The ChooseCBR discount voucher scheme trial has been extended three days on the back of modest uptake, meaning it will continue through to Christmas Eve, Thursday 24 December.
While over 40,000 individuals have registered to enjoy daily discounts at 313 participating businesses, as at 2.30pm today, 18 December, only $143,675 worth of the $500,000 total discount allotment has been redeemed.
The scheme was originally designed to run until 21 December or until half a million dollars’ worth of discounts had been used.
Feedback on the scheme since rollout has been mixed, with some businesses and customers reporting confusion when it came time to transact using the vouchers.
Cosmorex marketing and communications manager, Tahlia Wood, said the Fyshwick coffee roaster and cafe signed up for the scheme prior to launch and found it “a little confusing” initially.
“The program is completely fine itself; we didn’t have any issues with the vouchers or the system, it was more at the start it was very confusing,” she said.
“We had customers come in and they weren’t too sure themselves.
“We ended up calling up Access Canberra and they didn’t know what was going on either … they had to call back.
“We’ve had a few people come in; in voucher value we’ve given about $170.”
Ms Wood said she has been pleased by the number of people clicking through to their website via ChooseCBR.
“When I log into our shop, I can see the base rate of traffic and where they’re clicking, and a lot of people are coming from the ChooseCBR website,” she said.
Owner of Adore Tea in Nicholls, Aman Palekar, told Canberra Daily he’s been actively promoting the scheme to customers to make sure everyone’s getting the most out of it.
“There are some who already have the code, and some we are asking, and they say ‘no, we don’t know what it is’,” he said.
“We tell them it’s very easy to sign up, and they’re not just to use with us but many other businesses around Canberra … when we explain that they’re very happy with us.”
Having only signed up on Wednesday 16 December, at the halfway point of the trial, Mr Palekar said extending the scheme until Christmas Eve means he’s confident more customers will take advantage.
As at 18 December, Adore Tea had already given out $157.50 worth of discounts.
“This is really beneficial for us, it means the customer can come back to us … it’s good for customers and for business,” Mr Palekar said.
He said Adore Tea hasn’t faced any issues getting the ChooseCBR system up and running.
“It’s a very simple system, there’s nothing much to worry about,” he said.
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