Shopping for 17,000 yen for 10,000 yen?

What is a regionally issued gift certificate? September 28, 17:55

In response to soaring prices, local governments across the country are now issuing regional premium gift certificates to support the household budgets of residents and the management of businesses.

Meanwhile, a certain town in Okayama Prefecture has issued a gift certificate that allows you to buy 17,000 yen worth of purchases for 10,000 yen.

Premium = The premium rate is actually 70%.

Why did the town issue such a high premium gift certificate?

Is it effective?

I went to the site to confirm it.

(Reporter Tomoki Uchida, Okayama Broadcasting Station)

Issued in a town with a population of less than 70,000

Soja City, Okayama Prefecture issued gift certificates with a 70% premium.

The population is approximately 70,000.

The population is on the rise due to good access to urban areas, such as being adjacent to Okayama City, an ordinance-designated city, and recent efforts to support child-rearing.

In August this year, Soja City issued a gift certificate with a 70% premium as a “price countermeasure support ticket”.

On the first day of sales, there was a line of citizens waiting to buy gift certificates at the city hall.

I went to town

About a month passed since then, late September.

The gift certificate can be used at about 500 stores in the city, so when I visited, there was a gift certificate climbing everywhere in the city.

I went into one of them, a cleaning shop.

Kazuaki Maeda, senior managing director of the dry cleaning store, says,

"We are very grateful for the increased costs, such as the price of heavy oil more than doubling from last year."

This long-established laundry shop has four stores in the city.

We are cleaning with the heat of the steam generated by cooking the boiler, but the price of heavy oil, which is the fuel, has risen.

In addition, the cost of detergents, product covers, hangers, etc. has increased, and the price has been forced to increase.

Under such circumstances, the gift certificate was issued, and it is said that he immediately felt a response.

Managing Director Maeda

: "Some customers use premium gift certificates to bring in items that are usually not available for cleaning, such as sofa covers and carpets, which cost several thousand yen."

Today, approximately 20% of sales are made up of gift certificates.

The next place I visited was a pastry shop.

Then, there was a customer who just bought a cake using a gift certificate.

A customer at a pastry shop:

“I spent 1,500 yen.

This pastry shop also faces soaring raw material prices.

It is said that 50 kg of imported wheat is used per week, but compared to before the corona, the price has increased by about 800 yen per bag = 25 kg.

In addition, the price of dairy products and fruits, which are indispensable for making cakes, has also increased.

For this reason, we have decided to raise the prices of almost all products, including our flagship product, cream puffs.

Yasaki, who was worried about losing customers, issued gift certificates, and it is said that about 50 coupons are used on weekdays and 100 on weekends.

Mr. Naotaka Hioki, owner of a pastry shop

"In addition to the soaring prices of raw materials, sales at pastry shops decline in the summer, but thanks to the gift certificates with premiums, I think there is an aspect that customers continue to come."

Approximately 60% of the citizens purchased it within a month of its issuance, and both citizens and businesses welcomed it.

Why such a high premium?

While local governments issue regional gift certificates nationwide, the premium is often around 20% to 30%.

Why did Soja City issue gift certificates with a premium of 70%?

Next, I went to the city hall for an interview.

The person who responded to the interview was Mr. Hayashi, the manager in charge.

When I asked the reason for the high premium, the first thing I was shown was the results of a survey conducted in June this year that asked business operators in the city about the impact of soaring prices.

“The cost rate has exceeded 50% due to soaring fuel prices

.

”

Looking at the results of the questionnaire, he said that he recognized that a wide range of industries, from restaurants to automobiles, were in a more serious situation than expected.

Mr. Hayashi

: “Although the number of customers has increased compared to last year, which was affected by the new coronavirus, we found that profits were being squeezed by the soaring raw material costs. We have issued gift certificates attached to these items, but this time we added 20% to stimulate consumption and support business operators."

It was determined that drastic measures were necessary to avoid a cooling of the local economy.

It means that we decided to raise the premium to 70% and appeal to residents as a "value".

High premium What is the burden on the city?

However, if the premium is raised, the amount borne by the city will also increase accordingly.

How did you get it?

.

Mr. Hayashi

: “The source of funds is the Regional Revitalization Temporary Grant. A large part of how this grant is used is entrusted to local governments. I used it for the business expenses of

Temporary subsidies for regional revitalization are subsidies provided by the national government to local governments in order to support regions affected by the new coronavirus, and the amount is determined according to population and other factors.

In order to keep the cost within the scope of the subsidy, the target is all citizens from babies to the elderly, and the upper limit that one person can purchase is 2 books = 10,000 yen (17,000 yen including premium). is.

In other municipalities, there are cases where the upper limit of the purchase amount exceeds 20,000 yen, and Soja City has a lower limit.

In other words, Soja City realized this gift certificate by adopting a strategy of ``high premium and low price per person'' while using the same financial resources as other municipalities.

Effectiveness needs to be verified

On the other hand, experts familiar with regional economies point out that it is necessary to thoroughly verify whether these gift certificates with premiums are truly effective.

Specially Appointed Professor Ryohei Nakamura, Graduate School of Social and Cultural Sciences, Okayama University

``It is true that the 70% premium rate is large, and in the short term it can be expected to stimulate consumption, but it is doubtful whether it will lead to the revitalization of the local economy in the long term. Because the financial resources are covered by government subsidies, it is tempting to issue it again and again because it is popular with residents. It is conceivable that consumption will decline at times, so it is necessary to verify the extent to which the amount of sales and services increased by these gift certificates, and whether or not they are effective in increasing consumption beyond the premium amount. ”

Gift certificates with premiums issued by many local governments with subsidies from the national government.

The high premium tends to attract attention, but the point is whether consumption can be boosted beyond the premium.

Rather than simply issuing gift certificates, each local government encourages efforts to increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of local businesses, creates an environment that encourages residents to continue shopping at local stores, and contributes to the local economy. It is questioned whether it can lead to the activation of

Okayama Broadcasting Station

Tomoki Uchida

Joined in 2021

Originally from Nagano Prefecture

After being in charge of incidents, Kurashiki branch office In

charge of a wide range of news in the southwestern part of the prefecture

Worried about rising prices for bread and udon noodles for lunch