The new Bonus Consum vouchers are intended as a boost for the city’s local commerce, promoting purchases in local shops and business in Barcelona’s streets and neighbourhoods.

This week sees the period open for establishments to sign up if they wish to take part, and as from 13 October members of the public can start registering to use Bonus Consum vouchers in local city shops.

Impact of nearly 12 million euros

This new edition of the Bonus Consum initiative starts with an initial stage and will be followed by a second stage when the Christmas campaign and the sales return, at the start of 2027. The idea is to achieve the widest possible take-up around the city’s nearly 3,000 local everyday shops and businesses. Estimates put the overall impact of the two stages at some 12 million euros for the commercial sector.

The City Council is investing four million euros in the new vouchers, in two stages which will mean 92% of direct funding for subsidies for shops and businesses, and the rest in administration costs for the initiative.

Estimates put the return for the commercial sector at nearly 12 million euros, given that the vouchers can be purchased for 10 euros but used in local purchase from shops for amounts equal to or above 30 euros.

Which shops can take part?

The Bonus Consum initiative is mainly aimed at everyday shops and businesses selling food, non-foodstuffs and everyday services. They must be based in Barcelona and have an annual turnover below 50 million euros, a floor space below 800 square metres and a maximum of 250 workers. This represents more than 30,000 establishments located all over the city.

This edition also includes the city’s 40 plus municipal markets, located all over the city and rooted in everyday commercial networks.

All participating establishments must be self-employed or legally constituted companies that meet the requisites of the activity and the technical conditions to be able to use the operational application of the Bonus Consum programme.

The campaign does not include eateries and some other activities such as party venues, show venues, gambling businesses, costs relating to any product that may create addictions or harm people’s health such as tobacco and alcohol, fast-food chains, 24-hour shops and services, unstaffed self-service outlets, vehicle hire, grow shops, vape shops, franchises and the purchase of gift cards with vouchers etc.

This edition also sees the Bonus Consum vouchers limited so that people can exchange a maximum of 1,000 vouchers per business, meaning that the most anyone can spend with a company is €30,000. This way the impact of the measure is spread as widely as possible around the commercial sector and not just concentrated in a few establishments.

Members of the public can take part as from 13 October

Members of the public who take part must be Barcelona residents of legal age.

There will also be a system for participation in stages so that a single individual cannot reserve a high number of vouchers, rewarding and limiting participation in time and the number of vouchers with the prevision that the initiative can reach over 60,000 people, with a maximum of up to three vouchers per person in the first stage.

When the Bonus Consum campaign begins, everyone who signs up can get a first voucher, valid for a month from when it is downloaded. If it is used within the first 15 days, then they can use a second voucher, to be used between the first month and the second month from the start of the programme so that the consumption of vouchers is spaced out. If it is not used in this time frame, the third cannot be used. In contrast, if somebody has used the first two vouchers in time in an establishment in their local neighbourhood, a third voucher may be used as an incentive for purchasing locally.

When the second stage starts, in 2027, the same procedure is repeated. As a result, ultimately end each person taking part will have been able to use a maximum of six vouchers.

The aim is for the initiative to be spread as widely as possible, at the same time rewarding those who use the vouchers in their own neighbourhoods.