The Colchester Gift Card
The Colchester gift Card
FAQ
What is the Colchester Gift Card?
The Colchester Gift Card is a location specific (Colchester Town Centre) gift card that will be able to be spent in selected stores in the town centre. Branded individually as the Colchester Gift Card customers will be able to buy the card off it's own website, the promotion and marketing of the card will be done through the BIDs consumer brand InColchester.
Why a gift card?
Research has shown that gift cards bring additional spend into the town centre, on top of what is already being spent. On average people tend to spend an extra 65% on top of their gifted amount and those gifting often live outside of area bringing further revenue which wouldn't have been in the town otherwise.
The current gift card market is worth £7 billion.
The BID has chosen to adopt a gift card scheme as part of its recovery strategy, to help support businesses to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Who uses the gift card?
Anyone will be able to purchase and use the gift card in participating stores, this includes people who were gifted the card or employees who are awarded one as a thank you from there company.
Who can be part of the gift card scheme?
This scheme is open to all businesses, gift shops, cafes, restaurants, bars, retail, hotels, experience businesses can all use the gift card as long as the business is located within the BID zone (you can find more on the what's covered in the BID zone here) and it is completely free of charge.
Can people use the gift card on our online shop?
Yes, if you are a location specific independent shop (i.e. based solely in Colchester Town centre) people will be able to use their gift card on your online store. Unfortunately large brand stores will not be able to accept the gift card online as it doesn't guarantee location specific spend for the town centre.
How do I get my business involved?
Getting involved with the Colchester Gift Card is as simple as signing up, it's completely free of charge and no extra costs down the line.
You can sign up for the gift card here or copy and paste this link into your browser http://bit.ly/colchestergiftcard
When I'm signing up the Card Holder Not Present Transaction for £1.00 is asking for a name and address
That's not a problem! This part of the sign up is completely anonymous you can use your own name and address to complete this step. If you have continuing difficulties please email projects@ourcolchester.co.uk and we can help.
If you have any questions about the gift card or are in need of help to sign up please email projects@ourcolchester.co.uk