Do you do business online? If you don’t, or you think you could do it better, you might be able to qualify for a €2,500 Online Trading Voucher from the government. It is part of the National Digital Strategy. In a pilot for the scheme, 70 percent of businesses involved saw an increase in customer enquiries.
When you look at the figures for ecommerce in Ireland the figures are startling. The government estimates that only 23 percent of Irish businesses have a significant ecommerce strategy, and that businesses are not serving the needs of online consumers. In fact 70 percent of online purchases made by Irish consumers are done on websites based overseas.
This shows that trading online can get you more business, but what is the best way to spend the voucher?
The answer to that will depend on your business. For example, do you sell to other businesses or to consumers? Could your customers purchase products directly online, or is lead acquisition a better digital strategy? Do you already have an online shop but would like to get more traffic? Or do you have other objectives online?
Going Beyond The Brochure Website
Whatever your objectives they should go beyond having a basic brochure website with product information and contact details. That is a form of online marketing and it has its place, but it is not doing business online. The Online Trading Voucher is all about developing and expanding an ecommerce strategy in your business.
The Local Enterprise Office in Sligo has published the sorts of things that you can spend the voucher on:
- IT consultation
- Development or upgrade of an e-commerce website
- Implementation of online payments or booking systems
- Purchase of internet-related software
- Purchase of online advertising ( this purchase cannot make up more than 30% of approved Voucher costs & can only be drawn down in one payment phase )
- Developing an app or multi-platform webpages
- Implementing a digital marketing strategy, i.e., Social Media Marketing
- Consultation with ICT experts for early stage adopters of online strategy
- Training/skills development specifically to establish and manage an online trading activity
How To Spend Your Online Trading Voucher
This list of areas that the voucher can be spent on fall into three broad categories:
- New technology
- Online marketing
- Training
In terms of new technology you might decide to build a shop to sell products directly from your website. If you already have a shop you could upgrade or you could development a solution that is specifically aimed at mobile users. This could involve making your online shop mobile friendly, or it could involve developing a standalone mobile app.
The online marketing element of the strategy should be part of your plans whether you use the Online Trading Voucher to fund it or not. You don’t want to spend time and effort creating an ecommerce solution that nobody knows about or can find. You therefore need to put in place effective online marketing strategies.
Finally you have to consider the training and skills of your staff. This is increasingly multi-faceted. For example, if you use the Online Trading Voucher to build an online shop your team will need to know how to use it and how to promote it, but they will also probably need to know how to integrate this with your eBay shop or Amazon shop.
This brings us to a final point to consider when developing an ecommerce strategy – multi-platform selling. The first step on your ecommerce journey is usually the hardest, but once you get going it is possible to expand onto other platforms in addition to your website. This could be an app, email marketing, a Facebook shop, an Amazon store, or on eBay. Your customers are there, and you should be there too.
To find out more about the eligibility criteria of Online Trading Vouchers, and how to apply, visit the Sligo Local Enterprise Office.
