May’s Mi Rewards prize won by Matthew Varnsverry was a £50 Gloucester Gift Card, which can be spent in 36 businesses in the city centre. Over 50 businesses in Gloucester are part of the Mi Rewards loyalty scheme, which re-launched in the Gloucester in 2020. Mi Rewards is a loyalty programme which offers rewards for customers when they pay using linked debit or credit cards in participating local businesses in Gloucester. As Mi Rewards is linked to payment cards, customers don’t have to show a separate loyalty card to receive rewards. Every 10 points collected during the month equals one entry into the monthly prize draw. Matthew Varsverry said:

I am shocked but delighted to have won this £50 gift card. When I’m out and about in the city centre I’ll often have lunch at Boswells, M&S Café, Greggs or McDonald’s to name a few. I haven’t been doing much non-food shopping in stores lately since the pandemic.

Mi Rewards is a points-based rewards system, ‘Spend Local Win Big’, in 2020 to encourage local loyalty from all customers, including those spending lesser amounts. The system is designed to allow Gloucester to showcase the best of the area through its monthly prize. June’s Mi Rewards prizes are a Roman bundle, which includes a superb Glevum tote bag and a copy of Tim Copeland’s Roman Gloucestershire, donated by Museum of Gloucester and four £25 Gloucester Gift Cards sponsored by Assured Mobility. Emily Gibbon from Gloucester BID said:

“After the trials and tribulations of recent months, it is fantastic to see our shops, restaurants and businesses in Gloucester open again, welcoming customers safely. It feels like the heart is back in our Gloucester. Our Mi Rewards prizes for May were kindly donated by Incito Group Holdings Ltd and the Gloucester Gift Cards sponsored by The Fountain Inn.’ “With Mi Rewards, you get rewards for shopping locally and supporting businesses here, and we’re thrilled to be able to present Matthew with their prize.”

Mi Rewards was created by Scottish fintech Miconex and loyalty platform Stampfeet in Perth in 2018, and is now approaching £1million in sales, with over 47,000 transactions after launches in Enniskillen, Stoke-on-Trent, Guildford, Gloucester and Fleet. New schemes will launch in Barnsley and Kirkcaldy in 2021. The Mi Rewards website underwent a revamp in May 2021 with enhanced tools for participating businesses. Colin Munro is the managing director of Miconex, which also operates over 60 Town and City Gift Card programmes in the UK and Ireland and said Mi Rewards is a next generation loyalty programme:

“Customers have moved beyond traditional loyalty card schemes, they don’t have the time or the inclination to store and remember a mass of loyalty cards for different stores. Mi Rewards works in a similar way to Apple Pay or Google Pay and once cards are registered, the technology works in the background. This takes the hassle out of loyalty, giving customers rewards they value for doing something they are keen to do- shopping locally and supporting the businesses where they live.”

https://mi-rewards.com/