Spar has become the latest national retailer to sign up to the Scotland Loves Local Gift Card, a gift card for 32 local authority areas of Scotland, powered by payments provider Miconex and backed by Scotland’s Towns Partnership and the Scottish Government.
Businesses across Scotland can register for free to accept the new Scotland Loves Local Gift Card as an additional payment method, as Miconex expands its Town and City Gift Cards concept from 17 areas of Scotland to 32, and to more than 100 places in the UK overall. Town and City Gift Cards can be spent with retail, hospitality, leisure and services, in both national and independent businesses.
Paula Middleton, marketing manager for Spar Scotland, said: “The Scotland Loves Local Gift Card aligns completely with our values at Spar. Community is at the heart of everything we do in our stores that operate in rural areas and towns from Gretna right up to Kirkwall. Our staff know our customers as neighbours, and we’re big supporters of local charities, donating over £1m across Scotland since 2013. People have come to appreciate the value of communities even more in the pandemic, and to realise how important local businesses are. For some customers, the only human interaction they had during the pandemic was through visiting their local Spar store or another local business.
“Spar is a national brand with a local approach. 50% of the products on our shelves are either produced or distributed from Scottish production sites. It was a no brainer for us to join the Scotland Loves Local Gift Card. It’s a scheme that supports local businesses and local communities, we absolutely knew we had to get involved. Anything that we can do to encourage people to shop locally, support local businesses through increased footfall, and create positive communities, we have to do, and the Scotland Loves Local Gift Card ticks all of those boxes.”
The initiative has the potential to inject £13m into Scottish towns and cities, the backers believe.
Colin Munro, Managing Director of Miconex, said: “Customers want diversity in their towns and cities, and creating successful, vibrant, inclusive towns and cities is very much on the government agenda. By participating in the Scotland Loves Local scheme, nationals and independents have a tangible means to unite, collaborate and contribute to the evolution of their town or city.”
