The Lewisham Card Has Launched

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TheLewishamCard
Posts: 6
Joined: 9 Nov 2015 03:55
Location: Lewisham Borough

The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by TheLewishamCard »

Hi Everyone,

I'm Tom the Founder of the Lewisham Card. The Lewisham Card is a new initiative to help support our amazing local independent businesses in the London Borough of Lewisham whilst saving you money.

With over 80+ independent businesses on board from gift shops to bike shops to restaurants to roofers, you will be rewarded for shopping locally. You will save £100's with your Lewisham Card this year whilst helping your local community.

Every pound you spend in local small businesses, 63p circulates back in to the local economy as opposed to only 40p in big multinationals. So it benefits everyone when you decide to shop in a local independent business.

We have The Calabash of Culture 20% off, Sydenham DIY 15% off, Mayow Vets and many more here http://lewishamcard.co.uk

If you have any thoughts on the Card I would appreciate your feedback :D

Many thanks,

Thomas Page
Lewisham Card
robbieduncan
Posts: 384
Joined: 28 Oct 2013 17:10
Location: Trewsbury Road

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by robbieduncan »

For whatever reason Thomas did not leave a link. So here is one: http://www.lewishamcard.co.uk/discounts/

I am somewhat upset to see Chris Ball roofing offering 10% discount. Particularly upsetting as I received my invoice from them on Friday and could have saved £200 :(
leenewham
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Location: SYDENHAM
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Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by leenewham »

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).
parker
Posts: 564
Joined: 26 Mar 2009 21:15
Location: Sydenham Wells

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by parker »

I agree Lee, each borough would need to have a proper shopping district like Newham, Kingston, Bromley or Croydon for it to catch on. Having a shopping loyalty card for LB Lewisham wouldn't be worth bothering with unless it could be used in chicken shops and even then I wouldn't want it.
TheLewishamCard
Posts: 6
Joined: 9 Nov 2015 03:55
Location: Lewisham Borough

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by TheLewishamCard »

robbieduncan wrote:
I am somewhat upset to see Chris Ball roofing offering 10% discount. Particularly upsetting as I received my invoice from them on Friday and could have saved £200 :(
Sorry to see that Robbie. You're the second person to say that. The other missed out on £700!

I hope you find other aspects of the Card valuable enough to part with a tenner :D

Tom
TheLewishamCard
Posts: 6
Joined: 9 Nov 2015 03:55
Location: Lewisham Borough

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by TheLewishamCard »

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
robbieduncan
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Joined: 28 Oct 2013 17:10
Location: Trewsbury Road

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by robbieduncan »

I asked if they would honour the discount now (we've not paid yet) and they said the card had to be presented at the time of quoting. I now suspect the inflate the quote to make up the discount ☹ of course I have no proof of that!

Instead of a physical card making it installable into IOS Wallet would be ideal. It doesn't take much effort...
robbieduncan
Posts: 384
Joined: 28 Oct 2013 17:10
Location: Trewsbury Road

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by robbieduncan »

Thomas, do you have window stickers for businesses that accept the card. Just walked past the Calabash of Culture and there was no way of knowing they were part of the scheme. External (subtle and attractive) branding would help the business as card holders would be more likely to stop in when passing as well as help encourage other businesses to join

A well run scheme like this can be very successful and really work for local businesses. In Austin, Texas this seems to work amazingly well and really helps drive local businesses in a way I just don't see here (yet). The variety and pervasive nature of local business there seems to almost overpower the big chains and it's fantastic. http://www.ibuyaustin.com Keep Austin Weird!
Tim Lund
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Location: Silverdale

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by Tim Lund »

TheLewishamCard wrote: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'.
Who is the 'we'? When I look up who is behind this idea, I find just one name, Mr Thomas William Page, and that
Mr Thomas William Page aged 23, is a director in 4 companies. Thomas has resigned from 2 of these appointments.
and that he is the 100% owner of the two of which he is still a director, one of which is Lewisham Card Ltd.
TheLewishamCard
Posts: 6
Joined: 9 Nov 2015 03:55
Location: Lewisham Borough

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by TheLewishamCard »

@Robbie Not if you get the quote then present the card afterwards!
Once the price was agreed they've maybe made decisions based on the expected cost they quoted so it would be too late by then unfortunately.

