Substitution effects inevitable in community rewards scheme, chamber acknowledges

The Community Consumption Grand Rewards campaign, whose most recent edition ended last month, has unavoidably led to substitution effects, according to admissions made by a representative of the Macao Chamber of Commerce (ACM).

“Having run the ‘Community Consumption Grand Rewards’ campaign for so many editions, while its results have been fairly positive, there will inevitably be some substitution effects,” local businessman and ACM president Frederico Ma said.

He added that the association is now studying the possibility of rolling out a next-phase initiative targeting high-spending visitors, such as leveraging a “ticket stub economy” to channel concertgoers and event attendees – who travel to Macau specifically for performances or special occasions – into local neighborhoods and community businesses.

The 10-week campaign, which operated on a “weekend draw, weekday redemption” basis across more than 20,000 outlets from April 10 to June 18, held its closing ceremony with organizers –the Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT) and the Macao Chamber of Commerce – reporting that the scheme had issued MOP345 million in electronic vouchers, spurring over MOP1.33 billion in citywide spending.

The parallel card-based instant rebate initiative for the elderly and people with disabilities saw MOP60 million in subsidies redeemed, driving an additional MOP120 million in consumption.

In his speech, Ma said the campaign had delivered “fairly good results,” with a voucher redemption rate of about 92% by value – a record high for the initiative – while earning broad acclaim from residents and businesses and helping shore up small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) confidence.

Yet he conceded in media remarks that substitution effects were an objective reality of the programme.

He emphasized that government subsidies are not a sustainable solution, and that SMEs must ultimately wean themselves off dependency and accelerate their own transformation and innovation if they are to achieve long-term viability.

Notably, the campaign drew participation from over 20,000 brick-and-mortar merchants across the city, spanning the food and beverage, retail, and lifestyle services sectors. This edition saw further optimization in industry distribution, with retail accounting for approximately 60% of vouchers redeemed, the food and beverage sector taking up about 30%, and services and other industries comprising the remaining 10%.