The Bradford City Centre Gift Card launched by Bradford BID is one of the first local gift cards available to buy in the GiftRound store as part of a drive to encourage local shopping. People can group collect using GiftRound for all types of occasions.
Gifting local just got easier as the Bradford City Centre Gift Card becomes a purchase option on group collecting platform GiftRound.
The Bradford City Centre Gift Card launched in November 2022 and can be spent with over 140 local businesses, including shops, restaurants, salons, hotels and venues, part of the Town & City Gift Card initiative from fintech Miconex. Over £125,000 worth of Bradford City Centre Gift Cards have been sold to date.
Edinburgh based online group collecting platform, GiftRound was founded in 1999, giving people an easy way to collect money for various occasions. Over 100,000 collections have been created through GiftRound with over £5 million in gift cards/vouchers ordered via the platform.
GiftRound’s top collections are for leaving gifts, followed by new babies, weddings and the end of the school year, with an average GiftRound of £140.
Originally offering only Marks & Spencer and John Lewis gift cards for recipients, the addition of the Bradford City Centre Gift Card to the GiftRound store is part of a wider onboarding of Miconex’s local gift cards for 34 towns and cities in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Town & City Gift Cards can be spent with all types and sizes of local businesses, encouraging local shopping, driving footfall and locking spend into local economies.
Craig Forsythe, CEO & founder at GiftRound said the addition of the Bradford City Centre Gift Card makes supporting local easier than ever:
“GiftRound was an idea that I came up with 10 years ago as a solution to the office problem of trying to collect money for a gift. Someone would always put the card in their desk drawer and it would get lost. But things really kicked off for GiftRound in the pandemic with the cultural shift towards remote working. With GiftRound, we’re injecting the joy into gifting, making the process celebratory and helping the recipient to get a nicer gift at the end.
“The partnership with Miconex came about due to demand from our customers for local gift cards to be added to the GiftRound store. As well as adding the Bradford City Centre Gift Card and many other local gift cards, physical gifts are also available, with people able to spend their collections across a number of product categories. There’s also an option to print the comments from contributors on a card.
“Giving recipients access to a range of local businesses, including smaller quality retailers and businesses through the Bradford City Centre Gift Card, is the magic of our collaboration with Miconex and the Town & City Gift Card initiative. Most people want to support local but it has to be easy and this partnership makes supporting local easier than ever.”
Nikki Chadburn, Bradford BID’s Business Communications Manager said: “The Bradford City Centre Gift Card being available on GiftRound is exciting and will bring the power of shop local to new audiences. Workplaces or groups of people can use GiftRound to collect money online for occasions like office gifts or the end of the school term, and then choose our local gift card to spend the collection on, giving the recipient the choice of over 140 fantastic local businesses and boosting our local economy.”
Founded in Perth, Miconex now operates over 200 local gift card programmes globally. Colin Munro, managing director of Miconex said: “The partnership with GiftRound comes at a time when appetite for supporting local businesses has never been higher. Over £12.4 million of our local gift cards were purchased in 2023. In 2024, demand for our local gift cards is up 69% because they tap into key gifting trends such as support for local, avoiding waste and a preference for gift cards that offer choice.
“Town & City Gift Cards are unique in that they offer a unique blend of national brands with independent businesses. Our collaboration with GiftRound will drive even more footfall in our high streets, giving people money to spend with local businesses and ultimate local choice in one gift card.”
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