localrewards.ie is approved as a Guaranteed Irish service

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The whole purpose of the localrewards.ie site and initiative is to encourage people to shop locally and help keep jobs in Ireland and the local community. In the current economic situation it is very easy to overlook not only the importance of shopping locally but also the great value that you can get from your independent local business.

We are very proud to be able to say that today we have received approval to use the Guaranteed Irish symbol. This is a recognition not only of the value in the work we are trying to do but also in the fact that we are based in Ireland and that the service we offer is not a generic software product repackaged from abroad but has been developed ourselves. Like our own clients we saw the need to do something and not wait for others to do it for us. Our clients are the businesses in your community who are going the extra step to earn your business and I hope this announcement will also reflect well on their efforts.

I will write a more detailed explanation of why this is such a big deal to us and the businesses and communities using the localrewards.ie system in the next few days. Right now, on a day when we expect enough bad news from the Budget, I just wanted to highlight the good news we had received.

Macroom, Co. Cork Helping Itself With The Introduction Of A Town-Wide Loyalty Card

As the Irish Government prepares to accept EU and IMF assistance the small town of Macroom, Co. Cork is helping itself by introducing a scheme to encourage people to shop in the town. Customers can pick up a Macrooom localrewards card and immediately start collecting points in any participating business. The more they shop in a business the more points they collect and the greater the range of rewards available to them.

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 Small businesses provide the majority of employment in Ireland and it is more critical than ever that they retain their customer base if towns are to survive as viable and vibrant communities. Macroom is not the first town to try and encourage people to shop locally. However most towns which have introduced shop local programs have used Discount Cards. With these schemes people typically buy a card and then get a discount on every visit to a participating business. These have not proven to be very successful, primarily because regular customers resent being forced to pay for a discount that is also available to one-time visitors. The points-based Macroom localrewards card allows customers to build points over multiple visits and so allows businesses to give greater rewards to the regular customers.

Operation of the program is simple; a customer collects their free card from a participating business and shows this card anytime they shop in a participating premises. Once the customer has gained enough points in any premises they can trade them in for a reward. This can be anything from a discount to free gifts. Each business runs its own program and the points earned in any business are only valid for rewards from that business. The advantage of the town-wide card is that a person only needs to carry one card so individual businesses don't have to fight for wallet space. 

The Macroom card is operating under the localrewards.ie banner using software developed by Cork company myrewardcard.ie. "I had seen research showing the popularity of loyalty card but, because there was no cost-effective solution available to them, most businesses were only able to offer stamped cardboard cards which their customers constantly lost or left in the washing machine," said the Chief Executive, Brian O'Connell. " So we built a platform that would allow even the smallest business afford a professional points program without worrying about any IT issues. This platform is now powering the localrewards card in Macroom, Carrigaline and soon Clonakilty." 

In addition to the benefits the Macroom localrewards card brings to individual businesses it can also be used to run community-wide promotions. The town of Carrigaline introduced a localrewards card in August and a recent promotion there rewarded cardholders for shopping in more than 2 businesses in September. Since its introduction nearly 3,000 individuals have taken and used the Carrigaline card and the reaction of the competition winner, Kevin O'Brien, was typical of the communities response; "It's a great idea. I get something back while supporting local jobs."

One of the first businesses to accept the Macroom localrewards card is the Macroom Bookshop where owner Jackie Fitz-Gerald  has offered her own Reward Program for over a year. " I introduced our own reward program because I wanted some way to say thank you to my regular customers. It's been a huge success and people appreciate that I value their regular business. I'm sure this new card will be just as successful for the town and I'm looking forward to giving my first points."

The program is being launched to tie in with the Christmas Shopping season. "A busy time such as Christmas is the ideal time to launch  since people who might visit only a few times a year will collect points now, giving them an incentive to return in the New Year," says Brian O'Connell. "We've seen this effect after the launch in Carrigaline which took place during the back-to-school rush." 

