When you see headlines like “Fashion retailer ASOS quadruples full-year profit to £142m” in the midst of the Coronavirus Crisis & Brexit it’s clear that businesses who are adaptive & prioritising digital are successful. This is a story that’s been playing out even before Covid times. A year ago we were writing about ASOS and how they contrasted with their high-street competitor Arcadia Group, struggling with high rents. They own Topshop, Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge. “Business costs such as high rents are a factor but the key issue is how businesses have tackled online sales. The winners have invested in IT and logistics. Let’s compare Topshop (spend €50 per order for free delivery and returns) to Boohoo (pay €11.99 and get unlimited delivery and returns for a year). Boohoo’s sales soared 27% this year while Arcadia is clutching at straws to make agreements with landlords and save the business.”

So what does all this mean for an Irish retail SME with so many competing priorities & struggling to survive? We can take some inspiration from Blanaid Hennessy, owner of the fashion and homeware store Folkster who had to make hard decisions swiftly in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Folkster closed down their Temple Bar shop, decimated by the lack of tourist footfall. Instead they are concentrating on a Christmas pop-up shop in Dundrum Town Centre that will have great footfall, build brand awareness, drive traffic to their eCommerce site (with cheap delivery) after the end of the pop-up shop & encourage fans in destination shopping to their Kilkenny outlet.

Wherever your business is at there are options out there to implement change:

1. Trading Online Voucher Scheme

You can get €2500 towards web design, building your online presence etc. for free if you have a business that’s been open at least 6 months. On top of this your Local Enterprise Office and give you lots of training and support around building an online presence.

2. Pointy

This is a great way to get more people in to your store. You plug a pointy device in between your point of sale & barcode scanner, carry on business as usual. Over time your scanned products will appear on your Pointy web page and your products start appearing in Google search results. You also get found on Google Maps by people doing searches for your products in your location.

3. Popertee

If you need a pop-up shop you can find a lot of options on this site. However, landlords can be approached directly and propositioned for short-term arrangements. There is plenty availability and they’re motivated right now.

4. Need a bigger digital transformation? Ask us about finance.

It’s not cheap to have a slick online sales presence and once you have done your homework on what it will cost for your business ask us how to find finance to make it happen or check out available supports in our list.

A few quick alternative business finance suggestions include:

• Unsecured loans - If you have 2 years accounts in profit simple unsecured loan quotes are possible.

• Merchant Cash Advance - If you use a card machine, Stripe or PayPal and have monthly sales from €4000 upwards you could get a simple loan to help with working capital, stock & even digital advertising.

• Asset Finance - If you want a better point of sale system, computer equipment or many things that go in to a fit-out we can organise asset finance quotes.

Ask us about your finance quote now. We’re generally available 7 days from early morning to late at night. Call 01 55 636 55