New partnership to support ‘shop local’ ethos in Chichester

A new way for people to buy the Chichester Gift Card has been unveiled, making it easier for people to support local in the city.

In addition to being able to buy the physical Chichester Gift Card in person from the Novium Museum, buy online, or collect and load with value at 5 city locations, a new partnership means the gift card is now also available to buy on group collecting platform GiftRound.

GiftRound gives people an easy way to collect money for various occasions. Their top collections are for leaving gifts, followed by new babies, weddings and the end of the school year, with an average GiftRound of £140. People collecting through GiftRound can now spend their collection on a Chichester Gift Card in the GiftRound store.

The Chichester Gift Card was launched by Chichester BID in 2018 and can be spent with over 170 local businesses, including shops, restaurants, salons, hotels and venues, part of the Town & City Gift Card initiative from fintech Miconex.

Craig Forsythe, CEO & founder at GiftRoundsaid the addition of the Chichester Gift Card to the platform 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.

“Giving recipients access to a range of local businesses, and supporting smaller quality retailers and independent businesses through the Chichester 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.”

Helen Marshall, CEO and Chair of Chichester BID said: “Our Chichester Gift Card showcases the best of Chichester in one gift card, locking spend into our city. The Chichester Gift Card becoming a purchase option on GiftRound enhances accessibility of the card so we can encourage even more people to shop local and experience all that Chichester has to offer.”

Founded in Perth, Miconex now operates over 200 local gift card programmes globally. Colin Munro, managing director of Miconex said: “The Chichester Gift Card is unique in that it offers a blend of national brands like M&S, Lush, Oliver Bonas and New Look with independent businesses that you won’t find anywhere else. Our collaboration with GiftRound will drive even more footfall in Chichester, giving people money to spend with local businesses and ultimate local choice in one gift card.”