CARRIGALINE in County Cork has become the first town in Ireland to offer rewards to locals who shop local. The town, part of Cork’s commuter belt is suffering increasing competition from large shopping centres in nearby Mahon and Douglas, so it has decided to take matters into its own hands.

The loyalty card will give consumers in the Cork suburb rewards based on how often they shop local or use locally based services. Because the business is not giving a discount to every one-time visitor who walks through the door, they can give bigger rewards to their most regular customers.

Points earned in a particular business can be reclaimed in that business, the scheme means locals will only have to carry one card to avail of rewards from multiple stores. Eight independent businesses covering a wide range of markets including bookshops, shoe stores, tyre centers and pet shops have already signed up and the organisers are hoping to add many more over the coming weeks.

“The response from the community has been fantastic.” says Damian McCarthy, Sales Director with myrewardcard.ie. “Independent businesses know they need to work together and create a sense of community if they want to compete with the larger chains. localrewards.ie helps them do that”.