Gemma and Irene - the faces behind the East Lothian giftcard!

The brand new East Lothian Gift card officially launched in November and proved popular as a Christmas gift with sales totalling an incredible £13k in the short run-up to the festive season.

The next key time for promoting the gift card is the upcoming Easter school holidays when we anticipate that not only shops, but restaurants and attractions, will be very busy with families visiting East Lothian or local residents taking their children for a day out locally.

Business Development Assistant Gemma Slight and Business Support Administrator Irene Ramsay from the economic development team are working hard to bring even more businesses on board. The giftcard has a double benefit – increasing sales by those who are given a card as a gift and at the same time giving businesses an advertising boost through the giftcard website.

Gemma said: “We introduced the giftcard as a follow on from the council’s popular Christmas Shop Local Scheme. The giftcard retains the same aims of supporting our town centres and local businesses and boosting East Lothian’s economy but it’s much easier for businesses and customers to use as there is no paperwork, no need to return competition entries or keep receipts. It’s just much easier and faster.

Irene added: We have a range of businesses already on board, including shops and beauty therapists as well as restaurants and attractions all being able to take part in the scheme at no cost, with the only requirement being their business is able to take Mastercard credit card payments.”

EnjoyLeisure have also signed up meaning the card can be used at their sports centres across East Lothian. As Gemma and Irene pointed out, by giving a giftcard, you are ‘giving the gift of choice’ as the recipient can use it to buy themselves a treat from a local shop or put it towards a day or a night out – or even to get started on a health kick at a local gym.

Anyone buying a giftcard does so online by loading their card with their chosen amount. The behind the scenes administration and distribution of the cards is all handled by Gemma and Irene and they deal with setting up businesses to accept the payments too so it’s been a particularly busy time for them!

The card works as a gift for any special occasion as well as being a great corporate gift for example as a reward for staff. There are almost 130 businesses taking part at the moment and we expect more and more will come on board as there’s really no limit to how many people can get involved in the gift card scheme. All the participating businesses will be listed on the gift card website and will display in their premises that the East Lothian Gift Card is accepted there.

The East Lothian Gift Card is the perfect present for all your friends and family and is available from www.eastlothiangiftcard.com