Enniskillen launched its Mi Rewards programme in December 2020, part of the town and city loyalty programme from Scottish fintech Miconex and loyalty platform Stampfeet.
The scheme is now approaching £1m in sales nationally, with over 47,000 transactions.
Billed as a next generation town and city loyalty programme, Mi Rewards expanded across the UK in 2020 with launches in Enniskillen, Fleet, Stoke-on-Trent, Guildford and Gloucester.
Originating in Perth in 2018, Mi Rewards is a loyalty scheme using payment card, which aims to reward customers when they use linked debit or credit cards in participating local businesses in their area. Once cards are linked, the technology runs in the background and users don’t have to show a separate loyalty card.
A revamped website was introduced in May 2021 to provide support for new and existing Mi Rewards locations, as businesses begin to reopen following the latest lockdown. The new website features greater focus on participating businesses, including a promotions page for the business to improve visibility and traction with potential customers.
The town of Enniskillen in Northern Ireland introduced Mi Rewards to complement their Enniskillen Gift Card.
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Noelle McAloon from Experience Enniskillen said the scheme will be vital as businesses begin to reopen following the latest lockdown: “Non-essential retail finally reopened in Northern Ireland on the 30th April. We will be using Mi Rewards to encourage people back into town and have developed a ‘spend local win big’ video to promote the scheme.
"Initially, it’s about helping people feel comfortable and safe visiting town again, and then we have the message that if you support your town centre, you can receive points and prizes in return.
“Loyalty has always been the ultimate aim for towns and cities, but it’s particularly on the agenda now. The pandemic has shown us that our town centres are changing, places have no choice but to change too, to be proactive with their approach to loyalty and also reactive to the challenges of the pandemic.
"The technology that Mi Rewards offers, and its data capabilities, will help our businesses to achieve loyalty as we begin to reopen, helping them to stay better connected to customers and encouraging repeat visits. Customers seem to really like it as an offering.”
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The Mi Rewards scheme moved to a points based rewards process in 2020 giving even low volume users the opportunity to win a prize, with chances to win increasing alongside usage.
Colin Munro is the managing director of Miconex, which also operates over 60 Town and City Gift Card programmes in the UK and Ireland, including Enniskillen, Kirkcaldy, Barnsley and Gloucester.
He said: “The vision with Mi Rewards was for a more efficient solution to the loyalty problem that businesses face. Traditional loyalty schemes have tried and failed. Mi Rewards is a next generation loyalty solution that approaches loyalty at a place level, bringing businesses together in a coalition, in a way that is beneficial to the business, the customer and the town or city.
“Places and businesses can use the data they receive to better understand their customers, measuring and identifying what works and what doesn’t, and rewarding local spend. Mi Rewards offers zero friction, positive user experience and huge potential for solving the conundrum of high street loyalty.”
Find out more at https://mi-rewards.com/
