For a second consecutive year, Irish e-commerce sites have seen a 45% growth in revenue.
While Ireland’s GDP grew by 5% last year, the Irish online economy is charging ahead nine times faster than the wider Irish economy, according to a report by Wolfgang Digital.
“As the €153 billion UK market e-commerce market becomes less accessible to Irish e-commerce websites, the €500 billion European market has to become a priority.”
Retail is growing
Retailers saw a very healthy 24% growth while revenues for travel sites surged an incredible 79%. Overall traffic to Irish e-commerce sites was up 17% in 2016.
Revenues decline due to weak Sterling
The share of retail revenue coming from shoppers outside of Ireland fell sharply, however, from 36% in 2015 to 19% in 2016.
Most ‘international’ customers to Irish online stores come from the UK, so the swing from a strong pound to euro in 2015, to a weak pound to euro in 2016 played a major part in this decline.
“Our competitors in the UK, arguably the world’s most advanced digital media market, are now floating further and further away from the valuable European market.”
Brexit means retailers need to focus on the EU market
‘There are some early indicators as to how a post-Brexit Irish online economy might look if online retailers switch their focus to the lucrative European market,” says Alan Coleman, CEO of Wolfgang Digital (pictured above).
“As the €153 billion UK market e-commerce market becomes less accessible to Irish e-commerce websites, the €500 billion European market has to become a priority.”
“Smartphones have taken over as the device of choice when accessing the web, with 45% of website traffic on smart phones, versus 42% on desktop and 13% on tablet.”
The Digital Single Market brings massive opportunities
Two things make the European market increasingly attractive to Irish business. One is the EU’s drive to enhance
