A different type of card

Kensington and Chelsea Council has a track record of developing innovative ways to support residents and local businesses and encourage a thriving local economy.

In 2006, long before the current economic downturn, Leader of the Council Cllr Merrick Cockell launched a Retail Commission to look at what could be done to help preserve the borough’s local/ independent retail sector and ensure that larger chains and small neighbourhood shops can coexist.

Now the Council is set to take the lead again after announcing plans to back a borough-wide loyalty card scheme that can be used in small and independently-owned shops in Kensington and Chelsea.

The Council is giving the Wedge Card organisation a grant of £110,000 and an £88,000 loan so that it can develop a network of participating local shops that will provide cash offers and other incentives to Wedge Card holders. Wedge will also give retailers on-going advice on marketing and promotion. 

Every household in the borough will receive a free Wedge Card next March. Local businesses will be encouraged to sign up to the scheme so that their employees can also receive a free card. All the Council’s 4,000 employees, including teachers, Primary Care Trust and emergency services staff will also receive a card.

The scheme is intended to provide an important boost to local retailers, something that should be particularly welcome during the recession, and help ensure that residents continue to have access to a diverse range of shops.

The wider local economy could also benefit, since research by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), the independent economic advisory group, shows that 50 per cent of turnover from local retailers is returned to the local economy.  

While the Council knows that Wedge Card - an organisation set up by Big Issue founder John Bird and his daughter Diana - has already successfully established a number of smaller-scale retail loyalty card schemes in London, the launch of the scheme in the Royal Borough will be its biggest step to date. 

In the same way that the Retail Commission Report in 2007 looked at what action was needed to preserve the future of small shops, the Wedge Foundation promotes a strong social message about how local shops play an important role in local communities.

Retailers can join the scheme for free and the Council’s backing means all households will receive a free Wedge Card for one year.  The annual renewal fee after year one will be £10, a proportion of which will go to support a local charity nominated by the Council.  The remainder will be used by Wedge to administer and promote the scheme.

Wedge is seeking to sign up at least 500 of the borough’s 2,000 retailers before the scheme is launched next March.

This drive will begin in earnest in January, once the busy Christmas season is out of the way, with a mail-out from the Council inviting all independent retailers to join the scheme.  This will be followed up by calls and visits from a special Wedge team that will tell retailers about the scheme and how they can best exploit their membership with regard to their location, business type and customer base.

The key to the Wedge Card success will lie in the special offers and discounts that retailers will offer cardholders.

Promotions could range from simple discounts and add-on offers, such as a free accessory with the purchase of a dress or a free drink with a meal, to more imaginative offers such as an invitation to the launch of a new season’s range of fashions.

The Council believes that the Wedge Card will help level the playing field between smaller and larger retailers, many of whom operate their own loyalty cards or are part of a third-party loyalty scheme such as Nectar.  The idea is that the Wedge scheme will introduce independent retailers to marketing and customer retention techniques.

The Council knows, following consultation for the Retail Commission and a simple survey on loyalty cards, that residents place a real premium on the diversity of the borough’s retail sector.

In April the Council dug into its reserves to pay a £50 efficiency dividend to all council tax payers and those receiving council tax benefit in order to provide some financial help and demonstrate in a practical way that the Council was on their side during the recession.   

Wedge Card Case Study – Green Baby

Jill Barker, owner of Green Baby, Elgin Crescent, W11, has already signed up for the Wedge Card Scheme.

“We signed up with the Wedge Card scheme because of its benefits for the regeneration of small businesses in the local area. Particularly after the difficult economic climate of the past few years, it is important that people come back to shop locally. The Wedge Card scheme will help promote our business and encourage more people to shop here.”

Jill Barker said she had been impressed with Kensington and Chelsea Council’s efforts to help support small businesses in the local area.

“We are delighted that the Council is committed to supporting the scheme and encouraging people to get on board with shopping more in the local area,” she said. “We believe that many more retailers will want to sign up with the scheme because they know the Council is supporting it.”

What do you think?

Do you think that the launch of a Wedge Card scheme will help ensure the survival of the borough’s diverse retail areas? Would you use your Wedge card to shop locally?

Let us know by emailing rbkcdirect@rbkc.gov.uk