The Castlebar founder of an online retail website has called on Mayo people to try to support Irish businesses and jobs this Christmas when they shop on the internet.
Sophia McHugh, co-founder of Trafficattic.com, which offers Irish businesses an inexpensive and convenient method of selling their wares online, made the call as the company launched its Christmas campaign on Monday.
The launch coincided with Cyber Monday, the busiest internet shopping day of the year, which saw Irish consumers spend an estimated €22 million online in a single 24-hour period. Trafficattic.com launched last April and looks to be on course to grow into a major e-commerce success story.
The site already features more than 10,000 products from more than 115 businesses across Ireland.
“It offers all the benefits of online shopping such as convenience, selection, and competitive prices while also promoting Irish businesses and supporting Irish jobs,” said Ms McHugh.
Irish consumers are becoming ever more avid internet shoppers. It is estimated we will spend a total of €6 billion online in 2014.
However, a worrying 75 per cent of the revenue from Ireland’s online purchases goes to companies outside the country, according to Colm Griffin, of eCommerce Ireland.
“It would be great if Irish consumers were a bit more aware of the figures and realised that buying from an Irish based online store is going a small way to helping to boost the local economy,” he said.
President of Castlebar Chamber of Commerce, Sylvester Jennings, echoed these sentiments.
“I would encourage people to shop locally this Christmas in order to help sustain local jobs,” he said. “TrafficAttic.com is a great way to do this for those people who prefer the convenience of online shopping.”
Speaking on Cyber Monday, Minister for Business and Employment Ged Nash also called on shoppers to support Ireland’s many “fantastic online retailers” which are helping to keep money and jobs in the economy.
