Most Irish SMEs can’t process online sales

More than 90% of SMEs cannot process online sales while six in every 10 cannot take orders online either.

The research carried out by Iedr — which manages Ireland’s .ie domain registry — found that the majority of businesses are not equipped to take and process consumer sales online.

Companies are putting themselves at a huge disadvantage in not tapping into the massive online marketplace, according to Iedr chief executive David Curtin.

“What stands out most is the mismatch between business owners’ acknowledgement of what’s important and their actions. Business owners know it’s important, but they haven’t yet acted to sell online, with 73% saying their website is “important/very important” as a driver of generating sales, yet 62% cannot take sales orders via that website,” Mr Curtin said.

“In an ever-more global economy, the absence of an online sales presence puts Irish businesses at a huge disadvantage to competitors. It acts as a major disincentive to attracting customers, for whom buying online is now the norm,” he said.

The report also finds that half of companies lack the capacity to interact directly with customers through social media or web chat; 54% don’t have responsive website designs for tablet or smartphone; and two-thirds don’t host any video content online.

Furthermore, just 4% of those surveyed have the capacity to run analytics on their website’s performance, meaning the vast majority are foregoing huge amounts of valuable information into the effectiveness of their online presence and behaviour of their customers.

501 Irish SMEs — across all domain names, not just those on the .ie registry — were surveyed to examine their online presence, including their e-commerce capabilities.

Mr Curtin was speaking as Iedr launched its €150,000 Optimise Fund 2015 aimed at supporting SMEs and micro-enterprises in enhancing their online presence.

The fund is designed to help drive businesses’ sales offering online. Since its inception in 2011, the optimise Fund has provided funding to 60 SMEs and micro enterprises to improve web and online sales capabilities.

Francis Brennan, owner of The Park Hotel, Kenmare and Ambassador for the Optimise Fund 2015, said “online sales are critical to our hotel business. They are now a significant and growing part of most successful Irish businesses’ sales strategy.

“While having a website is an important shop window for every business, it’s not enough if your customers can’t use it to buy your goods and services online.”