Though it was one of the biggest shopping days of the year, only a handful of people shuffled from store to store in Downtown Crossing... Elery Pfeffer, the chief executive of Nift, the Boston-based startup that matches consumers with small businesses, said there aren’t any signs the falloff in spending at brick and mortar small businesses is coming back soon. “Small businesses have moved to delivery as much as they can, but it is not near compensating for the loss in foot traffic,” Pfeffer said.

The Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) opened and then closed its Buy Local Vermont Program last week with the program opening at 11 a.m. with $425,000 in vouchers for Vermont businesses. All the funding was committed by mid-afternoon on the day of its launch on September 8.

The first week of the Buy Local Vermont stimulus effort has been a lucrative one for businesses around the state. Vermonters snatched $425,000 worth of gift cards in a few hours on Sept. 8 and within six days had redeemed 11% of those offers and then some, according to the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. As of Monday, the 1,678 redeemed gift cards reaped an additional $23,831 for businesses across a variety of sectors — more than 50% above their stated value, according to an ACCD report. The gift cards were free to those who signed up.

Vermont Business Magazine The Buy Local Vermont program drew an overwhelming response as soon as the program went live last week. Almost 12,000 Vermonters received discount offers to support local businesses in their communities. ACCD has released a status report that shows economic activity happening above the average $30 gift amount per customer. Vermonters who have redeemed their gifts thus far have spent 53 percent more than the value of the discount, resulting in approximately $1.50 in economic activity for local businesses for every $1 invested in the program in just the first week.

The Buy Local Vermont Consumer Stimulus Program was launched to consumers on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. The program was designed to maximize the effect of local consumer spending, including at restaurants, retail stores, entertainment and performing arts venues, lodging, and tourism-related businesses to support businesses in Vermont that have suffered economic harm due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. This pilot program was funded with a $500,000 allocation of the Federal Coronavirus Relief Fund.

The pilot program, which "sold out" in a day, used federal CARES Act funding to establish a first-come, first-served $30 per person credit for use at about 950 businesses across the state. Heather Pelham, the state Commissioner of Tourism and Marketing, said she's heard positive feedback from businesses who were pleased to get customers "back in the door," especially new customers they hadn't previously reached.

Hear what businesses have to say about how #BuyLocalVermont worked for them.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) - Vermonters who scored a coupon to a local businesses through a buy local program have until the end of October to use them. It wasn’t without a few hiccups though. More than 20,000 Vermonters applied for shop local coupons through a state effort to help boost the economy. When the buy local program went live Tuesday, nearly all of the 14,000 vouchers were gobbled up in minutes. The huge flood of people applying overwhelmed the website and caused technical difficulties for some who never saw a confirmation code.

“We saw robust interest from the Vermont business community and an overwhelming show of support from tens of thousands of Vermonters yesterday morning,” said ACCD Secretary Lindsay Kurrle. “The success of this program shows that Vermonters want to participate in our economic recovery and that businesses are eager to market themselves to new customers. For this program to sell out and send $425,000 directly to local businesses in a matter of hours is a great success. We also recognize thousands more Vermonters wanted to participate in this program, and we’ve proposed an expansion of the program to meet that interest.”

The Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) announced today that the Buy Local Vermont Program is now fully subscribed and $425,000 is on its way to 959 locally owned businesses. The pilot program, funded through an allocation of the Federal Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), launched to consumers at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

There was a mad dash for deals Tuesday across Vermont, with shoppers signing up to receive free credits to small business. The offer, meant to extend a lifeline to struggling mom and pop operations during the coronavirus pandemic, was so popular that the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development said funds ran dry before some people could take part.

Shoppers in Vermont signed up for free credits to local small businesses, a way to help out amid the pandemic. There was so much interest that the gift cards ran out.

