merrion street

THURSDAY 5 SEPTEMBER, DUBLIN - Tomorrow, Friday 6 September, the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny T.D., will host a discussion with Irish businesses to explore the growth, challenges and potential jobs opportunities arising from trading online. This is the first time such a meeting will be webcast live via MerrionStreet.ie so that this discussion can be shared with others interested in the conversation, from across the country.

The Taoiseach has invited ten businesses from across Ireland to hear their experiences of the challenges and opportunities associated with selling online. These companies have a variety of online trading experience, from those who have no retail component to their online presence to those that have fully-functioning online stores trading internationally. Some of the companies invited have undertaken training courses for getting online including Activating Dublin, and Clicktailing.

Topics for discussion are expected to include the potential which online trade offers, barriers to firms becoming active online, and the relevant State supports. It is hoped that the meeting will inform current initiatives underway as part of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs 2013 and the National Digital Strategy as well as the preparation of next year’s planning.

Speaking in advance of the event, the Taoiseach said, “Last year we spent €3.7 billion online but 70% of this went to retailers abroad. An Irish person typically spends €116 per month online and this figure is only set to grow further.

“Trading online offers a real and growing opportunity for Irish retailers to market their goods and services more broadly, make more sales both here and abroad, and retain or grow staff numbers. We are taking steps, such as the new Trading Online Voucher Scheme to encourage more retailers to get selling online and we need to see what more needs to be done.

“I want to hear directly from retailers their experiences and needs, which is such a valuable part of getting our supports right. In broadcasting online, I want to start as broad a conversation as possible about the progress we can make in this area and help create more jobs in this country.”

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS

For more information, setting up interviews or getting photos, please contact:

Government Press Office press.office@taoiseach.gov.ie +353 1 619 4033 @merrionstreet

The live webcast can be viewed at www.merrionstreet.ie from 12 noon on Friday 6 September 2013.

To follow the conversation on Twitter, please use #retailroundtable

If you are interested in interviewing any of these companies, please do contact us and we will try to facilitate this where possible.

Mick’s Garage (www.micksgarage.com)

Attending meeting: Michael Crean, Owner

Mick’s Garage was founded in 2004 and provides online sales of auto parts and accessories, targeting the motoring public and non-franchised dealers. The company describes itself as ‘the car part expert’ and has developed a strong eCommerce solution to serve its customers.

Wine Online (www.wineonline.ie)

Attending meeting: Will Mullin, Business Development Manager

Wine Online is an Irish Company set up in 1999 based in Santry. It is a family run business specialising in delivering wine to its customers throughout Ireland using an express delivery service. It operates exclusively online.

The Whyte House (www.thewhytehouse.ie)

Attending meeting: Karen Whyte, Owner

The Whyte House was founded in 2000 in Westport. The company sells contemporary ladies fashion, specialising in occasion wear and quality day wear for over 35's. The company has recently opened an online shop.

Vibes & Scribes (www.vibesandscribes.ie)

Attending meeting: Joan Lucey, Owner

Vibes and Scribes opened in Macroom, County Cork in November 1991. The company quickly expanded and now has three premises in Cork City centre. The company sells good quality bargain and second hand books as well as a range of new books specialising in arts and crafts; mind, body and spirit and cookery. The company also sells a large range of fabric, wool, yarn, haberdashery and upholstery supplies as well as arts and crafts supplies. Vibes and Scribes are just about to launch their online store catering for fabric, wool, haberdashery, arts and crafts.

Doyle’s The Butchers (www.thebutchers.ie)

Attending meeting: David Doyle, Owner

Doyle’s The Butchers was established in 2009 and has five retail outlets in Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare. The company is opening a new food store in October (Doyle's the Food Store) in Dundrum which will include a full delicatessen, fruit & veg, dairy & fish department. The company has operated a full e-commerce website since it opened, however they are currently in the process of upgrading their online presence and it is expected that the site will go live shortly.

