What is the digital health of your business?

An online presence is considered mandatory for anyone running a business in 2017. Your existing and potential customers use the internet to get facts and information regarding your products and services even before they enter your store! Many customers actively resist entering a store in the first place: increasing numbers opt to buy online and get their purchases sent directly to them.

According to a survey carried out in Ireland by the IEDR in April 2016, 17% of Irish SMEs have no online presence at all. No website. No Facebook page.

Nothing.

They added that only 59% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland have a website and a mere 33% actually advertise their business online. While many SMEs have websites, many of these may not be doing the job that was originally intended.

A shocking 74% of SMEs say their revenue is generated 100% offline.

Ireland is slowly catching up to European and world norms year-on-year, but we certainly are behind when it comes to online activity – especially when compared to British or U.S. statistics. It is clear that there is a significant gap, and for a country that houses so many technological corporations it is worrying why our smaller sector businesses have not

caught on to the trend as quickly as their peers in other parts of the world.

Given that over 90% of people now check a website or search the internet when they wish to find something about a business or product, it should be considered vital in this day and age to have an online shop window for any business.

 

Online Sales

Yet only 29% of Irish businesses are capable of processing sales online.

Remember that potential customers drastically tightened their purse strings in the last decade. Many believe they can no longer afford premium retail prices. This shift in mindset has caused a sizeable move from offline (physical retail) to online shopping.

Almost €18m is spent online daily in Ireland. That is a whopping €6.5 billion per year! According to EuroStat figures, 75% of that is spent outside Ireland, not in our online stores, and not in our retail outlets. With less than a third of businesses able to take sales orders online, there are obviously huge opportunities for Irish business owners to generate significant revenue streams from adopting an active, focused online strategy.

In its research, VISA discovered that Ireland’s Digital Economy is growing 25 times faster than the general economy and reported that online spending increased by 30% between 2014 and 2015 alone.

Given that online marketing is still in its infancy in Ireland – and the majority of small business owners are still unaware (or unable) to deal with the complexities involved with the creation and maintenance of a strong online presence, the time for Irish businesses to take advantage of this market is now.

iBrutes Media specialises in providing online presence support and management to small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the country. For more details on our services, visit our website.