A LOYALTY scheme aimed at improving sales for independent businesses could be launched in East Oxford.

Traders and community leaders have announced they are considering introducing a discount system to encourage people to shop locally.

They say the plan will boost trade by encouraging people to boycott chain stores.

One idea is a top-up payment card, which would generate savings for the customer over time.

Sarah Thorn, assistant manager of the People’s Supermarket, said: “The idea is to have a system which supports the local economy.

“One of the big problems for independent traders is that while one business is doing very well, it is often directly in competition with another trader.

“By competing with each other, we’re all playing into the hands of the big chains because we are putting each other out of business.

“We thought we should do something we could all benefit from, and that’s why we came up with this idea.”

She said that people signing up to the scheme would get a card that they could charge with cash through an online account and then spend in East Oxford’s small shops.

Under the People’s Supermarket proposals, members of the scheme would get a discount, roughly two per cent, on every purchase, giving them an incentive to use local traders.

The savings could either be pocketed by the shopper, or donated to one of the shops.

But Matt Chapman, assistant manager of the Truck Store in Cowley Road, was not convinced.

He said: “I can’t really see it as a gain for the businesses, but I can see why it would benefit the customers.

“From my point of view, I wouldn’t want to have my money wrapped up in something. “If I was going to spend £50 somewhere, I wouldn’t necessarily want that to be pre-defined, so it would have to be flexible.

“I think some sort of gift card which could be used at any business in East Oxford would be a better idea.”

East Oxford Green councillor Craig Simmons said: “There are different ways of implementing this, and we need to look at them all and try to reach a consensus.

“The People’s Supermarket idea is a very good one which would work very well. “There are other schemes, such as the one in Stroud which is run by a national company where local businesses simply sign up online.

“So we could hop on the back of national schemes, or we could develop something local.

“But what needs to be worked out is how it’s going to be implemented and who’s going to run it.”

Further discussions of the plans will go ahead at the next East Oxford Area Forum meeting in May.