Shop local ethos sees Chichester in first place in national competition

A commitment to shop local in Chichester has seen the city secure first place in a national competition organised by Town & City Gift Cards and backed by Chichester Business Improvement District (BID).

The Chichester BID team has been promoting the Win Your Dream Christmas competition in the city as part of its festive Chichester Gift Card activity. Over 500 entries were received from Chichester in the competition, more than any other town or city in the UK.

Chichester’s gift card launched in 2018 with a digital version of the card in 2022 and a night-time focused Alive After Five Gift Card in 2023.The card can be spent with over 170 businesses in the city, keeping spend locked into Chichester.

Over the past month, Chichester BID has encouraged residents to switch to the city’s local gift card in a variety of activities including stalls at the city’s festive markets, flyers and posters in local businesses, and engaging with local businesses and press.

As the top city in the Win Your Dream Christmas competition, Chichester wins discount codes to further promote a shop local ethos in the city through the Chichester Gift Card.

Helen Marshall, CEO and Chair of Chichester BID said: “We’re proud to see so many entries in the Win Your Dream Christmas competition from Chichester, showing how beloved our local businesses are in the city. Even though the eventual consumer winner, picked randomly, was from elsewhere in the UK, Chichester came top on entries which is fantastic for a small city. We’ll be using the discount codes to give even more people the opportunity to sample the Chichester Gift Card and the Alive After Five Gift Card in 2024.”

Colin Munro is the Managing Director of Miconex who provides the technology for the Chichester Gift Card and Alive After Five Gift Card and said: “The Chichester BID team has gone all out to encourage people to think local this Christmas, with the Win Your Dream Christmas competition being an effective means to do just that. Support for local has never been higher because we all realise the impact that it has, keeping businesses open and our cities thriving.”