We do have stickers that go up in all the participating businesses windows. https://www.facebook.com/LewishamDiscou ... =3&theater

We gave one to the Calabash of Culture but they said they would decide where to put it later. Thanks for reminding us Robbie, I will chase them up now :)
Last edited by TheLewishamCard on 9 Nov 2015 19:44, edited 1 time in total.
TheLewishamCard
Posts: 6
Joined: 9 Nov 2015 03:55
Location: Lewisham Borough

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by TheLewishamCard »

Who is the 'we'? When I look up who is behind this idea, I find just one name, Mr Thomas William Page, and that

and that he is the 100% owner of the two of which he is still a director, one of which is Lewisham Card Ltd.
I have two other born and bred locals involved who are not Directors so they would not come up as a Director. They are technically employees and employees do not show up on company registers...
Hissing Syd
Posts: 118
Joined: 7 May 2012 15:09
Location: Sydenham

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by Hissing Syd »

Looks great - 10% discount from a roofing company for a tenner, at the beginning of winter, seems to make sense to me. Purchasing now...
Savvy
Posts: 630
Joined: 16 Jan 2005 18:20
Location: SE26

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by Savvy »

If you can get the bookshop in Sydenham to join I'll buy all my Christmas presents from there. Have they been asked?
P1971
Posts: 170
Joined: 28 Mar 2014 21:44
Location: Dartmouth Road

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by P1971 »

Quite a few of us in Forest Hill are part of the Lewisham Card scheme and stickers are in our windows :-)
mosy
Posts: 4111
Joined: 21 Sep 2007 20:28
Location: London

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by mosy »

@ P1971 or other participant shops:
Who foots the bill for the retailers' discounts? If the shopkeepers, don't they need to make it up somehow (other customers?) or is it the hope that increased trades will make it better than even out in the long run? Can retailers limit any discount to "selected products only"?
chrisj1948
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Joined: 15 Jul 2008 15:12
Location: Sydenham

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by chrisj1948 »

Mosy

Giving discounts seems to be a very flexible arrangement. I well remember my father blagging a 10% discount for me on some photographic equipment by falsely claiming to be a member of an organisation to which the shop did not award discounts. He was a very persuasive man :-)

Regards
Chris
P1971
Posts: 170
Joined: 28 Mar 2014 21:44
Location: Dartmouth Road

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by P1971 »

Hi Mosy

For me I foot the bill but still make a profit after giving the discount. The discounts I have given so far to customers with Lewisham Card's have all been new customers.

I think because quite a few of us on the same Road are part of the scheme it attracts new people to D Rd.
monkeyarms
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Joined: 28 Jul 2015 14:54
Location: Tredown

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by monkeyarms »

robbieduncan wrote:I asked if they would honour the discount now (we've not paid yet) and they said the card had to be presented at the time of quoting. I now suspect the inflate the quote to make up the discount ☹ of course I have no proof of that!
Presenting the card the second you receive the quote surely is "at the time of quoting". Otherwise it would be in advance of quoting.

And any company that insisted on the card being presented in advance of quoting would be risking a very bad word-of-mouth reputation.

But they're perfectly within their rights not to offer the discount to someone who didn't even possess the card at the time of quoting. To subsequently agree to offer the discount would not be "honouring" the discount; it would be going extremely generously above and beyond that.
robbieduncan
Posts: 384
Joined: 28 Oct 2013 17:10
Location: Trewsbury Road

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by robbieduncan »

monkeyarms wrote:
robbieduncan wrote:I asked if they would honour the discount now (we've not paid yet) and they said the card had to be presented at the time of quoting. I now suspect the inflate the quote to make up the discount ☹ of course I have no proof of that!
Presenting the card the second you receive the quote surely is "at the time of quoting". Otherwise it would be in advance of quoting.

And any company that insisted on the card being presented in advance of quoting would be risking a very bad word-of-mouth reputation.

But they're perfectly within their rights not to offer the discount to someone who didn't even possess the card at the time of quoting. To subsequently agree to offer the discount would not be "honouring" the discount; it would be going extremely generously above and beyond that.
I agree it would have been generous to offer it in the circumstances. I still think they could have done so and it may have been worth while as it would encourage my repeat business. As such I am not encouraged to look at the other roofing company who also offer discount.
TheLewishamCard
Posts: 6
Joined: 9 Nov 2015 03:55
Location: Lewisham Borough

Re: The Lewisham Card Has Launched

Post by TheLewishamCard »

Savvy wrote:If you can get the bookshop in Sydenham to join I'll buy all my Christmas presents from there. Have they been asked?
Working on it :wink:
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