Did you buy a Keppel Cash gift card as a Christmas present? If so, congratulations on making and taking a conscious effort to help make one of our local communities more vibrant. $28, 990, that is the amount of money spent on buying Keppel Cash gift cards so far. 210 of these cards being bought last month. What is a Keppel Cash gift card? Similar to any other gift card, except this one is geo-fenced, it can only be purchased and redeemed at participating businesses in the Livingstone Shire. The money spent buying the card thus stays local when it is redeemed and is more likely to lead to further local transactions occurring, thus having a multiplier effect in the community. The now 72 businesses that have registered with Keppel Cash can expect to see the bulk of that $28, 990 being spent across their businesses this January and February. An average of $402 that they may not have otherwise received. To a small retailer in February that can be gold.
Across 100 odd postcodes in Australia a record $1.1M was spent on similar type geo-fenced cards coordinated by Why Leave Town (WLT) in December. On top of this was the success of the Buy from the Bush campaign. Evidence that there is a growing awareness of the importance and impact of where money is being spent, possibly amplified by the terrible economic impact drought and bush fires have had on numerous regional communities and the media coverage on ways to help these communities. However, now in the afterglow of Christmas and media coverage it will be difficult to maintain this still very much needed momentum.
Collaborative marketing by participating businesses is one way to keep Keppel Cash gift cards in the public realm as the ideal birthday gift for example. People power is another tool, that may be even as powerful. There are reasons why people did choose to buy WLT cards, including Keppel Cash, favouring them over more accessible options. Sharing on their social media pages why they did and the receiver saying where the card was redeemed will help spread the important message of buying local, buying regional.
There is no multi-national company behind these WLT gift cards making vast amounts of money from issuing them. Often in regional communities like Livingstone it is the Council that is financially supporting the operational costs along with a community minded organisation, in this case the Yeppoon and Emu Park Community Bank branches of the Bendigo Bank, making it happen. WLT itself is just a small business that started in Narrabri back in 2007 as a way to help their struggling community. The team behind it has grown as other communities contacted them about adopting the concept. To date $6.3M has been spent on buying WLT cards, money that stays in those communities.
If we want our communities to be stronger, more vibrant, and offer more diversity then we need to consider our own actions. Where we do our discretionary spending is one way. Encouraging others to follow your example is another. In one regional Australian community that WLT gift cards are available over $100,000 was spent on buying their card in December alone. Would that not be a good target for Keppel Cash cards to obtain in 2020?
And if you think your own community could benefit from their own WLT card encourage your locally owned businesses to check out the Why Leave Town web site and talk to fellow local business owners about introducing this proven shop local tool.