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By Alan Coleman on 3 Feb 2014

You may have seen my face in the Sunday Business Post a few weeks ago. The Sunday Business Post reported on an interesting piece of research we conducted among retail businesses in Ireland. I'd like to take this opportunity to divulge some of the more in-depth findings from the study. Irish ecommerce stats

Methodology:

We analysed online revenue figures from 20 Irish websites with E-Commerce functionality over a 2 year period 2012-2013. The industries represented were retail, travel  & charity. The websites generated over €70 million in revenue in 2013; this represents a 1.8% sample of the estimated €4 billion e-commerce market in Ireland. The profile of the websites revenue:        No. of websites:      % of websites
Under .5 million

11

55%
0.5-2 million

5

25%
over 2 million

4

20%
Irish eComm StatsContributors included: The Kilkenny Shop Littlewoods VOYA Sun Search Holidays Surf Holidays We averaged growth/decline across the websites rather than aggregate turnover. This means the websites with larger revenue don’t skew the stats.

Key Findings:

Overall: YOY average Revenue grew by 17% in 2013 compared to 2012   Retail: YOY Average Retail revenue grew by 25% Q4’13 v Q4’12 revenue grew by 42%   Compared to general economy: ESRI expect 2% growth for the Irish Economy The Dept of Finance 1% growth for Irish Economy If you take the midpoint of 1.5%, the online economy in Ireland is growing 11 times faster than the general Irish economy   Compared to general retail market: Retail Excellence Ireland claim Christmas spend down 1.56% on 2012. Deloitte claim Christmas retail spend in Ireland was down 1.7%. Retail e-commerce is growing by a mosterous 42% in a declining market  

My opinion:

Pent-up demand from Irish consumers eager to buy from the Irish brands they have grown up with is a key contributor to the aggressive 42% growth in Q4 YOY retail revenue. Prior to 2013 there was very little if anything that could be bought online from iconic Irish retail brands such as Brown Thomas, Easons and Dunnes Stores. Irish retailers are now investing in meeting the growing online demand for their products.  

A few quotes from people in the know:

“Online has become increasingly important for The Kilkenny Group, we will continue to invest in growing our online presence in the Irish market.  However, we do see online as complimentary to our 13 stores nationwide and not as a replacement” Greg O’Gorman, Marketing Manager, The Kilkenny Group   "The Christmas trading period exceeded our expectations with sales up 29.5% year on year. Much of this growth was driven by key USP's such as the introduction of free shipping, a revised, more competitive pricing strategy and flexible payment options. These USP's were promoted by a comprehensive marketing plan which included a very strong digital element.” Rossa Butler, Digital Marketing Manager, Littlewoods Ireland
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