The Buy Local Vermont Program is now fully subscribed and $425,000 is on its way to almost 1,000 locally owned businesses. This pilot program was funded through an allocation of the Federal Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), and launched to consumers on Tuesday, September 8. The program was designed to maximize the effect of local consumer spending, including at restaurants, retail stores, entertainment and performing arts venues, lodging, and tourism-related businesses to support businesses in Vermont that have suffered economic harm due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

A new state website to distribute $30 “buy local” gift cards to Vermonters as an economic recovery measure experienced difficulties Tuesday morning when more than 10,000 Vermonters tried to sign up.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) - A Vermont buy-local coupon program that supports Vermont businesses sold out after being unveiled Tuesday. The $500,000 Buy Local Vermont program went online Tuesday morning. It allowed Vermonters to sign up for a $30 coupon to a business in their county. About 1,500 businesses participated.

Vermonters hoping for a free $30 coupon redeemable at local businesses mobbed a state website Tuesday morning, leading to delays. The #BuyLocalVermont website went live at 11 a.m., and more than 10,000 people sought access to the coupons in the first hour, said Lindsay Kurrle, secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.

Vermonters can now get discounts at some of their favorite local businesses though the Buy Local Vermont Program.

Buy Local Vermont is a program created by the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development. The program uses CARES Act funding to aid Vermont businesses and residents struggling in the wake…

The state is inviting Vermonters to sign up to receive $30 coupons for use at local businesses that suffered losses due to Covid-19. Starting on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 11:00 a.m., residents can sign up online to be “matched” with participating local businesses through the #BuyLocalVermont program.

Vermont will begin issuing free $30 shop-local gift cards on a first-come, first-serve basis to residents next week — to help businesses impacted by COVID-19. Residents may register for the cards beginning at 11 a.m. on Sept. 8 through the state's #BuyLocalVermont website, administered by the Vermont Department of Economic Development.

CHITTENDEN COUNTY — The State of Vermont recently unveiled its #BuyLocalVermont stimulus program to help residents support local businesses. #BuyLocalVermont is a program created by the state for CARES Act funding to aid Vermont businesses and residents struggling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Agency of Commerce & Community Development ACCD is encouraging interested businesses to sign up now for the #BuyLocalVermont program, intended to drive more sales at local restaurants, retail stores, entertainment and performing arts venues, lodging and tourism-related businesses through savings offerings. Businesses can enroll to take part in the program now, which will launch to consumers September 8th. For full details on the process to sign up, and to find an informational slide deck and webinar, visit the ACCD Recovery Resource Center

You know how to treat the customer right and give them a great experience. But to set yourself apart as the best of the best, you need to thank your clients in ways they’ll love and know where to look to bring in great new clients. Thousands of businesses and 3 million customers later, we can tell you with confidence, the secret to attracting and retaining great clients with e-gift cards.

NIFT (www.GoNift.com), the AI-powered platform helping neighborhood businesses bring great local customers through the door, worked with Instagram and Facebook to offer more ways for people to discover eligible Nift Neighborhood Businesses selling gift cards via the Nift Store. The collaboration surfaces eligible Nift Neighborhood Businesses on Facebook and on Instagram via business profile pages and story stickers, making it easier for people to find and purchase digital gift cards that support their favorite local businesses.

Prepaid gift card sales can tell us a lot about the future. We believe spas and salons will rebound fastest from the devastating financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on gift card sales from 4,000+ businesses listed on the Nift Store this month, beauty and spa businesses accounted for the largest percentage of gift card sales (41%) compared with sit down restaurants (3.6%) and casual eateries (9.5%).

NIFT (www.GoNift.com), the AI-powered platform helping neighborhood businesses bring great local customers through the door, has reason to believe spas and salons will rebound fastest from the devastating financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on gift card sales from 4,000+ businesses listed on the Nift Store this month, beauty and spa businesses accounted for the largest percentage of gift card sales (41%) compared with sit down restaurants (3.6%) and casual eateries (9.5%).

