NI turns to shop local with gift card schemes

The 2020 sales data represents 350% year on year growth for the Scottish technology firm and provides evidence that Northern Ireland consumers are turning to local, multi-venue gift card programmes in a bid to support community businesses.

Miconex, who pioneered a gift card scheme to support local businesses, took its total number of local Town and City Gift Card programmes to 59 in 2020, with 19 new schemes launching between August and December, including the Antrim Gift Card, as places sought to harness the shop local sentiment and unite businesses behind one gift card that can be spent across retail, leisure, hospitality and services.

Christmas was a key trading period for Miconex, with 33 of its schemes recording five figure sales in November and December, including for the Strabane Gift Card and the Causeway Coast & Glens Gift Card.

Enniskillen achieved over £100,000 in gift card sales in December alone.

In Belfast, £88,000 was generated during the month of December through gift card sales.

In Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, Miconex reports that gift card transactions in the last two months of 2020 were largely driven by Boomers (55 plus) and Generation X shoppers (aged 35-54), representing 34.88% and 32.33% of transactions respectively. Millennials (25-34) accounted for 19.89% of transactions and Generation Z (16-24) 12.89%.

Data also revealed that the older the customer, the higher the purchase value with 46.75% of revenue generated by Boomers, 33.63% for Generation X, 14.12% for Millennials and 5.5% for Generation Z.

Thus, whilst under 34s accounted for over 32% of transactions, they represented 19.62% of revenue for gift card sales.

Women purchased more gift cards, representing 53.18% of all transactions but 49.72% of revenue due to lower gift card purchasing value than men.

The sales figures from Miconex have demonstrated success for both small towns and big cities with gift card programmes.

Enniskillen has a population of around 11,000 and introduced the Enniskillen Gift Card in September 2017, and over £150,000 has been spent through the programme since then with local businesses benefitting immensely.

Noelle McAlloon from Experience Enniskillen explained: “We have been able to build the Enniskillen Gift Card into the community. Shop local resonates with people here who rely on our businesses a bit more than you would do in a city.

“The community is really behind the gift card. Corporate orders increased our sales by 37% in 2020 after employers rewarded staff after a difficult year but we’ve built up and nurtured these relationships over time. We’re incredibly proud to have achieved over £144,000 in sales in 2020. We want the Enniskillen Gift Card to do well and we’ll do what it takes to make that happen.”

Belfast, with a population of around 340,000 and first launched its gift card in November 2019. It now has over 155 businesses currently registered to receive the Belfast City Centre Gift Card across a wide variety of places ranging from retail, health and beauty, bars, restaurants and hotels.

In September 2020, a collaboration of the three Belfast BIDS enhanced the Belfast City Centre Gift Card offering making the scheme even stronger with the city.

Damien Corr, Business Improvement Manager at Destination CQ BID continued: “The shop local sentiment in Belfast is strong. This was particularly noticeable throughout the Christmas period, when consumers wanted to buy local to save small businesses. We actively supported this through our social media platforms and marketing activities. The expiry date of 12 months allows consumers to buy now and spend later, which is essential as we make our way through the continuing challenges presented by the pandemic.

“The collaboration between our BIDS helped to provide more choice to consumers and strengthened the partnership between the BIDS, as well as the participating businesses. Now more than ever, it is important to work together and promote the city centre businesses.”

In November 2020, Antrim launched its Town and City Gift Card and has seen a great uptake.

Karen Uprichard of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council added: “The idea for a gift card programme first came when a large local employer called me and asked if we had a gift card for the town as they wanted to buy some to reward their staff. When I heard about the Town and City Gift Cards scheme, it was welcome news.

“We have a whole range of traders ready to accept the Antrim Gift Card, from food and beverage to health and beauty, shopping, florists, high street stores and small independent shops too. Our businesses have done so well to adapt their businesses during the restrictions, and later, to be covid secure. The biggest thank you we can give them is showing our support with the Antrim Gift Card.

“The council’s Back in Business campaign featured some live entertainment in Antrim and staff distributed face coverings and hand sanitiser as part of our efforts to welcome people back to the town. 

“Since Covid we have noticed a shift in shopping habits and that people want to shop locally, especially. Buying even a £20 Antrim Gift Card will make such a difference to local businesses now.”

Miconex’s sales performance aligns with findings of increased buoyancy in the gift card market during November and December.

The Gift Card and Voucher Association reported a marked increase in overall gift card buying in December 2020, with 51.5% of respondents purchasing a gift card for self-use or as a gift. They also found that 25.2% of people purchasing gift cards for others and 24.2% purchasing gift cards for themselves, did so to show support for local businesses.

Colin Munro, managing director of Miconex believes the success of its Town and City Gift Card concept in Northern Ireland is just the start of what can be achieved with local gift card programmes.

He added:

“The shop local sentiment has been building globally for some years now, as we see a return to community and all of the benefits strong communities bring. The pandemic has accelerated the shop local trend and increased the demand but is not the sole cause of it. What our places have done is convert the demand for local shopping into economy boosting revenue, in a programme that works just as well in a small town as in a large city, creating an unbeatable consumer product. What we can see from the 2020 data is that multi-venue gift cards are popular across the generations.

“As we would expect, Boomers and Generation X shoppers spend most when they buy gift cards, due to their greater disposable income but Millennials and Generation Z are vital to the long term success of gift card programmes; once that loyalty is gained, purchase values can increase alongside disposable income.

“Overall, this is data that we will use to continue to support our new and existing gift card programmes around the UK and Ireland.”

Miconex was founded in 2010 and works with towns and cities across the UK, helping to support successful local economies. Miconex developed the UK’s first city-wide gift card programme in Perth through its Town and City Gift Cards initiative in 2015.

In 2020, over 50 cities/towns across the four countries of the UK were part of the Miconex Town and City Gift Card programme.

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