The Happy Pear (www.thehappypear.ie)

Attending meeting: David Flynn, Owner

The Happy Pear is based in Greystones and has been in business for 9 years. It employs about 50 people. It originally opened as a fruit and veg shop but quickly expanded into a wholefood café/restaurant, a superfood farm, a distribution business and more recently into fruit farming (cherries & plums). In 2011, they started trading online with an online shop (www.thehappypear.ie) and also with their 'Happy Heart Course' -an online info product based on their very successful class room course. The Happy Heart Course shows people how to gain health, lower their cholesterol & reverse heart disease by changing their lifestyle.(www.happyheartcourse.com)

Life Style Sports (www.lifestylesports.com)

Attending meeting: Gordon Newman, Head of eCommerce

Lifestyle Sports is an Irish Company selling performance sports gear which has been in operation since 1979. The Company has 66 sports outlets in the Republic and Northern Ireland. Lifestyle Sports opened their online store in October 2012.

Gutterman.ie (www.gutterman.ie)

Attending meeting: Bernard Hill, Owner

Gutterman is a family business based in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin. They supply and fit gutters soffit fascia rainwater systems to new build and existing buildings in the greater Dublin area. They have an existing website which is used to promote the business and to engage with customers.

Adverts.ie (www.adverts.ie)

Attending meeting: Gordon Stewart, Group Finance & Operations Director

Adverts.ie is a community based marketplace where individuals can buy or sell items online. Launched in 2006 by Boards.ie, Ireland's largest community website, Adverts.ie has facilitated the sale or purchase of thousands of items across every type of category imaginable. Adverts.ie has over 450,000 members across Ireland. Two years ago “Adverts Shops” was launched with the aim of providing both offline and online merchants a brand new trading platform, and a potential new online market. Today the company has 1,300 Irish businesses registered to sell through Adverts.ie. Combined they have almost 35,000 products that can be purchased online using the “buy now” feature.

Freshthinking (www.freshthinking.ie)

Attending meeting: Jackie Rynn, Business Development Manager

Based in County Kildare, Fresh Thinking was founded in 2010 to provide training and executive coaching services to the Irish and UK market in the areas of management, leadership, business, stress management, mindfulness, communications, personal development and ICT including social media.

The Action Plan for Jobsis the Government’s multi-annual strategy to create the environment where an extra 100,000 jobs can be created by 2016.

• Implementation of the strategy has been highly focused, with 92% of the 270 measures set for 2012 successfully delivered.
• Action Plan for Jobs 2013, which contains over 300 actions to be implemented in 2013 by 16 Government Departments and 46 agencies, will build on the progress made in 2012
• One of the seven key actions in the Action Plan for Jobs 2013 is to get 2,000 small businesses trading online by the end of December 2013. This is expected to deliver 3,200 net new jobs.
• A key element of this reform is the Trading Online Voucher Scheme, announced last July, which will put up to €2,500 directly into the hands of 2,000 small firms across the country to help them get trading online.
• This voucher can be used to access the technical or training supports needed to begin selling over the internet.
• The Action Plan for Jobs complements the National Digital Strategy as part of the Government’s commitment to realise the huge opportunity to create jobs and improve productivity, service delivery and quality of life, offered by a more digitally empowered society.

• 80% of Irish adults use the internet to shop or to inform their purchases (Indecon The Indecon Consultants report Macro-Economic Impact of Internet/Digital on the Irish Economy (February 2013) was commissioned as part of the National Digital Strategy).
• ‘Digital’ was worth €7.1 billion to Ireland’s GDP last year accounting for 4.4% of GDP last year (Indecon).
• ‘Digital’ supported approximately 95,000 jobs in 2012, 49,000 directly and a further 46,000 indirectly (Indecon).
• Current trends indicate that the Digital part of Ireland’s economy is growing at 16% per year; that is around 10 times the rate of growth of the rest of the economy (Indecon).
• The average Irish adult spends €116 per month online (UPC study) and circa 61% of Irish adults expect to increase their online spend in the future (Indecon).
• Approximately 70% of online spending by Irish consumers is going out of Ireland (National Digital Strategy, 2013).
• Only 1 in 4 (22%) small companies are trading online (CSO Information Society Statistics, 2012).
• In Ireland 23% of businesses surveyed felt they could achieve an extra 5% growth on top of their current prospects with the right online strategy. A further 18% felt it would be as much as an extra 15% (National Digital Strategy, 2013).
• In the USA it is estimated that each internet job supports approximately 1.54 additional jobs elsewhere in the economy (Quantifying the Economic Impact of the Internet - Harvard Business School study commission by the Interactive Advertising Bureau).

A key strand of the National Digital Strategy aims to get 10,000 Irish businesses online for the first time. For more information on the National Digital Strategy www.dcenr.gov.ie/Communications/NDS/NDSHome