A dedication to encouraging organisations to think local with their rewards and incentives was the driver for Scottish firm Miconex picking up the Best Gift Card Supplier award at the 2023 Incentive Awards.
The Incentive Awards is a global awards programme celebrating excellence across the incentive, reward and recognition industry, held on the 28th September 2023 in London. 10 gift card suppliers were in the running for the coveted Best Gift Card Supplier award at the event, which was held in partnership with IMA Europe.
In 2023, Miconex has over 200 programmes globally through its Town & City Gift Card and Downtown Gift Card brands, plus the Scotland Loves Local Gift Card in association with Scotland’s Towns Partnership. The local gift cards give places the means to offer employers a viable local option for employee, customer and service user rewards, incentives and support, keeping spend locked into local areas.
A range of national retailers are part of Miconex’s local gift card programmes, including M&S, Primark, Aldi, Lidl, Boots, New Look and Lush, sitting alongside independent retail, hospitality, leisure, health and beauty and services brands.
Miconex’s Christmas 2022 corporate campaign supported places to demonstrate the value of local gift cards as rewards and incentives, highlighting employee wants and needs including a desire to support local and a preference for multi-store gift cards. The campaign showed the power of the cards to drive spend in towns and cities quickly, with 79% of employees making a specific visit to spend their card, making a tangible difference to local economies.
The trailblazing Scotland Loves Local Gift Card has been used to support communities across the country. In 2022, Miconex facilitated the distribution of £14 million of Scottish Government LACER Funding to low incomes households across Scotland using the card, supporting people through the cost of living crisis and stimulating business activity. A popular corporate reward, over £370,000 was invested by Scottish organisations in the Scotland Loves Local Gift Card in 2022.
Making support for local easy for employers is a key focus for Miconex, introducing the UK’s first place-based digital gifting product through the Mastercard network and digital wallet services such as Apple Pay, facilitated by their Love Local app. Digital sales in 2022 represented 21% of overall sales for Miconex.
Colin Munro, managing director of Miconex, said: “We are incredibly proud to have picked up this award on behalf of our places and our team who have an unwavering focus on making local gift cards the number one choice for organisational rewards and incentives.
“Employee needs have changed considerably over the past three years with organisations adapting their reward and recognition programmes to reflect these changes. Support for local is stronger than ever and organisations are increasingly aware of their role in making their community vibrant and successful. Organisations also want to give their people choice, catering for diverse staff needs, and offering a useful, flexible reward. With their mix of national brands and local favourites, our gift cards offer ultimate local choice.”
