Miconex has reported €200,000 in sales of the Grá Macroom Gift Card, giving the County Cork programme an early measure of the value directed into its local merchant network. The technology provider's June 24 disclosure also reported more than 3,300 in-store transactions across a programme accepted by over 100 businesses in Macroom and neighbouring villages. [S01]
The figures are company-reported and describe different parts of the gift-card cycle. Card sales measure value purchased for future use; transactions show occasions on which cards were used in stores. The disclosure does not provide a total value for all redemptions, so the two figures cannot establish how much purchased value remains unspent.
The five-month period is not fully defined
Miconex describes the €200,000 milestone as having been reached in five months and dates the programme's launch to October 2025. Its June statement does not identify the end of that five-month measurement period. The results therefore should not be read as sales during the five months ending in June, or as a complete total from launch through June 24. [S01]
The starting value is also explicitly attributed: Miconex quotes local retailer Ronan Cooney describing sales moving from EUR0 to EUR200,000 in five months. The chart reproduces those reported endpoints without assigning a calendar end date or estimating a monthly trajectory. [S01]
Provider-reported five-month sales endpoints
Quoted starting sales and the announced milestone; calendar boundaries unspecified.
EUR card sales
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
Company-published quotation, not independently audited transaction data. The exact five-month period is not defined. No monthly trajectory, current monthly rate or additional local economic output is inferred.
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| Category | EUR card sales |
|---|---|
| Quoted starting sales | 0 EUR card sales |
| Reported five-month milestone | 200,000 EUR card sales |
That missing boundary limits comparisons with other local-card programmes. It also makes it inappropriate to turn the figure into a current monthly sales rate. The news is the operator's published milestone disclosure; its timing does not resolve the exact period covered by the underlying sales.
A card linking the town and nearby villages
Backed by Macroom Business Association, Grá Macroom replaced a paper voucher with physical and digital cards and extended the programme to surrounding Lee Valley communities. Participating businesses include shops, restaurants, hotels, salons and services. [S01]
Miconex supplies the technology through its Town & City Gift Cards network. The company says redemption takes place in person, while buyers can purchase cards online or through local outlets. This separates distribution from spending: a card can be bought remotely, but its value is directed to participating local premises. [S01]
The release names five places to purchase cards in person: Killian Auctioneers and Connections in Macroom, Cooney’s Garage in Coachford, Dromeys Centra in Ballymakeera and Daybreak in Ballingeary. This is a dated distribution list, separate from the much larger acceptance network. [S01]
Named in-person purchase outlets by place
Counts from the June 24 announcement’s five-outlet list.
listed purchase outlets
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Source
Card purchase outlets, not all accepting businesses or transaction shares. The list is from June 24 and is not presented as a complete October network census.
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| Category | listed purchase outlets |
|---|---|
| Macroom | 2 listed purchase outlets |
| Coachford | 1 listed purchase outlets |
| Ballymakeera | 1 listed purchase outlets |
| Ballingeary | 1 listed purchase outlets |
Employers can be buyers and accepting merchants
The Castle Hotel illustrates both sides of that model. Manager Rory Buckley said the hotel had bought €13,000 of local cards for staff rewards and received about €9,000 in card spending over a five-month period. These are separate purchase and redemption figures for one participant, not an independently measured net contribution to the local economy. [S01]
For a participating employer, buying the cards places reward spending within the local network. For an accepting business, they provide another way to receive payment from recipients. A business can occupy both roles, which helps explain the organisers' focus on corporate purchasing alongside consumer gifting.
A separate statutory framework helps explain the employer channel. Revenue’s Small Benefit Exemption manual sets a cumulative annual limit per employee of EUR1,000 for 2022–2024 and EUR1,500 for 2025–2029. The later rule permits up to five qualifying non-cash benefits, with no salary sacrifice or cash redemption and reporting on or before the award date. These conditions do not make every card or employer award automatically eligible. [S02]
Annual small-benefit limits for qualifying employee awards
Cumulative non-cash benefit limit per employee per tax year.
EUR per employee per year
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Source
Statutory limits, not actual Macroom purchases, tax savings or hotel return on investment. The earlier rule allowed two benefits; the later rule permits five. Eligibility conditions and reporting obligations apply to each employer’s actual awards.
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| Category | EUR per employee per year |
|---|---|
| 2022–2024 rule | 1,000 EUR per employee per year |
| 2025–2029 rule | 1,500 EUR per employee per year |
Macroom Business Association chairperson Killian Lynch said the association intended to build on the reported sales. The disclosure provides evidence of card purchases and use, but no independent impact study or comparison with spending that would have occurred without the programme. Its €200,000 headline is a sales milestone, not a demonstrated increase of the same amount in the area's overall economy. [S01]
In this article
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed covers industry acquisitions, investment and market research for Gift Card News.