leenewham wrote:I wish we could have a London card rather than individual borough cards for reasons I will go into later. Then anyone living in London could gain access to museums etc for free (and visitors have to pay, which should give them a boost and stop them getting quite so overwhelmingly busy at times).
Loyalty cards are a good idea, although it depends on how many local business take it up, plus in London at least, many small independent businesses are staffed or owned by people who are anything but local. In my experience, I'd guess about 20-50% of shops are owned by people who live at least a couple of miles away. So unless they do a lot of shopping during the day, I'm not sure who gains.
The other problem is that we are so close to the border with other boroughs, many live outside of Lewisham. I never have considered myself part of Lewisham and have no loyalty to it. Sydenham yes, Lewisham no.
Plus I generally go outside Lewisham to shop as there isn't much in the borough for me aside from a couple of places in Sydenham Road and Forest Hill. The Borough of Lewisham means nothing to me.
Another issue is that my wallet is bursting with cards, be it loyalty cards, travel cards etc. It's worth looking into phone apps and other payment methods or making it available online.
So it's to be applauded, but It would be easier if it was London wide with better benefits or if it was linked to Nectar so I don't leave it at home (as I always tend to with my Co-op card).
Hi Lee,
Thanks for your feedback. You make some really good points. Regarding a London Card , If we decided to go with a London wide card most people from our way automatically think they're discounts in Central London. When you factor in cost to travel to them it's not really a discount. So would have put people off from looking further into us.
We know it is tricky given people don't automatically identify with the Borough but I think it has worked out that people within the Borough have been more likely to check us out and see that we actually do have discounts for them in Sydenham and the surrounding areas than had we gone with a 'London Card'.
Also your point about shopping outside Lewisham is also why we do this. There are great places here in the Borough and we'd like to promote them. They don't have the advertising budgets of Next and M&S but they do have just as good if not much better quality.
Regarding switching from plastic cards - we will eventually. It's just most people would still rather have something they are familiar with first ( plastic card - we did research in to this), then it will be easier to switch them over to better technology later.
Also from my experience speaking with many local independent business owners, 90% live within the Borough.
Thanks again for your feedback Lee, really appreciate your time.
Tom
