MICONEX is a town and city gift card programme that was set up by Colin Munro to boost the local economy. It launched in Perth in 2016. More than 40 towns and cities across the UK are now part of the scheme and the firm has plans to expand it into other countries in the next few years.
Name: Colin Munro
Age: 47
Position: Managing director
WHAT IS THE BUSINESS CALLED?
Miconex
WHERE IS IT BASED?
Perthshire
WHY DID YOU SET UP THE BUSINESS?
I WANTED to try to support local business communities. I wanted to help them communicate with the local population and encourage local spend. I have a background in digital marketing and I had a restaurant myself so I know how to work as a small business owner. It helps towns and cities.
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I have worked for a number of large businesses like VisitScotland and I enjoyed that and wanted to set up something myself.
I have always wanted to solve problems and desire to see if you can create new solutions.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
THE main programme is the town and city gift card scheme. The idea is applying shopping centre gift cards to the whole of the town centre. People get a choice of lots of businesses to spend the gift card which encourages them to try new places and people spend an average of 65% more than the cost of the gift card.
The first city in the UK to have the gift card programme was Perth. We have 12 in Scotland and the others include Cambridge, Cheltenham and Belfast. We have lots of new programmes launching at the moment. We have new contracts in America and Canada, with 150 gift card programmes in North America.
WHAT IS YOUR TARGET MARKET?
IT’S a wider range of people than we expected. It is an intergenerational present. Someone might buy a gift card for their nephew because they don’t know what he likes. Millennials buy gift cards all the time. It’s a great corporate present as it locks money in for the local economy. In our Glasgow gift card programme, 60% of people who buy the cards come from outside the Glasgow area, they are people with friends in Glasgow.
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Participating businesses and customers say it is a great idea. It is a Mastercard programme so it goes through an existing card terminal. It is a very simple idea and people understand it so that is why it works.
During the pandemic, people really turned to local businesses because they trusted them and wanted to support them as employers in the local area. People are travelling less and buying gift cards in all areas.
HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM COMPETING BUSINESSES?
THERE is no other town and city gift card programme in the UK. I have a lot of experience in working with towns and cities so I already had a network. We are doing webinars with tips to grow the programmes.
IS SCOTLAND A GOOD PLACE FOR THIS TYPE OF BUSINESS?
WE’RE proud to be based in Perth and delighted it started here. We use Perth as a case study and an example of how it can be done.
The job involves a lot of travel but now because of lockdown it is all done from Perth and allows us to move quicker.
There is lots of support in Scotland. The original programme was supported by Perth and Kinross Council, and Scottish Enterprise has helped too.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
THE challenge of working out how to grow the business and what to do next. The challenge is how to work out where to put effort in. I like working with a small team of like-minded people with businesses that are part of the programme and understanding how to run effective towns and cities.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
YOU are not always able to progress as quickly as you want to, I always want everything to happen as soon as possible. It comes down to investment ? you have to prioritise stuff due to the resources you have. You need to be patient and understand you can’t do everything at once.
WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS’ TIME?
I HOPE to have programmes like this across the world. We are already in the US and want to have it in as many countries as possible. It works anywhere.
We want to pioneer a new approach to community and city loyalty and change the way towns and cities are managed. We can understand customer behaviour the way Amazon does.
We’re also involved in a Scottish Government campaign that is encouraging people to shop local.
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