Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Just saw a small item on BBC News 24 about the slow shopping conditions. It featured the Mayor of Bakewell who was saying although his town is lovely the shopkeepers there are suffering just as elsewhere...one thing he said which was working very well for Bakewell was their Loyalty Card. He also said events organised within the town also worked to keep the shops alive. But my ears pricked up when I heard those fateful words...Loyalty Cards.
Thats one for Roger.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
the traders basically didn't really make the effort on the card instigated by roger.
i can think of a couple of shops who grimaced when i presented mine.
one cafe started their own loyalty card when the dover one stopped, so the idea must be a good one.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I think you are right Howard, some businesses were happy to pay and join the scheme, but didn't appear to want anyone to know, as they didn't openly offer the discount. A number of businesses did indeed start up their own Loyalty scheme.
The Dover Loyalty Scheme was a good one (well I would say that wouldn't I ?). I had about 60 something members and promoted/advertsed them in the Dover Express every month in a full-page advert and sent emails round about their special offers and promotions via my email address groups.
While I was running it, I had many Towns and Cities (including a couple of London Boroughs) around the Country call me about it asking how it worked; when I explained it to them and its simplicity, they were very interested indeed and asked if they could use my scheme as a template, of course I said yes.
Even after I had called it a day and stopped the scheme, I had people/bodies who had found the web-site and wanted to know more about it - they could not believe that it had NO support from the Town or District Councils. - a bit like most of the initiatives I've tried over the years. Ho Hum.
Roger
Guest 641- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,335
Looking at the pictures reminds me of a desolate town in a spaghetti western with tumbleweed blowing down the main street
Howard, you're right with regard to Roger's loyalty card especially after all the hard work put in by Roger, I could never understand the apathy shown by shoppers and shopkeepers alike
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,883
I had one of the loyalty cards, the one time I was going to use it to buy a rug I was told I could not use it as it only applied to the carpets.
Could be the sort of reason it died a death.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i bought some cat food from a town centre shop that took the loyalty card.
they were most disgruntled about it.
no business sense at all.
1) i was a new customer and would never had gone in there otherwise.
2) i could have got it from any number of local supermarkets a lot cheaper, i was just trying to help local traders.
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
okay'
on my recent travels around north yorkshire in a tiny village the tourists were flocking to the village in coach loads
coaches were welcomed by locals
packed streets, lots to see, lots of street traders, and no empty shops
WHERE DOES DOVER GO WRONG????
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 694- Registered: 22 Mar 2010
- Posts: 778
i have seen lots of customers popping in for presents for ladies.. bags, shoes , jewellery!!
Tends to be a rush on around lunch time..
I went to the bank in Canterbury at 2.15, central car parks almost full and generally shopping areas very busy. I have to say, many visitors from France in M&S...
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
welcome to the forum cathy good to see you post your views straight away.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
If you look around Canterbury - at the shops, the cleanliness of the buildings and the streets - even the river, you can see why we are like we are.
We could be a smaller version of Canterbury, from a cleanliness, welcoming, good shops, brighter appearance, a destination for people, if it was loooked after and managed. Others know better though - apparantly.
Roger
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
Perhaps the fact that Canterbury possesses no less than three Unesco world heritage sites has a bearing on the type of people the city attracts to live, work, visit or invest. Additionally on a more local basis Canterbury has a six mile 360 degree catchment area; within Dover's six mile radius most of the occupants are fish and seagulls.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
welcome cathy i'm sure you will enjoy the forumites and look forward to your postings.
roger;
i.m still baffled as to no matter where i go on holiday these towns do far better than Dover on the tourism front.
all seem to be up for getting people in.
the village i referred to was very small, yet had thousands flocking to it all day long
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,883
Keith, people do not go in coach loads to a "tiny village" unless there is something to attract them in the first place.
Was it picture perfect, historical, famous person born/lived there or some other special feature?
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
jan,probably the emmerdale village set.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
no jan
although the dress of stall holders was of the dickens type, and every shop keeper/stall holder dressed this way, and children dressed this way to.
it was a freezing cold day yet thousands still flocked there.
getting back to your posting jan, dover has a lot more to offer on the tourism, front than most villages/towns but we dont seem to grasp the nettle
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,883
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
jan;
i think you miss my point
this was not a one off
i go to many other towns and much the same
tourists flock there
the towns are geared up for it
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Dover consistently misses a trick with tourism. We have an abundance of natural and historic assets that are overlooked at every turn by those paid to promote Dover.
Guest 656- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,262
Welcome to the Forum Cathy, good to have another woman on board
I must say that every time I go to Canterbury it is always bursting at the seams, it certainly seems to have the X Factor. As Bern says above, Dover really needs to get its act together with regards to good PR and Marketing once and for all
