Goodwill Central Texas extends AI pricing

The US nonprofit thrift store organisation rolls out ReNu platform, pilots AI-driven pricing across six stores, writes Miya Knights, Retail Technology Publisher

Goodwill Central Texas recently deployed its new production software platform, ReNu, across all its retail locations, in a move to modernise operations, improve pricing accuracy, and unlock new revenue opportunities in one of the largest Goodwill regions in the United States.

ReNu standardises and streamlines the processes behind valuing, pricing, and routing the 1,600 tonnes of donated goods that flow through the organisation each year—much of which previously relied on manual judgement.

"So much happens in the back room," noted Nick Adams, Vice President of Retail at Goodwill Central Texas, during an interview. "Historically, everything was done manually—prep, tagging, and pricing. ReNu helps guide employees and create more consistency in how items move from donation to the shop floor." 

AI platform modernises donation processing

A core component of the platform is an AI-driven dynamic pricing and channel optimisation pilot, live today in six stores. The system analyses attributes such as seasonality, condition, category, and historical sales performance, and recommends both a price point and the best sales channel, including store, ecommerce, or alternative outlets. "AI will help analyse the data—what is this priced at, what has it sold for, and what is it really worth?" said Adams. "Is it a one-off? Is it a trend? Dynamic pricing gives us answers and creates more value for our customers." 

Early results indicate cost savings, improved efficiency, and revenue uplift, with employees spending less time making subjective pricing decisions. According to Adams, the goal is not just optimisation, but freeing staff to focus on more impactful tasks. "We want to help our teams make better, faster decisions and put resources back into jobs and our mission," he said.

Early results show national potential

Goodwill Central Texas—one of the largest regions in the US Goodwill network, which includes over 150 local organisations and over 3,300 stores nationwide—plans to expand AI-powered pricing to all of its stores in the next year as learnings from the current pilot mature. The impact could be significant not only locally but across the broader Goodwill ecosystem.

Crucially, ReNu is an open platform, available for adoption by Goodwill organisations across the country. Several regional Goodwill groups are already exploring their own pilots. "This is built for every Goodwill," Adams emphasised. "We've created something scalable that any region can use to make operations more efficient and more consistent." 

As the retail thrift sector embraces digital transformation, Goodwill Central Texas's work with ReNu signals a pivotal moment: a shift from human-only intuition to technology-augmented decision-making, while preserving the organisation's mission-driven ethos at its heart.