Local gift card scheme in Cork town sees €200,000 sales in five months

The Grá Macroom gift card aims to keep spending local, with over 100 business accepting the card

Macroom Business Association chair Killian Lynch said the gift card will help 'unlock the potential of shop local in Macroom'. 

A gift card to encourage local spending in a Cork town has clocked up €200,000 in sales in five months. 

The Grá Macroom gift card was launched in October 2025 as a physical and digital card. The card is part of the Town & City Gift Cards initiative, which sees local gift cards branded to specific Irish towns and cities to drive in-person sales and lock spending in local communities.

The Grá Macroom gift card has resulted in over 3,300 in-store transactions in local businesses in Macroom and neighbouring villages including Coachford and Ballymakeera, and Ballingeary, with more than 100 businesses in the area accepting the gift card. 

“Macroom and its neighbouring villages have worked together to create this card for the benefit of our local businesses, giving organisations a local option for their rewards and incentives and consumers a gift card that supports local. €200,000 in sales of the Grá Macroom Gift Card in five months is a great achievement and we’ll be continuing to build on this throughout 2026 and beyond, so we can unlock the full potential of ‘shop local’ in Macroom," said Macroom Business Association chair Killian Lynch, an auctioneer in the town. 

The Castle Hotel in Macroom manager, Rory Buckley, said the business has spent €13,000 on the cards as part of their staff rewards scheme, while the hotel has also seen €9,000 of spend coming in from people using the cards. 

Over €17.4m in gift card sales was achieved across the Irish Town & City Gift Cards network in 2025, and the company said it will drive an estimated 335,000 visits to high streets this year. The technology behind the card is provided by fintech Miconex.  “There are many benefits of the Grá Macroom Gift Card, including the fact that it has to be spent in person, driving real footfall and spent in Macroom and its neighbouring villages, with over 3,300 in-store transactions to date," said Miconex chief executive Colin Munro. "Not only are people spending the value on their gift card, our research suggests that the majority of people spent over the value of the card and buy additional products and services at the same time.” 

Miconex local gift card progrmmes have been roled out in 16 sites in Ireland as well as dozens more in the UK, Canada, and the US.