A new €2 million online retail scheme, which was recently announced as part of a €1 billion Covid-19 support package for businesses, has opened for applications.
The scheme, which is administered by Enterprise Ireland, is intended to help indigenous retailers who already have a website be able to sell goods online.
Successful applicants for the new online retail scheme can receive financial support of up to 80 per cent of projects costs, with funding ranging from €10,000 to €40,000.
The grant can be used to fund fees for service providers, and to develop and implement a digital strategy to enable Irish retailers to be able to sell more and compete with online retailers such as Amazon. It is not available to purchase hardware or software and can also not be used for online advertising campaigns.
Irish businesses have been slow to develop their own websites, with many of those that do unable to sell goods online.
According to figures from IE Domain Registry (IEDR), less than a third of Irish SMEs with a website can take sales orders or process transactions through it.
The result is that Irish companies are losing out on substantial revenues despite an appetite from consumers to shop online. A study from PayPal published last year revealed Irish people are the biggest international online shoppers in the world with 84 per cent buying from overseas sites.
A recent forecast from IBISWorld suggested that Irish ecommerce sales will reach €3.8 billion in 2024, up from €2.2 billion in 2019.
"Online trading will stand to your company for years to come. It will boost your revenue and make your business more resilient, and I would strongly encourage all retailers not already trading online to get online," said Minister for Business Heather Humphreys.
Further information on the online retail scheme can be found at enterprise-ireland.com/retail.
