Cavan Chamber of Commerce has upgraded its paper vouchers for a high tech gift card to provide tangible support for businesses, enable organisations to support local with employee rewards, and encourage the younger generation to shop local.
A joint initiative with Cavan County Council, the new gift card replaces the Cavan Chamber Voucher which has operated in the town since 2020. Available as either a physical gift card or an e-card that can be added to digital wallets, hopes are high that the new Cavan Town Gift Card will make it easier for existing and new audiences to shop local.
The Cavan Town Gift Card can be spent with multiple businesses in the town, including shops, restaurants, hotels and services. Both national brands and independent businesses accept the card, which is part of the Town & City Gift Card concept active across Ireland.
Over €7 million Town & City Gift Cards were sold in Ireland in 2023. The cards are eligible to be used with the Irish Revenue’s Small Benefit Exemption Scheme, making them popular for organisations to use for employee rewards.
Councillor Philip Brady from Cavan County Council, who is also owner of The Sports Shop in Cavan, said the objective of the new gift card is to drive spend in Cavan and prevent business closures:
“We’ve had a paper voucher in Cavan for a number of years now but the time was right to upgrade. As a Chamber, we have noticed a drop in footfall in Cavan Town itself. The objective of the new gift card is to bring people right into the heart of the town with money to spend, so we can keep businesses open.
“There is great enthusiasm from our businesses for the new Cavan Town Gift Card which has huge potential to drive significant sales in our town, especially from organisations using the card for employee rewards. Only a few businesses accept the national gift cards because of the high commissions, whereas the Cavan Town Gift Card is commission free for businesses to accept, so all of the money goes to our town. All Cavan businesses can accept the gift card, whether they are members of the Chamber or not.
“We live in a digital world so the e-card version of the card in particular will be beneficial in encouraging the future generation to shop local and support their town. It’s also highly convenient, with the ability to send a card to the recipient in moments.”
Cian Donohoe is the owner of Cian’s Tech World and said the commission free nature of the card is a positive:
“The launch of the new Cavan Town Gift Card is important to drive forward the shop local ethos in Cavan. The paper vouchers were a massive help in getting customers through the door but from a retailer’s perspective, the new gift card is a lot more customer and business friendly. We’ve actually stopped accepting the national gift cards because of the high commission they charge, so the zero commission on the Cavan Town Gift Card is a big bonus. Too many gift cards send people elsewhere whereas the Cavan Gift Card has to be spent here with our businesses and is a fantastic opportunity for us.”
Peter Scanlon is the owner of Elegant Gems and urges local firms to consider the card for Christmas rewards: “Elegant Gems is a third generation business dating back to 1944 so we’ve seen many changes in that time. The paper vouchers were good but very time consuming and administration heavy whereas the new Cavan Town Gift Card is high-tech and much easier for businesses to accept and customers to use. This Christmas, I urge all local employers to consider using the Cavan Town Gift Card to reward their staff tax free, using the Small Benefit Exemption with the reassurance that the card has to be spent in the town, locking spend into Cavan.”
Alongside Cavan, new Town & City Gift Card programmes launching in 2024 include Donegal Town, Wexford, Limerick, Kilkenny and Tipperary.
Colin Munro is the managing director of Miconex and said: “We’re pleased to welcome Cavan to our network of Town & City Gift Card programmes across Ireland. As experienced in Cavan, paper programmes can be effective at building a ‘shop local’ approach but they have multiple challenges around security, administration and redemption. The new Cavan Town Gift Card utilises cutting edge gift card technology to remove friction at all levels, making support for local easy, convenient and appealing for all stakeholders, and helping Cavan to reach the next stage of ‘shop local’ growth.”
The Cavan Town Gift Card is available to buy online for consumers and organisations.