The County Wexford Shop Local Gift Card has received national recognition at the 2025 Chambers Ireland awards in June, in the Digital Campaigns category.
County Wexford Chamber transitioned from their paper Shop Local vouchers to the high-tech physical and digital County Wexford Shop Local Gift Card in November 2024 with over €600,000 in sales in 7 months.
The card can be spent with almost 200 local businesses across the four districts of County Wexford – Enniscorthy, Gorey, New Ross, and Wexford Town, and has been hugely popular as gifts, including as employee rewards.
Physical County Wexford Shop Local Gift Cards are handed over at the till for payment while the digital version of the card is added to digital wallets using a free Love Local app, enabling the recipient to ‘tap to pay’ with participating businesses.
Organisations can send digital County Wexford Shop Local Gift Cards to their staff or customers on a chosen date/time.
Paula Roche, CEO at County Wexford Chamber, said transitioning to the new Gift Card improved redemption rates, eliminated administrative burden and increased corporate sales.
“Our previous paper-based voucher scheme was well supported by local businesses, but it required a huge amount of manual effort from the Chamber team. Customers found the vouchers awkward to use, leading to low redemption rates, and the process was cumbersome for businesses too. On top of that, the paper format left the scheme open to fraud, as vouchers could be stolen and used without activation.
“We knew we had to modernise. With more people going digital and fewer carrying physical wallets, offering a digital Gift Card made sense, especially for last-minute gifts where instant delivery is key. It also supports our sustainability goals. That said, we still see strong demand for the physical version. Having both physical and digital options as part of the County Wexford Shop Local Gift Card gives us the flexibility to meet everyone's needs.
“For businesses coming from our paper voucher programme, the switch has been hugely positive. The old system was time-consuming and clunky. Merchants now appreciate the ease of instant payouts and how simple it is to accept the card. Today, we’re nearing 200 participating businesses, but onboarding is ongoing. We continue to grow the programme, ensuring strong representation across all districts and expanding into smaller towns.
“Before joining the Chamber in March 2024, I’d used other national Gift Card programmes without giving them much thought. But now, working within the Chamber, I truly see the value a local Gift Card brings to the community and economy. I’m incredibly proud of our business community, and it’s so rewarding to support them through this initiative.
“Corporate engagement has been key. 2024 was a transformative year for us - we redefined our engagement strategy, which resulted in a 10% rise in membership and a 20% increase in corporate partnerships. Introducing the County Wexford Shop Local Gift Card was part of that shift. Organisations saw the enhanced offering of the new card with all moving over to the County Wexford Shop Local Gift Card for their staff rewards and we also secured an additional €80,000 in new corporate orders.
“We submitted the Gift Card to the Chambers Ireland 2025 Awards in the Digital Campaigns category, highlighting how it strengthened our digital offering as part of our wider operational excellence strategy and support for the business community. After responding to 10 detailed questions and undergoing independent judging, we were shortlisted and ultimately won both the Digital Campaigns Award and the Supporting Business Award for successfully integrating Enniscorthy & District Chamber into County Wexford Chamber.
“The card’s success came down to collaboration, focus, and the team’s determination to make it a success over the busy Christmas period - while also delivering our usual events and programmes. Miconex’s support was outstanding throughout. The national recognition at the Chamber Awards was a brilliant endorsement of the team’s hard work, and we’re excited about building on that success in the months ahead.”
The County Wexford Shop Local Gift Card is part of the multi-award-winning Town & City Gift Card concept active across Ireland. Over €10 million Town & City Gift Cards were sold in Ireland in 2024.
Colin Munro is the managing director of Miconex and said: “We’re incredibly proud to see the success of County Wexford Chamber with the County Wexford Shop Local Gift Card. Their transition from a paper system had the goal of making supporting local easier for all stakeholders, taking their paper initiative to the next level with a physical and digital programme that has the capacity to grow alongside their community. From the outset, the team had a real determination to create the ultimate ‘shop local’ Gift Card for their county that represented each district, and this paid off with €600,000 in sales in a short time. We look forward to seeing and supporting the continued success of the County Wexford Shop Local Gift Card.”
Find out more about the County Wexford Shop Local Gift Card.
Irish Chambers, local authorities and organisations wishing to find out more about launching their own Town & City Gift Card can email Mark Cunningham: mark@mi-cnx.com