40% of local shoppers to splash the cash on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

More than 40% of shoppers in Kilkenny and Leinster intend splashing the cash on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But just 12% of local businesses have deals to attract them, a new report from IE Domain Registry has found.

And 53% of consumers nationwide also want main street shops in their towns to offer online shopping including direct-to-door delivery, according to the SME Digital Health Index 2019.

The survey found that 69% of  SMEs in Kilkenny and Leinster have a website. Almost two-thirds (73%) of these website owners say that theirs contributes to their offline-face-to-face sales.

SMEs in Leinster graded ‘C’ for communication, ‘D’ for their transaction skills, and ‘E’ for their software skills.

However, according to the SMEs themselves, a big part of the problem lies with internet connectivity and 62% of them do not think that the National Broadband Plan, as it stands, can be delivered by the Government.

Other findings from the report, which explores SMEs and consumers’ attitudes in this country to the digital economy, include:

• 59% Irish consumers say making online shopping is ‘important’
• Only 32% of SMEs in the country can take sales orders or process transactions via their website
• 53% of consumers believe that online shopping will overtake traditional shopping.
• 48% only visit bricks-and-mortar shops for necessities such as groceries and toiletries, and buy other items exclusively online
• 63% believe a business is ‘outdated’ if it doesn’t have a website
• 31% of don’t have a website
• 60% of all SMEs do not promote themselves online in any way
• 87% of SMEs have at least one digital asset (website, a Facebook page) etc
• 76% of SMEs with a website have a mobile-optimised website, up from just 27% in 2014
• 63% of Munster SMEs have a website, 6% below the national average and the lowest amongst all the provinces
• 72% of SMEs say that being online has helped increase awareness of their business
• 53% say that their website generates 10% of their monthly revenue