03/03/2009 - Traders in customer loyalty scheme
A market town in Hampshire has launched a loyalty scheme in a bid to enable customers to save cash and stop high street shops from closing.
Traders and shoppers in Ringwood have joined forces to survive the economic downturn following a suggestion by local businessman Jim Stride.
Under the Loyalty Discount Scheme, shoppers can download a voucher online and get up to 20% discount from 80 traders in the town.
"I felt that Ringwood was going to have a dire problem in the downturn," Mr Stride explained. "The council and the Chamber of Commerce had no action plan so I got backing from local papers to publicise this voucher and went up and down the street asking traders to join free of charge."
He added: "These vouchers are going to bring new footfall in to Ringwood and encourage people to maintain their loyalty to local shops rather than big superstores.
"If there is no increase in footfall, there will be a lot more shops emptying in Ringwood. They are not getting any support from their banks at all."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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