The Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Government of the Canary Islands presented this Wednesday the program 'Consume Lanzarote', with the aim of reactivating small businesses on the Island. Among other things, this initiative includes bonds that can be purchased by consumers, for a value of 60 euros, of which they will only pay half. Thus, they will enjoy twice the balance to spend in the shops attached to the program.
The Councilor for Commerce of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Carmen Guadalupe, the General Director of Commerce and Consumption of the Government of the Canary Islands, David Mille, and the secretary of Felapyme, Daniel González, detailed the measures that make up this program financed by Commerce of the Canary Islands with 258,130 euros, and that will be executed by the business association of the sector with the collaboration of the island institution.
“We strive to support our companies with direct aid or with measures such as ‘Consume Lanzarote’. We believe that small businesses have a great future hand in hand with modernization, for this, quality, proximity and a personalized service are three tools that allow the sector to look to the future with optimism”, highlighted Councilor Carmen Guadalupe.
For David Mille, “this is a key proposal to reactivate commerce, which is in a process of recovering from the effects experienced by the pandemic, for which the Government of the Canary Islands is enabling measures that promote economic activity in the islands”.
‘Consume Lanzarote’ is part of the Reactiva Canarias Plan, to which the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands has allocated more than 3.5 million euros this year to finance various initiatives “aimed at boosting the commercial activity of the Canary Islands so that it continues to be a sector that creates employment and wealth”, explained David Mille.
The representative of the Lanzarote merchants, Daniel González, in charge of detailing the different initiatives that make up the campaign, explained that the first phase of ‘Consume Lanzarote’ will begin "from next Monday, January 31 and will focus on inviting all the shops on the island to join the initiative, registering on the web www.consumelanzarote.es easily and quickly, filling out an online membership form". This website will also function as a directory to promote "the digitization of small local businesses and improve their positioning in the island market".
Subsequently, the second phase of the campaign, which will begin on March 1, “will consist of putting up to 5,000 ‘Consume Lanzarote’ loyalty cards for sale, which customers can purchase through the same website through a pioneering digital wallet system in the Canary Islands”, concluded González.
Consumers will have 60 euros on each of the cards to spend exclusively in the shops attached to the campaign, being able to acquire up to a maximum of 4 cards per client. The merchants, through Felapyme and charged to the item assigned by the General Directorate of Commerce, will be responsible for 50% of the total value of each card, while the client will only have to contribute the other 50% of its value.
In total, Daniel González defends that "up to 300,000 euros will be injected into small local businesses on the island, all within the strategy of reactivating commerce that also includes a campaign to support and promote this sector under the umbrella of ‘Consume Lanzarote’".
Each business attached to the campaign will be able to exchange up to 6,000 euros in ‘Consume Lanzarote’ loyalty cards, which represents direct aid aimed at supporting the sector, one of the most affected by the Covid crisis, in the process of recovering from the impact of the pandemic.
David Mille highlighted that in the evaluation of this project in order to finance it, it has been taken into account that ‘Consume Lanzarote’ “not only intends to reactivate the economy through loyalty cards, but also aims to promote the digitization of the commercial sector of Lanzarote through tools that favor the professionalization of the activity; customer loyalty and the generation of a unique shopping experience; the creation of added value in companies, and, of course, the incentive of consumption in local commerce and the island's SMEs”.
