Shop local and the community gift card
A campaign that moves spending to local businesses, often with a gift card that only works in town.
A shop-local campaign moves spending to local businesses. The year-round version is a community gift card that only spends at participating local businesses. The bonus version adds extra value to each card a customer buys, funded by the chamber, the EDC or a sponsor, and can be counted in dollars.
What is a shop-local campaign?
Small Business Saturday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, is the anchor. The year-round version is a community gift card: a card that spends only at participating local businesses. Yiftee's directory lists 29 community cards in Texas, including Abilene, Cedar Hill, Denton, Frisco, Lubbock, Plano and Rockwall.
The bonus-card version is the one owners love. In Helotes, the chamber, with support from the Helotes EDC, adds $10 to $25 to every $50 gift card a customer buys from a member retailer or restaurant. The chamber reports more than $140,000 put back into its business community over the life of the program and $52,000 in gift card purchases in the past year.
Why does it work?
- Direct dollars to local businesses, and you can count them.
- It is a reason to call every retailer and restaurant in town.
- Sponsors like it: a bank's name on a program that puts money into local registers.
How do you start a shop-local campaign?
- Pick the mechanism: a bonus on gift cards bought at each business, or a community card platform.
- Fund the bonus: chamber, EDC, a bank sponsor, or all three.
- Enroll businesses with a one-page agreement.
- Launch before the holidays and run Small Business Saturday as the kickoff.
- Report dollars sold and redeemed to the board and to the businesses.
Texas examples
- Helotes Chamber of Commerce, Gift Card Give Back (with Helotes EDC support)
- Yiftee community card directory for Texas
What to watch out for
- Track redemption, not just sales, or you cannot prove the result.
- EDC money toward gift card bonuses needs a legal read first.
Pair it with: Digital Facade. A shop-local campaign sends people to search for your businesses; this makes sure they find them.
Questions directors ask
How does a bonus gift card program work?
In Helotes, a customer buys a $50 gift card from a member retailer or restaurant and the chamber adds $10 to $25 to it, with support from the Helotes EDC.
How many Texas towns have a community gift card?
Yiftee's directory lists 29 community cards in Texas, including Abilene, Cedar Hill, Denton, Frisco, Lubbock, Plano and Rockwall.
When should a shop-local campaign launch?
Before the holidays, with Small Business Saturday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, as the kickoff.