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EVERY MONTH, TheJournal.ie takes a close look at a certain sector or aspect of life for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Making up about 99% of all Irish businesses and employing nearly 70% of private-sector workers, SMEs are vital to jobs and economic growth in the country.
For November, our focus shifted to the business of retail – from traditional bricks-and-mortar stores, to the e-commerce trade and customer trends in the industry.
#Business Chart of the Month came courtesy of two sources – Google’s Consumer Barometer and a CBRE Ireland consumer survey from this year – both of which came to the same conclusion: most Irish shoppers still prefer traditional retailers, but there’s a lot of product research happening online
#What I Learned featured home-grown online success story, MicksGarage, and its founding brothers Ciaran and Michael “Mick” Crean. The pair launched their car-parts website from a bedroom and now ship to over 70 countries around the globe
#How to Guide had a look inside Rock Frocks, a fashion retailer in Athy, Co Kildare. We learned how the store’s success in carving out a niche was attracting shoppers from all over the country after its owners piggy-backed their bricks-and-mortar business on a successful website
#Business Poll this month posed question to shoppers – what is the most-important factor in deciding where you spend your money? And according to the results, the pricetag is easily the number-one factor for most consumers:
#SME Book Club was all about Amazon, via Bloomberg journalist Brad Stone’s award-winning The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. In his book, Stone tells the story of how ruthlessly determined company founder Jeff Bezos started Amazon in his Seattle garage and went on to rule the e-commerce world
#The Big Idea dipped into how one app and website, recently launched in Ireland, could save shoppers time and money. Comparison site PriceSpy Ireland has been here since June and its app has already been downloaded over 42,000 times
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I feel asleep after the article title.
Sorry Peter very boring article for Sunday morning.
Mind you I wouldn’t even get it on a Tuesday morning!!!
Your conclusion that shoppers choose to buy from a retail shop is not accurate. What happens is that people first go to a shop to test the product and then go online and buy it. The first graph is not about “where people buy”, but where people search. As people in majority are looking for the best price, a retail shop will never win with online.
This is termed “showrooming”.
However, as you point out, the MAJORITY of people are looking for the best price, not ALL.
Even those who give a single-choice answer to a poll are taking multiple factors in to consideration.
There to say that online will ALWAYS win is not quite accurate.
Disagree with you. Online has definite advantages, but for some items like electrical or pc’s, laptops etc, I would research online but buy local – aftercare service still counts for a lot. And sometimes it’s just nice to talk to someone!
Disagree,I prefer to shop online however most people I know still would prefer to buy in a shop…I’m 27. Many of the older generation are still skeptical about online shopping. With that said most people do all there research online, I for one can’t remember the last time I bought something in a shop
without first searching for it online.
Had another look at this graph and it actually is about where people buy. Still, it would make more sense to see more specific statistics. I’d say most people don’t buy milk online. On the other hand plane tickets are sold almost entirely over the internet. The graph that combines all products don’t really say anything.
have your say