Keeping informed and getting involved

Town centre newsletter

We send a business-to-business newsletter by email with news and events from around the town centre. This includes activities you may want to get involved in. We send the newsletter is issued every two months.

To sign up to receive the newsletter or ask to include content, please fill in our online form.

Town centre retail and hospitality forum

The forum meets four times a year. All town centre businesses welcome. Please fill in our online form if you'd like to attend. The forum also has a Facebook group.

Promoting your business

Our Barnsley town centre Facebook page promotes the town centre to shoppers and visitors. As well as liking and sharing the page with friends, family and customers, we can publish content on your behalf.

If you have any information you'd like including, please fill in our online form.

Barnsley Gift Card

The Barnsley Gift Card is a pre-paid Mastercard. It provides a simple way for local people to buy a gift card for friends and family. Owners of the card can spend them at a range of local businesses. This includes restaurants, cafes, shops, salons and more.

Benefits for your business

• It’s free. It doesn’t cost a business anything to be part of the programme. There are no extra set-up or on-going fees for businesses.
• It introduces new customers. People that receive the gift card tend to explore more. 15% of the redemptions are with customers visiting a business for the very first time.
• It brings extra spend. Customers that redeem cards spend on average 40% more than the value of the gift card. They tend to upgrade their experience, going for higher margin products.
• It’s easy to implement. As the programme users the Mastercard system, it’s easy for a business to get involved. No changes are needed to software or hardware in order to accept the gift card.
• It pays automatically. You'll receive the full value of the money received via your existing payment terminals.

Benefits for the customer

• It offers choice. People like the fact that the cards can be used on a huge range of products and services. They offer more choice than other gift cards or vouchers.
• There’s so much flexibility. You don’t have to use the full value of the card in one business. It means that people can enjoy spending at multiple businesses, over a period of 12 months.
• It supports the local economy. When you buy a Barnsley Gift Card for someone you know the money is going stay local.
• It works for everyone. We all have people that are difficult to buy presents for. The Barnsley Gift Card gives the choice back to the recipient, making sure they get something they really want.
• It’s secure. The Barnsley Gift Card is secured by Mastercard.

How to get set up

There's a three step set up process:

1. Complete the Barnsley Gift Card registration form.
2. Sign the merchant participation form.
3. Process a declined transaction through the card terminal. This can be done in two ways:
   • We can visit your business and process a registration transaction using a blank gift card.
   • We can register your business remotely by processing a 'card holder not present' transaction. This is done using the card details stated on the registration form.

For more details, please fill in our online form.

ShopAppy - Click and Collect Barnsley

Click and Collect Barnsley is an online ordering and booking platform for independent businesses. It's powered by ShopAppy. It's easy to use and payments are quick and secure.

ShopAppy encourages customers to shop local through:

• click and collect from your shop or stall
• click and collect from the collection hub in the indoor market
• delivery for a small fee

Who can sign up?

Businesses with a product or service to offer which is available in the Barnsley borough.

What can ShopAppy be used for?

Depending on your business, you can use ShopAppy for click and collect and delivery.

The town centre collection hub is inside Barnsley Market. Ambient, refrigerated and frozen secure storage is available. Customers can pick up orders for ambient goods from 8.30am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday. Lockers for refrigerated and frozen goods are self-serve and open until late.

Delivery is managed through City Grab which is an affiliate of City Taxis. Once an order is placed, ShopAppy will notify City Grab and arrange pickup and delivery. City Grab can transport chilled goods as well.

What if I don't sell products?

ShopAppy enables customers to book items, services, appointments, classes and more via the 'things to book' and 'what’s on' sections.

How much will it cost?

There are no subscription fees. ShopAppy is free to businesses in the Barnsley borough to use until September 2023.

When will I receive payments from ShopAppy?

The payment gateway holds on to funds in case of disputes/fraudulent cards normally for three to five days. After that it transfers to the ShopAppy account.

Once a week on Fridays, ShopAppy will generate statements for your orders. It'll email them to you and transfer payments to you, minus a 2% transaction fee from the payment gateway. ShopAppy doesn't take commission.

Is support available to help businesses to take quality photos?

Two units in the indoor market have been fitted out with cameras and photography equipment. Independent businesses in the Barnsley borough can use these.

There are no fees and no charges. Equipment must be used on site. You'll have to agree to some terms before you use it for the first time. Advice and support to use the kit is on-hand.

The digital studio is open from 8.30am to 4pm, Monday to Saturday. To find out more and to book, please visit the customer service desk in the indoor market or call us.

How do I sign up to ShopAppy?

Sign up to ShopAppy online and select to register a new account.

For more information you can contact us online or call (01226) 772239.