The Macroom localrewards card can be picked up and used now.

New Town Coming Soon

Following the success of our first localrewards card in Carrigaline, Co. Cork we have been talking to a number of businesses in other towns. The interest is very high and we have identified the 2 towns which will be getting their own town loyalty cards before Christmas. The first will be going live in early November.
Stay tuned for the official announcement soon...

The Carrigaline Grand Prize Winner of 250 Euro and 1,300 points

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The winner of the Grand Prize in the Shop September promotion has been selected. Kevin O'Brien from Carrigaline wins the €250 and 1,300 points, joining the 4 previous weekly winners who each received 650 points.

Kevin was one of hundreds of people with registered cards who used them in 2 or more businesses during September. Each of these were automatically entered into the draw and on Saturday the computer drew one at random.

The Shop September promotion is part of an ongoing scheme by independent Carrigaline businesses to promote local shopping in the town. As part of the initiative Carrigaline became the first town in Ireland to team with localrewards.ie to introduce a town-wide loyalty card. The scheme was introduced by leading businesses in the town who realised that they needed to give people a reason to shop in the town instead of going to nearby Cork City. It's been a huge success so far with over 2,200 people actively using their cards, and that number continues to grow every day.

The way the Carrigaline businesses implemented a way to reward their customer and keep jobs alive in the town rather than waiting for someone to do it for them has attracted great interest and we now expect to announce a second town this month...and hopefully a third soon after.
The Shop September promotion is now finished but the 5 winners were;
September 3 - Patricia Forde won 650 points
September 11 - Denise Higgins won 650 points
September 18 - Anita Meade won 650 points
September 25 - Samantha Shanahan won 650 points
Grand Prize - Kevin O'Brien won €250 and 1,300 points

The Fourth Weekly Winner in Carrigaline

We just announced the latest weekly winner of the Carrigaline Shop September promotion. Samantha Shanahan becomes the 4th person to get 650 reward points from local businesses just for using her localrewards.ie card in the town. That's a total of 2,600 points awarded in September.

As the month is drawing to a close Samantha is the going to be the final weekly winner.... but there are still another 1,300 points and €250 in cash to be given away. Anyone who has used their card in two separate businesses during the month will be eligible for the draw that will take place on Friday. So if you've used your card once you have another 3 days to use it again. And don't forget to register it because only registered cards are eligible!

A Third 650 Point Winner is Announced in Carrigaline, Co. Cork.

The third winer in the Carrigaline localrewards.ie Shop Septemebr promotion has been announced. Anita Meade from Carrigaline was selected and correctly identified Moscow as the capital of Russia. This means she now gets 50 points from each business.

In total we have given 1,950 points to our three winners - and there are a further 1,950 to give away to the remaining two winner. Plus the €250 of course.

This week we also reached over 2,000 cards in use in Carrigaline with no sign of any reduction in the enthusiasm and good will we are seeing to the scheme. We hope to announce the next town to join Carrigaline with their own loyalty scheme very soon.

Carrigaline's Announces the 2nd Shop September Winner to Receive 650 Reward Points in The Town

Denise Higgins is the 2nd weekly winner of the Carrigdhoun localrewards.ie Shop September promotion. Randomly selected as a holder of a registered Carrigaline localrewards.ie card Denise correctly identified Berlin as the capital of Germany. She now receives 50 Reward Points from each of the 13 participating businesses.

The Shop September promotion is sponsored by The Carrigdhoun and every Saturday in September a new winner is drawn. Anybody using their card in a participating Carrigaline business and registering it before the draw is automatically entered into that Saturdays draw for 50 Reward points from each participating business. At the end of the month any registered cards which have been used in 2 or more businesses will also be entered into the Grand Prize draw to win 1,250 points plus a cash prize of €250. This week 330 people used their localrewards.ie card and 101 of those were eligible for the draw, having registered their card. Only registered cards are eligible and the process can be completed online in a few seconds. Once registered cardholders can also see their points balance and transaction history with every business.