"At a time when we're all seeing ourselves on Zoom calls and Google Hangouts, it's not really surprising that people are buying gift cards to go back to barber shops and salons as soon as it's safe to do so," says Elery Pfeffer, Founder and CEO of Nift. "What is surprising is the incredible amount they spend and the speed at which people are buying prepaid gift cards to fundraise for their favorite hairdressers. We saw one salon raise $4k in less than 4 hours with a single email to their customers."

Aiming to support local businesses around the United States during the global pandemic, SwimSwam has partnered with Nift to distribute $30 Neighborhood Gift Cards to every reader, giving people a way to discover new businesses and funds they can use at those businesses as soon as it’s safe to do so.

Last week, Nift launched an online store where users can buy $30 pre-paid digital gift cards to thousands of small businesses ranging from boutique pet treat stores to specialty salons, along with a slew of restaurants. The idea is to support the businesses now so they can weather the storm of coronavirus; then, shoppers can actually patronize them later. Nift sends the gift card amounts to businesses immediately via check or direct deposit.

It’s no secret that many martech and business technology companies incorporate philanthropy as part of their core values. For example, Nift, a Boston-based network, established to help community residents explore local businesses and restaurants by providing discounted gift cards that can be used at participating locations.
In an effort to encourage — and even assist — city residents to support local small businesses, Nift sent subscribers a free $30 gift card in the hopes of helping to maintain local businesses. This just one example of a brand doing good while doing well by using email to communicate with subscribers tangible ways they can support local businesses.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - One tech startup that moved to Bryan-College Station last year is changing more than just the way local businesses support each other. Nift is a customer sharing network that encourages local companies to send their customers to surrounding businesses they haven’t been to before.

Wharf Life DC has partnered with Nift, an AI-powered platform helping neighborhood businesses attract and retain loyal local customers. The Nift network is powered by local businesses that provide Nifts (neighborhood gifts) to customers in order to promote one another. The partnership is great news for customers of Wharf businesses and fans of Wharf Life DC, which will soon announce plans to distribute Nift cards, valued at up to $30, to its followers for use within the Nift network. It is also great news for Wharf merchants who now have a direct opportunity to join the powerful Nift network in conjunction with Wharf Life DC.

Boston-based Nift, which came to the Brazos Valley in March 2018, announced Wednesday its goal of employing 1,000 people locally by the end of 2020. Nift works with local businesses to help them bring in more customers, and strives to build networks of businesses that use Nifts, or neighborhood gifts, to promote one another and power local economies. Nift has nearly 100 small businesses locally as members, according to a press release.

COLLEGE STATION, TX – Since its arrival in the Brazos Valley in 2018, Boston-based AI platform Nift has experienced incredible success, so much so that the company is already preparing to expand beyond its initial announcement of employment projections. By the end of 2020, Nift has a goal of employing 1,000 people in “The Hub of the Texas Triangle,” surpassing the 300-to-400 total noted in July 2018 when the company first announced its arrival in the area.

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (KBTX) - An area business is announcing large growth in jobs. Nift plans to have 1,000 employees in College Station by the end of the year. The Boston-based company expanded to College Station 2018. Area business leaders heard the big announcement Wednesday morning at the Bryan College Station Chamber of Commerce's Economic Outlook Conference.

Recently a marketing program was kicked off to promote the many great small businesses in Andover, Lawrence and North Andover. Our communities have so much to offer and we want to celebrate that in a way that drives spending and generates lots of positive buzz about our shops, restaurants and service providers. As part of the Rock the Register campaign to help businesses in the affected area recover, we are mailing a 30 Nift/Rock the Register card to the approximately 1,800 affected households to be used at the businesses who enrolled in the program. No strings attached.

As it approaches the one-year anniversary of last September’s gas explosions, Rock the Register – the campaign helping the impacted business communities of Andover, North Andover and Lawrence recover from the crisis – is working with Nift to distribute $30 Nift gift cards to impacted residents. The campaign will begin with mailing more than 8,000 Nift gift cards to affected families, who will be able to use them at impacted businesses in their community.

