The ACT government has sought to fix issues with its ChooseCBR discount voucher scheme ahead of its $2 million rollout next month.
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Small businesses will be able to sign up to the scheme online from Tuesday, with the number of eligible businesses in the territory set to double to 4000.
The highest discount available has also more than doubled, with Canberrans able to claim up to $50 off their purchase when they spend at least $100.
Canberrans will be able to start redeeming the vouchers to spend at participating businesses on June 9.
The discount voucher scheme, which is aimed at encouraging Canberrans to shop locally, has been plagued by criticism since its trial late last year.
Both businesses and customers reported a lack of knowledge of the scheme, with just over half the $500,000 allocated to the discounts spent in the three-week December trial.
But ACT Business Minister Tara Cheyne said the government had sought to simplify the scheme and to create greater awareness among businesses.
"I think the simple way of describing it is that the voucher amounts are greater, the discounts are greater and in doing both we've simplified it overall," she said.
Under the December trial, Canberrans could only claim a $20 discount on a minimum spend amount of $80 at participating businesses. People were able to access five vouchers a day with the discount amounts ranging from $2.50 to $20, with the discount up to 25 per cent of the cost price.
The new scheme will offer discounts of up to 50 per cent. Customers would get $10 off when at least $20 is spent, $20 off when at least $40 is spent and $50 off when at least $100 is spent.
The ACT government has allocated $2 million to the scheme and unlike the first trial it will not be time limited, instead it will run until all of the money has been spent.
The government attracted criticism over a poor take-up of the trial scheme.
Only 336 of the 2000 eligible businesses signed up to the December trial and of the $500,000 available, only $310,000 was redeemed over the three-week period.
It prompted the opposition to label the vouchers as a "failed scheme". Canberra Liberals business spokeswoman Leanne Castley said the scheme needed to be completely overhauled.
More businesses will be eligible this time, as those that did not use JobKeeper can sign up to the second round, increasing the number to 4000.
Small Canberra businesses in the hospitality, retail, accommodation, personal services or arts recreation sectors can opt-in to the scheme, so long as annual turnover is less than $10 million.
Businesses must also operate and have a physical presence in the ACT.
To create greater awareness of the scheme, Ms Cheyne said eligible businesses would be able to attend a webinar to get more information about the scheme.
"That came about because we heard from businesses that wanted to take the time to see and understand how it worked," she said.
"That's why we've got this long lead period before vouchers can be redeemed so that businesses do have time to investigate and check how they can make it work best for them."
Businesses that sign up would also be sent a "toolkit", which would include resources, such as posters for shop windows, resources with tips on the scheme and social media assets, Ms Cheyne said.
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Resources to support culturally and linguistically diverse businesses would also be available.
Alan Tse, co-founder of local business Altina Drinks, which sells non-alcoholic sparkling drinks, signed up to the scheme in December and said he was excited it was going ahead again.
"We saw this as as great opportunity to see win-win deals for both customers and businesses," he said.
Mr Tse said he gave feedback to the government around improving the communication of the scheme to businesses.
"Focusing on [our business] we were just more attuned to government policies given our previous consulting and government experience but a lot of business owners don't really communicate with the ACT government," he said.
"We had all these customers apparently going to different businesses and showing the program to staff and the staff had no idea what it was.
"I guess my feedback was to spend more time and resources to let businesses know how great this program is."
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