Macroom and neighbouring villages are collaborating on a new high-tech gift card for the Lee Valley region to drive in-person sales for local businesses and encourage connection between people and places.
Backed by Macroom Business Association, the Grá Macroom Gift Card will replace the previous paper Macroom shopping voucher and offers significant benefits for the businesses accepting the card and recipients spending them.
Businesses in Macroom, Clondrohid, Béal Átha an Ghaorthaidh, Baile Mhuirne, Guagán Barra, Inchigeelagh, Coachford, Dripsey, Lissarda, Kilmurry and are all eligible to accept the card, commission free, including shops, restaurants, attractions, pubs and cafés.
Mastercard backed, businesses will be able to accept the card using their existing payment systems. Once launched, the Grá Macroom Gift Card will be available as a physical card that can be swiped at the till or a digital card that is added to digital wallets, enabling ‘tap to pay’ technology.
Cards will be available in person from Killian Auctioneers Macroom, Cooney’s Garage in Coachford, Connections in Macroom, Dromeys Centra in Ballymakeera and Daybreak in Ballingeary as well as online at www.townandcitygiftcards.ie
The Grá Macroom Gift Card is the latest ‘shop local’ initiative from the town following the opening of the Macroom bypass in 2023, with a Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) study finding that footfall in the town is up 28%.
The card will be part of the multi-award winning Town & City Gift Card initiative from Miconex, active across Ireland. Killian Lynch, chairperson of the Macroom Business Association said the new card will be easier to spend and accept:
“Macroom will be the first town in County Cork to utilise Town & City Gift Card technology to create our own high-tech physical and digital gift card. Around 60 Macroom businesses were part of our old paper vouchers. With the new gift card we’re extending the initiative to our surrounding villages in the Lee Valley region, which has a population reach of around 15,000 people. In doing so, we expect to generate around €500,000 to €1 million in sales annually for our Gift Card program, money that is ring-fenced into the Lee Valley/Muskerry region.
“Our old shop local vouchers were cumbersome and not user friendly. Recipients had to spend the full amount in one go as change was not offered and businesses had to bring the vouchers to the Macroom Business Association for payment, waiting 1-2 weeks. The new Grá Macroom Gift Card will be as easy to spend and accept with the balance automatically updated and businesses getting paid quickly. It will be far easier for organisations to reward their staff with the new gift card too using the Small Benefit Exemption scheme, rather than trying to manage mounds of paper vouchers.
“Our intention is for the Grá Macroom Gift Card to become the default gift card for the Lee Valley. We have spoken to most of the businesses across Macroom and surrounding villages and all are delighted to accept the card. It’s a no brainer for businesses and also for employers to be able to use this card as a staff reward at Christmas, so as to ring fence the spend in the local economy and also to be able to give a card that can be used for day to day living.”
Colin Munro is the managing director of Miconex and said: “The Grá Macroom Gift Card will be a single gift card for the Lee Valley with huge potential to lock significant spend into the region for the benefit of local businesses. It takes moments for businesses to sign up to accept the card, and works through the Mastercard system so no additional equipment is required. And there is no commission for businesses to accept the card as payment. Being a part of the card will bring new customers to your business with money to spend and I encourage all businesses to be a part of this exciting initiative for the Lee Valley region.”