Emad Awad isn’t sure how much longer he’ll be able to keep his Lawrence pizza shop open — the customers who went elsewhere when he was forced to close by last year’s gas blasts just never came back. “It’s been so dead slow, I’m thinking I’m about to close it down and just go out of business,” said Awad, who owns Riverside Pizza.

Nift, the Boston-based startup that opened an office in BCS just over a year ago, and was recently awarded Best New Business in BCS, has just moved to a new office in BCS. The new 13,000-square-foot office is part of a 21-acre technology campus at 3011 Earl Rudder Freeway.

This past week, Nift, a new startup in Bryan/College Station, was recognized as the Best New Business by Maroon Weekly’s Best of BCS. Nift works with local businesses to help them bring in more customers, and strengthen neighborhood communities. Nift is based in Boston, and opened its College Station office in March of 2018. Since then, they’ve begun working with many local businesses, hired over 100 employees, and moved into a bigger office space in BCS.

Nift, a Boston-based AI company, has recently launched in College Station, Texas. When a customer uses Nift, they have the opportunity to discover a new local business in their neighborhood. The goal is to get people through the doors of neighborhood businesses and keep them coming back.

After launching in College Station, Texas, Nift is partnering with local businesses to help them welcome and learn more about new customers. "It tells us if you're tracking with new customers or repeat customers so it helps us track and metric. Are we reaching more people or are more people coming to our restaurant for the first time," said May, general manager at Goodbull BBQ.

In addition to Edible Arrangements offering 30% off all items, All Edible stores throughout MA and NH are giving Nift cards to customers, redeemable for a gift at neighboring businesses.

Nift Networks announced today that it has integrated with Constant Contact. Nift is an invitation-only network that helps neighborhood businesses thank their best customers and brings new ones through the door. Nift’s technology partnership with Constant Contact makes it even easier for merchants to grow and maintain their businesses

The company is hoping to set up roots in Bryan/College Station, they're also planning on bringing their technology to Brazos Valley business. "We do have a plan to launch in the College Station--Bryan area," said Michael Garland with Nift. "There are an immense amount of small businesses that we know can thrive leveraging our product."

A Boston-based company has announced plans to open a sales office in Bryan-College Station. Nift, which works with small businesses to use gifts to promote one another in an effort to drive customer traffic, plans to hire 300 to 400 people as part of the expansion. Blinn College will be hosting a hiring event Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Building T on the Bryan campus. Nift also is working with the Texas A&M Career Center in its recruiting efforts. The company is seeking business development representatives and sales managers.

Nift, the Boston-based AI platform that helps small businesses compete with giants like Amazon, has chosen Brazos County for its first office expansion out of the northeast. Nift officials are working to finalize a location for their growing team in Bryan/College Station and are currently seeking business development representatives and sales managers. Nift plans to hire 300 to 400 people, with more than 30 people to be hired each month this year.

“First of all we saw a good match with our values, which include respect and performance and making decisions that are good for our team and the greater good as well as a good pool of talent,” said Pfeffer. They already have 2,000 merchants in the Boston area and are hoping to expand nationwide over the next few years.

All these e-scooters piling up and moving into cities might be inflating actual demand. Nift, a platform for local businesses to give customers gifts, surveyed 450 customers about scooter-sharing. A little less than 25 percent of respondents said they wanted more scooters in their area, according to the survey released this week.

Survey shows 2 out of 3 people wouldn't use electric scooters, with more than half saying they prefer to walk and nearly 4 in 10 saying they believe them to be dangerous.

Elery Pfeffer, CEO and founder of Nift, which uses AI to connect shoppers with merchants, said companies need to tap their local networks while also investing in "experiences." "Digital ads on Google and Facebook drive clicks to your web site, not customers through the door," Pfeffer said. "Building a strong local business ecosystem should rely heavily on word-of-mouth marketing, and business-to-business referrals is a powerful way that adds value holistically through sharing your best customers."

