste and use 100% renewable energy. All of which has earned us a Carbon Trust Award and a Green Apple award for environmental excellence.