If you run a BID, town centre, high street or council economic-development team in the UK, Ireland or North America, you've probably come across Miconex — the company behind the Town & City Gift Card and the Mi Rewards loyalty programme. If you're comparing it with Loop, here's the honest distinction: Mi Rewards is a card-linked, spend-based town loyalty programme paired with a local gift card, and Loop is a participation-based coalition loyalty network. Both aim to keep spend local and reward people for shopping across a place. They just reward different behaviours and build different assets. This guide compares them fairly so you can pick the right fit.
Weighing options for your high street or town centre? Book a demo or see how Loop works for precincts & high streets.
At a glance
| Mi Rewards (Miconex) | Loop | |
|---|---|---|
| Core product | Card-linked town/city loyalty + Town & City Gift Card | Coalition loyalty network (participation-based) |
| How customers join | Link a debit/credit card; rewards run in the background | Join via QR in seconds; no card-link required |
| Rewards for | Spending at participating local businesses | Visits, spend, reviews, referrals, photos & check-ins |
| Signature mechanic | Points for local spend; prize-draw campaigns | Earn & redeem across every member; reward participation |
| Local gift card | Yes — established local-currency programme | Complements a gift card; not a replacement for one |
| Content & advocacy | Not the focus | Reviews, referrals and UGC are first-class |
| First-party data | Spend data via linked cards | Broad participation & movement data the org owns |
What Mi Rewards is great at
Mi Rewards has real strengths. Its card-linked approach is genuinely low-friction: a shopper links their debit or credit card once, and rewards accrue in the background whenever they spend at participating local businesses — no separate loyalty card to show at the till. Miconex pairs it with the Town & City Gift Card, a proven local-currency programme running in 200+ places across the UK, Ireland and North America that's excellent at locking spend into the local economy. And prize-led campaigns like "spend local, win big" give town-centre teams a simple, understandable hook. If your priority is keeping card spend local and running a straightforward spend-based loyalty scheme with a gift card alongside, it's a strong, established option.
What Loop is great at
Loop starts from a different belief: that the most valuable thing a place can reward isn't only spending — it's participation. Alongside spend, Loop rewards visits, reviews, referrals, photos and check-ins across every member business — the behaviours that market the place for free and turn shoppers into advocates. Customers join in seconds from a QR code with no card-linking required, and rewards earned at one business redeem at another, so members actively discover new traders. Because it captures the full range of participation and cross-visitation, the organisation builds a richer, owned first-party dataset — not just card spend, but how people move, what they share, and who they bring — which is exactly the evidence a BID needs to prove its value at renewal. It's the participation network model applied to a high street.
The real difference: spend vs participation
The cleanest way to frame it: Mi Rewards rewards the transaction; Loop rewards the whole relationship. Card-linked loyalty is elegant for capturing spend, but spend is only one of the things a customer does that grows a place — a five-star review, a tagged photo, or a referred friend can be worth more than a single purchase, and those are the behaviours Loop is built to reward. If your goal is purely "keep card spend local," card-linking is a fine tool. If your goal is a community of fans who visit more, advocate, create content and bring others — and a dataset that captures all of it — that's Loop's design.
When Mi Rewards is the better fit
- Your priority is a proven local gift card / local-currency programme, with loyalty alongside it.
- You want the lowest-friction, card-linked spend tracking with no QR step at all.
- A spend-based points scheme with prize-draw campaigns matches your goals.
When Loop is the better fit
- You want to reward participation — reviews, referrals, content and visits — not spend alone.
- You want cross-business earn-and-redeem that actively drives discovery between traders.
- You want richer, owned first-party data on movement and engagement, and evidence for levy payers.
- You want the option to run passes and trails inside the same program.
Do you have to choose?
Not necessarily. A local gift card and a participation-based loyalty network solve different problems — one keeps a transaction local, the other builds an ongoing, measurable relationship across the whole place. Some districts run a gift card for spend and a loyalty layer for engagement. The question isn't only "which vendor," but "which jobs am I hiring this to do" — and Loop is built for the retention, participation and data job. See how the models compare in town centre gift card vs district loyalty program.
For the wider set of options, see our roundup of Mi Rewards & Miconex alternatives.
See Loop for your high street or town centre
Book a demo or explore Loop for precincts & BIDs — reward participation, drive cross-visitation, and own the data that proves the levy is working.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Loop and Mi Rewards?
Mi Rewards by Miconex is a card-linked, spend-based town and city loyalty programme, paired with the Town & City Gift Card. Loop is a participation-based coalition loyalty network that rewards visits, reviews, referrals, content and check-ins — not spend alone — and lets members earn and redeem across every business. Mi Rewards centres on local spend; Loop centres on participation and the ongoing relationship.
Is Loop a Mi Rewards or Miconex alternative?
Yes, for organisations that want a participation-based loyalty network rather than a card-linked spend scheme. If your priority is specifically a local gift card / local-currency programme, that's Miconex's established strength; Loop complements a gift card rather than replacing it.
Does Loop require customers to link a payment card?
No. Customers join in seconds from a QR code with no card-linking required. That means Loop can reward far more than card spend — visits, reviews, referrals and content — and doesn't depend on a shopper linking a bank card.
Can Loop keep spend local like a town gift card?
Loop keeps engagement and repeat visits local across the whole network, and can run alongside a local gift card. If a dedicated local-currency gift card is your main goal, run one for spend and use Loop as the participation and loyalty layer on top.