The company wants to help entrepreneurs around Boston share their best loyal customers and is betting a $30 gift card will do the trick. Forty-eight percent of Americans are employed by a small business. There are more than 639,000 small companies in Massachusetts. And one Boston-based startup wants you to learn a lot more about them.

Elery Pfeffer, the CEO of local start-up Nift stopped by to explain how his company helps small businesses compete against Amazon.

Nift, a start-up network designed to help SMBs match neighborhood businesses with local customers by leveraging AI machine learning algorithms, has raised $16.5 million in Series A funding from Spark Capital, Foundry Group and Accomplice.

Nift, a Boston, MA-based provider of an AI powered platform for main street merchants to join forces, raised $16.5M in Series A funding. Backers included Spark Capital, Foundry Group and Accomplice.The company intends to use the new capital to expand nationally, with up to five new markets, and increase its team 400% over the next 12 months.

Boston-based startup Nift has raised $16.5 million in a Series A to fund its platform for “business gift cards,” a way for local businesses to drive customer engagement by providing gift cards to their consumers.

Boston-based Nift Networks Inc. has raised $16.5 million to expand its new type of customer discount program — one that aims to help local businesses help each other — to cities around the country.

Nift, which is giving local businesses a new way to promote themselves, has raised $16.5 million in Series A funding.
The businesses that work with Nift (the name is short for "neighborhood gift") can give special gift cards to their best customers. Those customers enter their codes on the Nift website, answer a few questions and can then choose from two free gifts from other local businesses.

Today, Nift, announces $16.5M in Series A funding from Spark Capital, Foundry Group and Accomplice. The platform has seen unprecedented success in Boston, Providence and Washington, D.C., and with the new capital, Nift plans to expand nationally, with up to five new markets and an increase in its team of 400 percent over the next twelve months.

Chances are, if you're a small business owner in Jamaica Plain, you've referred customers to other small business owners in the area. Let's face it: Small shops simply don't carry every item a customer wants. While this is a loose “partnership,” another way that our business is supporting other local businesses is through Nift. The purpose is simple: Help neighborhood businesses get customers through the door. I now hand out Nift cards as a way to thank my best customers for shopping at my store. But I'm doing more than just thanking them, I'm encouraging them to visit other local businesses that are part of the Nift network. They get a free gift to experience another Jamaica Plain business, and they'll likely tell their friends. The result? More sales from local customers, and more money staying in our neighborhood.

Southie has a wealth of small business owners who not only work here, but also live here. We all know that our small businesses are responsible for two-thirds of all new jobs. And study after study has shown that when you shop locally, nearly one-half of your spending stays here. Small businesses are the lifeblood of Southie and, as small business owners, we all want to get new customers in the door.

Ever walk down a street you've walked multiple times and suddenly see a shop for the first time, wander in, discovering the local business is perfect for you - only to find out it's been there for years? Brookline resident Elery Pfeffer thinks he has a solution to making those local joints stand out a bit more - with his company "Nift."

Pfeffer moved to Brookline four years ago, and when the marketing company he worked for was sold to a bigger company, he took some time off and discovered there are a number of smaller businesses around town that should get more recognition.
"As I was getting to know the area, I kept discovering these fantastic local businesses," he said. "There have been some that I've passed by for years that I've never stepped in that are perfect for me and my kids."

Nift, a Cambridge startup that helps small businesses send customers to each other, has raised $3 million in seed funding. With many small businesses struggling to stay afloat against e-commerce and big-box stores, Nift has created a network for small businesses to send each other new customers.

Nift, the first invitation-only network that helps neighborhood businesses bring the right new customers through the door, today announced that it has raised a $3 million round of venture capital funding. The seed round, led by Spark Capital and Accomplice, will enable Nift to expand its network of local businesses and continue enhancing the technology that powers it.

This weekend brings Small Business Saturday, when local shops bid for holiday dollars not already spent at mall- and chain-heavy Black Friday sales, and two Cambridge startups are supporting the effort. (A marketing effort called Plaid Friday also attempts to subvert Black Friday and send shopping dollars to small stores.)