Irish shoppers expected to spend a total of €4million per hour this Friday

Irish shoppers are expected to spend €100 million (or €4 million an hour) on Black Friday, but only 35% of Irish SMEs with a website can process payments online and only 42% can take sales orders online, according to new research undertaken by the IE Domain Registry (IEDR).

Just 14% of Irish SMEs plan to conduct any online initiatives, like special offers and promotions, for Black Friday and the festive season. In addition to Black Friday, recent research indicates that 1 in 3 Irish consumers intend to buy online on Cyber Monday[2].

IEDR's “IE Digital Health Index”, compiled in three waves of research in May 2014, December 2014 and September 2015, measures the health of Irish SMEs’ digital presence by analysing the number of digital assets (like websites, apps and social media accounts) owned by them, and their perceived quality. Its findings highlight an alarming number of SMEs lagging behind in the digital space.

Shockingly, as many as one in four Irish SMEs still do not have a website, or any online presence whatsoever, to list products or conduct e-commerce transactions with their customers.

Surprisingly, three in four of these respondents said they did not intend to build a website, with a majority saying that there is “no need” within their industry.

Almost half of SMEs surveyed (46%) don't advertise their services at all. Of those that do, one  in four use traditional advertising media, while one  in six use digital advertising. The latter figure is expected to grow, with one in four saying that they are spending more on digital advertising now than in the past.

Despite these factors, Irish SMEs are positive about their businesses. six out of 10 expect their revenues to increase over the next 12 months.

Social media use amongst SMEs has improved over the period December 2014 to September 2015. The number of companies with a Facebook page has grown by 16%, from 44% to 51%; Twitter has grown by almost 47%, from 15% to 22%; while the use of LinkedIn has grown by 100%, from 8% to 16%.