The ‘Choose local. Make the switch’ campaign aligns to new research showing an evolving UK reward landscape with choice, ease and support for local leading the way
Gloucester based Fasthosts is backing a national campaign to encourage organisations to support local with their Christmas rewards and incentives.
The ‘Choose local. Make the switch’ campaign from Miconex highlights the positive impact that moving to local gift cards can have for communities across the country and features employers including Fasthosts, one of the UK’s largest web hosting companies.
Fasthosts moved from using Amazon vouchers to its local Town & City Gift Card, the Gloucester Gift Card, in its monthly staff rewards in summer 2026, citing the move as the biggest action they’ve taken for their city this year.
The ‘Choose local. Make the switch’ campaign aligns to new 2026 research from Miconex showing a changing employee rewards landscape, with choice, ease and support for local key for employees and organisations.
In the research, 39% of organisations said evolving employee needs had caused them to change some aspect of their R&I offering in 2026. 98% of organisations said supporting local is important and 89% said CSR has become more important to their organisation over the past 12 months, up from 84% in 2025.
From an employee perspective, 94% of employees said having choice in their rewards and incentives was important, up from the 89% in 2025. In addition, 65% of respondents think their employer could improve their R&I offering, with suggestions for how they could do this including employee of the week/month, gift cards to visit local businesses, staff days out, and birthdays off.
The majority of employees (88%) said they would like a gift card from their employer at Christmas and 98% of employees said they would like to receive a gift card from work for Christmas which can be spent with local and national independent businesses.
Town & City Gift Cards are local gift cards for towns and cities across the UK and Ireland. The cards can be spent with shops, restaurants, salons, attractions and services in the town or city they’re branded to, ring-fencing spend to local economies.
In 2026, Town & City Gift Cards went live with leading corporate reward and recognition platforms, including Perkbox, Voucherline and Voucher Express, giving organisations the ability to access 75 digital Town & City Gift Cards for major cities, tourist hotspots and vibrant towns across the UK and Ireland.
Founded in 1998, Fasthosts is one of the largest employers in Gloucester with 250 staff across Fasthosts and its parent company IONOS, and moved to using its local Town & City Gift Card in their Star of the Month awards.
Rupert Bedell, Managing Director of Fasthosts, said: “We have a monthly town hall meeting where people can nominate their colleagues for particularly outstanding performance. Historically we had an Amazon voucher as the reward. The Gloucester Gift Card came to my attention and it was the perfect incentive to switch to. We’re always encouraging our staff to spend within the city, and we can now do that easily with our local Town & City Gift Card.
“When I announced at the town hall that we were moving from Amazon vouchers to the Gloucester Gift Card, and explained the rationale, our staff were really pleased. They are aware that it’s important that we as a business support the city. The fact that the Gloucester Gift Card covers over 180 local businesses in the city hopefully means staff will be eating more regularly in Gloucester, taking their family out, and shopping in the city. The city really needs that investment. Choosing the Gloucester Gift Card is the biggest action we’ve taken for our city this year to help it to thrive.”
The Gloucester Gift Card was introduced by Gloucester BID in November 2019 as a way to encourage local shopping and keep spend locked into the area.
Claire Knight, Marketing & Business Engagement Lead at Gloucester BID said: “The difference it makes when organisations like Fasthosts make the switch to the Gloucester Gift Card is significant. Cards have to be spent in our city, ringfencing reward spend into our local economy, so that local businesses can stay open, employ local people and grow. The choice on offer through the Gloucester Gift Card, including businesses at Gloucester Quays, Gloucester Food Dock, the Gate Streets and both big brands and independent businesses, far exceeds any single retailer gift card. As we approach the Christmas period, I encourage all organisations to consider the Gloucester Gift Card for rewards and incentives.”
Colin Munro, CEO of Miconex, said: “It’s fantastic to feature Fasthosts in our ‘Choose local. Make the switch’ campaign to highlight the huge impact that moving to local gift cards can have on our communities, bringing people through the door of local businesses with money to spend. In our 2026 research, 65% of respondents said they’d made a specific visit into the town or city to spend their Town & City Gift Card, and 69% used it to try a business they’d never visited before. In addition, 80% say they spend over and above the gift card value on redemption. Our cards drive footfall, spend and business discovery, which is invaluable to our business communities. I encourage all organisations to look at making a simple switch to the Gloucester Gift Card this Christmas that would be transformative for our communities.”
