By Kristy Dorsey
The founders of a new luxury lifestyle website based in Scotland are targeting the corporate membership market as employers are increasingly looking for ways to attract and retain skilled staff.
Launched in June, the Mor Card is a members-only platform offering discounts, exclusives and limited-edition products and experiences from more than 100 premier brands, about one-third of which are in Scotland. With thousands of individual members, and on course to reach 100,000 by the end of this year, founders Urchana Moudgil and Craig Unsworth are launching a drive into the employee rewards market.
“We know that people don’t only leave companies to make more money,” Ms Moudgil said. “They want to feel valued.
“Craig and I have worked for other companies in the past, and we know what we enjoyed and appreciated as employees. That is what we are trying to bring to the Mor Card.”
READ MORE: Staff and materials shortages impede recovery
With staff increasingly focused on work-life balance, offers on the platform are weighted towards “experiences” to help people relax and enjoy themselves. These cover a range of areas such as fitness, beauty treatments, dining, baking courses, outdoor adventures and sporting events.
Among the brands featured are names such as Digme Fitness, Sans Matin, Cefinn, Koble and Saint Fragrance. Eden Mill, Jedburgh micro-bakery Naked Sourdough and Glasgow-based rum distillery Old Mother Hunt rank among its independent Scottish brands.
“We are focused on premium, and we are not ashamed about being obsessed with quality,” Ms Moudgil said.
“We work with the brands as well, and we try to keep the website fresh, so you won’t see the same things on there for months and months on end. We want our members to know that whenever they log on, they will find something new and fresh.”
READ MORE: More visas needed to quell labour market's 'perfect storm'
An annual individual membership priced at £79 per person is required to access Mor Card offers. Corporate organisations will be able to purchase them on behalf of staff or customers as a “thank you” for their loyalty.
Originally from Edinburgh, Ms Moudgil and Mr Unsworth first met in 2013 when they worked together for a couple of years in conjunction with an equity-backed business based in London. She is a chartered accountant, while Mr Unsworth’s background is in marketing and technology.
“Craig and I have always shared a love of marketplaces and the lifestyle sector, and we were constantly talking about different ideas that we had,” she said. “When we come together, we share the same vision.”
Now employing 14 people, Mor Card is described as “the first venture from Loytech – specialists in loyalty and technology”. The venture has been backed by private investment from Lord David Brownlow and Ben Rawson of Havisham Group, the investment portfolio and trading firm founded in 2013 by Lord Brownlow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here