The business consortium Newport NOW is launching an exciting new app, in the hopes of helping people in the area to make better use of businesses and amenities in the city. The goal is to drive up footfall in the city centre, and, in turn, boost revenues for local businesses.

Offering money-saving opportunities, interactive trails, a calendar of local events, competitions, and more, the new app is sure to be a useful addition to anyone’s smartphone when visiting Newport.

An Innovative App

The new app will be free to download, and is intended to help shoppers save money and discover retail and leisure opportunities in Newport’s city centre, with the area including Stow Hill, the Riverfront, Commercial Street, East Street and High Street. In turn, businesses who sign up to the app will enjoy a host of benefits, including free in-app advertising and admin.

The development of the new app is part of Newport NOW’s Future Newport portfolio of initiatives, and the group has partnered with multi award-winning app development firm LoyalFree in order to complete the project. LoyalFree creates place promotion mobile apps for a number of locations around the UK, with more than 40 towns and cities currently working with the company to build bespoke apps to help boost their businesses. Rated as the number one app in this category in the UK, and with businesses in other LoyalFree locations already reporting a boost in footfall and revenues, it looks set to be a real boon for the flagging retail economy in Newport. 

Customers enjoy using the app, too, finding it a useful tool for saving money and finding out about events going on in their area, meaning that everyone in Newport will be able to find reasons to get excited about the app’s launch.

How it Works

The LoyalFree approach blends money-saving offers with useful information about retailers, venues and events. Once downloaded, the user is able to access a host of impressive features, including savings at both local independent shops and big brands such as H&M, Costa Coffee, Boots, EE, Pizza Express and many more. It even allows shoppers to give back as they spend, with 1p donated to charity with every Loyalty Stamp they collect. In turn, these Loyalty Stamps may be exchanged for drinks, meals, and products from the app’s vast selection of business partners.

The app takes care of your leisure time, too, giving you an instant overview of all the events taking place in the area. The app also provides fun and interactive “local trails”, with themes such as “Vegan and Vegetarian Friendly”, “Dog Friendly” and “Chartist Trail” already amongst those up and running on the app. The app also runs regular competitions which can be entered with a single click, and offers users the chance to win a variety of exciting prizes from local businesses.

About the Newport NOW BID

The Newport NOW BID (Business Improvement District) was originally set up in 2015, with the goal of delivering a five-year business plan. Set up and funded by Newport businesses, Newport NOW BID has given local companies the opportunity to drive real, positive change in the city, and hopes to attract more businesses and visitors to the area as a result.

Today, Newport NOW is made up of more than 600 businesses, and their efforts are focussed on three key programmes: Welcome To Newport (which provides a range of events in the city centre), Safe and Secure Newport (which includes the deployment of fully trained, licensed ambassadors to help ensure all visitors feel safe in the city), and Future Newport (which focuses on helping BID members save money on key overheads through collective purchasing schemes, as well as providing “digital high street” projects such as the app).

As well as offering free advertising on the app, businesses that get involved with the project will see other great benefits, such as accurate reporting on key metrics, superb marketing support, and an increase in customer footfall and subsequent sales. 

It’s easy to get involved via Newport NOW BID, and, with all of the work taken care of by the app’s developers, it won’t take valuable time away from running your business. Any local company should be sure to get involved with this innovative project, and help to get Newport buzzing once again.