Perkbox, Europe’s fastest growing employee experience platform, has announced the roll-out of PerksGO in Sheffield – a seamless new feature on Perkbox powered by innovative card link technology, that lets Perkbox users’ money go even further whilst helping high street retailers promote their services to a tailored audience.
It provides the ability to offer promotions with no discount codes, no setup costs, and no staff training. Perkbox users simply spend as normal using their bank cards and Perkbox takes care of the rest.
The high street is up against fierce competition from the online marketplace in areas from shopping and leisure, to eating out. One of the reasons why our high streets are struggling is their slowness to adapt. In fact, in the last ten years, 28,000 stores in the UK have had to close.
With the recent announcement of the Heart of the City II economic project, Perkbox wants to continue this momentum to make Sheffield a more exciting and interesting place to live and work.
After talking to dozens of partners including 200 Degrees Coffee, Foundry Roasters, Graze Inn, Bloo88 and Nether Edge Pizza which are already signed up in Sheffield, PerksGO was born on a mission to support the high street in adapting to these challenges.
In particular, those Perkbox believes are linked to employee consumer habits: (1) that employees walking down the high street during lunch breaks are unaware of what is really on offer, and (2) that there is no single, unanimous promotion method that works across multiple businesses and locations – making it easy for customers to save money.
The feature, which sits on the Perkbox platform, works via geographical recognition, meaning all restaurants, bars, cafes – from small independents to larger nationwide brands – get to promote their businesses to employees in their area, whether ‘regulars’ or ‘passers by’. Based on the promotion offered – which is agreed under every businesses’ discretion – savings made using PerksGO are collected from the businesses and redistributed back to Perkbox users via their ‘Perkbox Wallet’ ready to spend back on the platform.
Perkbox takes no commission, there are zero fees attached, and no setup costs or lengthy contracts. So far, the company has signed up 500 local merchants across the UK as the initiative rolls out into cities such as London, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Manchester, with many more to come over the next few months.
Wayne Adams, SME Customer Success Manager at Perkbox says: “We’re delighted to bring PerksGO to Sheffield and show support to local businesses – many of whom are already lunch favourites of our own employees. Often in the hustle and bustle of day to day life we don’t stop and look around at the fabulous local businesses on our doorstep. We hope this initiative will encourage Perkbox users to do exactly that.”
Matt Douglas, Marketing Manager at 200 Degrees Coffee says: “We’re really excited to be partnering with Perkbox. As customers of Perkbox too, we’re a testament to the fantastic services they offer and know how well received they are by every team. It therefore felt natural to join PerksGO and share the 200 Degrees love amongst all the Perkbox community. It’s a win-win.
“The main draws were no fees, no training and free brand awareness. Every penny of the discount is given to the customer, there’s no costly system or complicated training for the staff and we get our stores profile raised in the local area with an audience we may not otherwise reach – what else could we ask for? Hopefully many new faces will come to find our unique stores and the coffee we love serving, maybe alongside a breakfast, lunch or cake for good measure!”