In addition to the 650 points received by Denise, last weeks winner was also awarded an extra 50 points by Rothar Cycles who joined the program after last weeks draw had already take place.

The Shop September promotion runs ends on September 31 and during this time there will be an additional 2 weekly draws in addition to the Grand Prize. Cardholders are automatically entered for the draw when they use a registered card in any of the 13 participating businesses; Pet Essentials, Batemans Shoes, Kool Kidz Korner, Carrigaline Bookshop, Express Tyre Centre, Spice Indian Restaurant, Cahills Menswear, Mano Mano, Chocolate Hair Group, Carrigaline Auto Centre, The Print Studio, Celine's Beauty Rooms and Rothar Cycles.

Rothar Cycles Joins Carrigaline localrewards.ie

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Rothar Cycles on Lower Kilmoney Rd in Carrigaline has now joined Irelands first every town loyalty card.


Rothar joins 12 other independent businesses in the town in rewarding loyal customers for shopping in Carrigaline.

The addition of Rothar means that winners of The Shop September promotion will also receive additional points: 50 for weekly winners and 100 points for the Grand Prize winner.

Carrigalines First 600 Point Winner

Today we had the first draw in the Carrighdoun localrewards.ie Shop September promotion. Every Saturday we randomly select a person who used their card in the town during the week. This weeks winner was Patricia Forde from Carrigaline. Not only was Patricia lucky enough to get drawn from among the possible entrants but she also correctly answered the question: Paris is the capital of which country? As a result she now gets 50 free points from each business.

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Patricia was one of 113 people who used their card in the 2 1/2 days since the competition started. Of these, 34 were eligible for the draw, having registered their card. We can only accept registered cards since this is the only way we can contact the holders. If you use your card in the coming week, make sure it is registered if you want to be in with a chance of winning 600 points next Saturday at lunchtime.

On October 1 we will draw the grand prize winner who can win 100 points in each business as well as €250!

Carrigaline To Reward 5 Local Shoppers With €250 and Thousands of Points

The response to our first localrewards.ie card in Carrigaline Co.Cork has been very well received locally with over 1,600 people using a card in the first 3 weeks. We've now got together with The Carrigdhoun newspaper to run a unique promotion that will reward people for shopping in multiple businesses in the town.

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The Carrigdhoun localrewards.ie Shop September promotion takes place across the whole of September. Holders of registered Carrigaline localrewards.ie cards are automatically entered into a draw every week they use their card in a participating business. An eligible card is then drawn every Saturday and, after answering a simple question, the cardholder can win 50 points in every business. In addition to this there is a grand draw in which everyone who has used their registered card in 2 or more different businesses during the month is automatically entered. The winner of the grand draw gets 100 points from each business plus a cash prize of €250.

Cardholders have a choice of 12 businesses in which to use the card, with more expected to join during the month. These include 
Pet Essentials, Batemans Shoes, Kool Kidz Korner, Carrigaline Bookshop, Express Tyre Centre, Spice Indian Restaurant, Cahills Menswear, Mano Mano, Chocolate Hair Group, Carrigaline Auto Centre, The Print Studio and Celine's Beauty Rooms.

The Carrigdhoun newspaper is sponsoring the promotion as part of their efforts to help the local community. When we discussed it with them they instantly saw the potential in the concept and how it could uniquely benefit the town.

The first draw takes place this Saturday, September 3 and the panel will consist of all registered cards who have points awarded to them (and recorded in the system) from Wednesday 1. Only registered cards are eligible because we need a way to contact the winners.

We think this promotion is going to be a big success because of the unique nature of it and the fact that cardholders don't need to do anything special to enter, they just shop in local businesses as usual.

We'll announce the first winner on the site next week. In the meantime we have put up a special page with details and rules. You can find it at www.localrewards.ie/competition