The Ilkley Gift Card is one of the first local gift cards available to buy in the GiftRound store as part of a drive to encourage local shopping.
Gifting local just got easier as the Ilkley Gift Card becomes a purchase option on group collecting platform GiftRound. GiftRound is a quick, hassle-free and secure way to create and contribute to group collections for various occasions.
The Ilkley Gift Card, an Ilkley Business Improvement (BID) initiative, launched in May 2022 and can be spent with over 80 local businesses, including shops, restaurants, bars and health and beauty salons, encouraging local shopping, driving footfall and locking spend into the local economy. To date there have been nearly £45,000 worth of Ilkley Gift Card sales.
Edinburgh based online group collecting platform, GiftRound was founded in 2018, 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.
Craig Forsythe, CEO & founder at GiftRound said the addition of the Ilkley Gift Card makes supporting local businesses 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 reigniting the joy of gifting, making the process celebratory and helping the recipient to get a nicer gift at the end.
“The partnership with Miconex, founders of the Town & City Gift Card initiative, came about due to demand from our customers for local gift cards to be added to the GiftRound store. As well as adding the Ilkley 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 GiftRound greeting card.
“Giving recipients access to a range of local businesses and supporting smaller quality retailers and independent businesses through the Ilkley Gift Card is the magic of this initiative. Most people want to support local but it has to be easy and this partnership makes supporting local easier than ever.”
Helen Rhodes, Ilkley BID Manager said: “The Ilkley 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 80 fantastic local businesses and boosting our local economy.”
For more information about the GiftRound scheme, visit: www.giftround.co.uk.
Consumers can buy the Ilkley Gift Card pre-loaded with any value from £5 to £500 at the Visitor Information Centre or they can pick up a card at selected retailers to load at home as well as buying online at www.ilkleygiftcard.co.uk. Digital cards are also available which you can add to your phone wallet for a quick, contactless transaction.
