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Comment: Ireland Needs to Wake Up to the Internet, AND Quickly!
In the midst of a technological revolution and during an economic climate that demands innovation, a survey by the Irish International Business Network (IIBN) discovered that only one in six businesses in Ireland views e-commerce as vital to their growth.
My initial reaction upon reading this was one of disbelief. How could so many Irish businesses be so out of touch with reality?
- According to the survey, the average Irish adult now spends €1,392 per year online. It’s important to note that the majority of this spend is leaving Ireland with NO benefit to the Irish exchequer.
- Our own Ahain Group report described how e-commerce in Ireland and Internationally continues to grow massively, year on year.
- We’re all familiar with how industries like travel, hospitality and music have moved online but did you know that 74% of UK consumers now also use the Internet for their grocery shopping.
Let’s not confuse opportunity with choice
There are massive opportunities online. However, we need to be careful not to confuse opportunity with choice.
- Companies like HMV are a harsh lesson in what happens if you choose to ignore the internet, your customers and their changing shopping habits.
- The internet has become the significant influence in many of our purchasing decisions and will shortly become the major influence in virtually all of our purchasing decisions.
- Those five of out six Irish businesses that don’t appreciate this need to come to terms with it very quickly.
Real leadership please!
We desperately need real political and business leadership around the internet. Rather than people pretending to know what they’re talking about, we need people who actually know what they’re talking about.
And if the survey by the IIBN is anything to go by, we need it now. What do you think?
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Niall Devitt
Niall Devitt is a doer, not a talker when it comes to social media. Niall advises organisations how to plan, design and implement social media strategies that generate real business returns. Niall is Chief Digital Strategist & Founder at the Ahain Group, an independent, ideas-led social business consultancy with experience of working with all types of clients and sectors– from large blue-chip multinationals to the 1 person SME. Download our industry specific and researched social business reports. In 2009, Niall co-founded TweakYourBiz.com (formally Bloggertone.com) an international, business community and online publication.
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