Webinar to promote local business sign-ups to Aberdeenshire Loves Local Gift Card

Businesses are being encouraged to join a forthcoming online webinar which will promote the Aberdeenshire Loves Local Gift Card.

The gift card scheme is part of the Scotland Loves Local campaign which is a national initiative designed to encourage people to shop locally and support the businesses on our high streets.

It’s a proven way of increasing footfall and spend for participating national and independent businesses across retail, leisure, hospitality and entertainment sectors and, most importantly, is aimed at helping businesses recovering from the impact of the Covid pandemic and dealing with the cost-of-living crisis, thereby securing their long-term success.

Town centres also benefit tremendously by locking in economic spend to aid recovery and to continue the support to keep residents eating, visiting and shopping local.

Businesses are being urged to sign up to become part of the free scheme to add variety to the availability of shops and services on the gift card, thereby making it more desirable for consumers. The scheme will support local shops and cottage industries by encouraging much needed footfall back onto the high street of our local towns and villages.

It works by consumers purchasing a gift card which can be spent in any of those businesses across Aberdeenshire which have signed up. Currently the gift cards can only be purchased online by visiting www.lovelocal.scot/giftcard. However, the option to pick up a gift card in participating stores and load online is coming soon.

In the near future, Aberdeenshire Council proposes to use funding through LACER (Local Authority Covid Economic Recovery) to collaborate with the gift card initiative and invest £1.3mllion in pre-loaded gift cards to support direct spending in our local economies. Further details on this will be issued over the coming weeks.

The webinar will take place via Teams on Thursday, November 3 at 6pm.

During the session, businesses will be provided with an explanation of how the gift card scheme works along with details of the sign-up process.

Representatives from Scotland’s Towns Partnership and system provider Miconex will be on hand to answer any queries you have.

Please register your interest by emailing: aberdeenshireloveslocal@aberdeenshire.gov.uk