Bella’s Voice

Bella’s Voice is a mission-driven nonprofit that operates thrift stores to fund animal welfare programs, including emergency veterinary grants, pet food assistance, and community resource services. The organization manages high-volume, donation-driven inventory to generate revenue to support the mission at hand: helping animals everywhere.

As the organization grew, adding a second location and expanding square footage, the POS system in place couldn’t support the complexity of donation-driven retail operations. The nonprofit needed a system built for thrift environments—one that could automate discounting, help to enable visibility into donation processing, and give the organization full control over pricing and promotions.

Jordan Hoffman-Nelson, Executive Director and Co-founder, talks about the move to Epicor Propello and its immediate impact, resulting in a 150% increase in round ups at the register, with all proceeds supporting local animal rescues. “Every operational improvement we make at our thrift stores allows us to help more people and more animals,” she says.

Out With the Old, In With the New

Bella’s Voice had a legacy POS system in place, but with plans to move to a new 15,000 square foot location and increase retail transaction volumes, the cracks began to show.

Discounting was entirely manual based on a color-tag system that required employees to calculate and apply markdowns by hand, creating a slow checkout process and introducing the risk of errors. Plus, Bluetooth-based hardware resulted in frequent downtime, and the organization had no way to know how many items were priced or stocked each day.

Our average round-ups for charity increased by 150%. That’s real money going directly to rescue partners and animal sanctuaries.

The organization then moved to a thrift-focused POS system, but that solution created new problems. The system wasn’t easily customizable, requiring assistance from the vendor to make changes, such as price adjustments.

“For a thrift retailer, the inability to create pop-up promotions to quickly move excess inventory was a dealbreaker,” explains Hoffman-Nelson. “We needed a system that could bring efficiencies to operations, not slow us down.”

Perfect Timing

Epicor cold-called Bella’s Voice , and the timing could not have been better. “I remember being frustrated because I couldn’t pull a report I needed,” Hoffman-Nelson recalls. “So I was immediately intrigued about how Epicor Propello could support our business.”

The platform’s deep experience in the thrift industry, including working with Goodwill organizations across the US, was a huge validator, giving Bella’s Voice confidence that the platform could support the nonprofit’s ongoing growth. But the nonprofit had a clear list of must-have requirements to make a move worth the time and investment.

A Laundry List of Must-Haves

Bella’s Voice was clear about what success looked like. The organization needed a system that could support both POS and inventory for donation intake, while giving staff full control over pricing, products, and promotions—without the need for vendor intervention. 
“We wanted something we could manage ourselves,” says Hoffman-Nelson. “We needed to easily add items, change price points, and create sales and discounts as our operations evolved.”

Automated color-based discounting was another key requirement. Bella’s Voice uses a weekly markdown schedule, and manually managing those discounts introduced errors and inconsistency. “Employees used to go in and change prices manually and that meant discounts could ring up incorrectly, with merchandise discounted too much or too little.”

Built‑in manager overrides were also a high priority to help reduce fraud and cash loss. And the transition to Propello needed to be seamless. With approximately 75,000 barcoded items already on the floor and industrial label printers in the backroom, shutting down to reprice inventory or replace hardware wasn’t an option. “If we couldn’t ring up our existing inventory with Propello or use our current equipment, we couldn’t switch,” Hoffman-Nelson explains.

Automated Discounting and Pricing Accuracy

Bella’s Voice went live on Epicor Propello just two months after deciding to make the move. “The implementation was very smooth. Training was straightforward and platform’s ease of use helped employees pick it up very quickly,” Hoffman-Nelson says.

As a result, Bella’s Voice has elevated day-to-day operations across locations. Discounts are now fully automated by color and schedule. This automation has reduced pricing errors, saved staff time, and helped to ensure consistent customer experiences.

“On Monday mornings when cashiers open registers and scan in an item tag, the correct price appears. There’s no math needed, no manual adjustments—it’s set it and forget it pricing for our business.”

Industry Best Practice for Returns

A retail best practice is to have managers override in place to prevent fraudulent returns for cash. With Propello, Bella’s Voice has established permissions to allow retail associates to handle returns up to a defined dollar amount and easily select merchandise credit to initiate the return.

“If a return needs to be changed to cash, a manager code is required. We do upwards of 10 returns a day and having that level of control is a great new benefit for us.”

Spotlight on Donation Process Times 

Reporting within Propello gives Bella’s Voice newfound visibility into back-room productivity. The team can now track items priced per minute, items priced per employee, daily inventory added to the floor and sell-through rates.

“This type of insight is important because if one person’s pricing average is $5 and another’s is $10 for the same category of items, we have a discrepancy we need to address,” explains Hoffman-Nelson. “That data helps us properly coach and train staff and maintain consistency for our customers.”

Plus, with real-time data, supervisors can assess all team members’ process status half-way through a shift, motivating employees to reach established quotas with friendly competitions and incentives.

“If we’re not putting out more inventory than we’re selling, we’re at a deficit and our shelves won’t be full,” she adds. “Our goal for our new store location is to price a minimum of 2,000 items per day, and the data in Propello will keep us accountable.”

Massive Jump in Charitable Round Ups

Each month, each store partners with a charity of the month to raise funds on their behalf. One of the most unexpected wins from deploying Propello is the impact of the round-up functionality within the platform. Previously, cashiers had to ask if customers wanted to round up a sale to support a local animal rescue. Now, the option pops up right on the screen, and customers simply choose “yes” or “no.”

As Epicor Propello is designed for the thrift industry, we’re able to get more donated items on the floor each day, sell more of them, and attract more return customers. These gains have a direct impact on animals’ lives, helping more families and pets stay together.

“Our average round-ups went from $1,200 a month to $3,000, a 150% increase,” explains Hoffman-Nelson. “That’s real money going directly to rescue partners and animal sanctuaries. And we expect this number to continue to climb, aiming to reach an annual amount of $122,000 across both stores.”

Strengthening Mission Impact

With better insight, faster processing, and improved pricing consistency, Bella’s Voice has increased thrift store sales and expanded its ability to fund community programs.

“As Epicor Propello is designed for the thrift industry, we’re able to get more donated items out on the floor each day, sell more inventory, and attract more return customers,” Hoffman-Nelson adds. “Those gains have a direct impact on animals’ lives, helping more families and pets stay together.”