Why did it take so long for Irish businesses to embrace distance selling ?

Ballycommon Mast

It took a global lockdown to drag them into it.

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058230360/why-did-it-take-so-long-for-irish-businesses-to-embrace-distance-selling

Loads of were already dabbling in it but most of their customers were buying in real life till the lockdown came along. A lot of them didn't want to put in the effort to list every single product on a website & keep it up to date but even a lot of companies with no site took orders over the phone long before covid

NedsNotDead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058230360/why-did-it-take-so-long-for-irish-businesses-to-embrace-distance-selling

Such things are sent to test us

Wanderer78

id imagine its a whole new business approach and plan thats required to go more so online, running online services needed, logistics, etc etc etc, of which none is free!

growleaves

Inertia

Brian Lighthouse

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118550058#Comment_118550058

Perhaps.

It's probably a memory of these days:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble

https://ideas.ted.com/an-eye-opening-look-at-the-dot-com-bubble-of-2000-and-how-it-shapes-our-lives-today/

"By 1999, losing money was the mark of a successful dot-com." I kid you not!

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118550281#Comment_118550281

Not much has changed since then. WhatsApp(tm) was losing money right up to the point it was bought by FB for 14bn.

The purpose of a lot of tech startups appears to be building up a userbase & goodwill so some large stagnant corp can acquire it & cash in on monetising said userbase.

Brian Lighthouse

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118550374#Comment_118550374

Yeah, E-Scooters were the first thing to spring to mind here. I really can't see how these firms are going to make money - the Rent-a-scooter firms I mean - from just simply renting out a scooter.

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/e-scooters-ireland-micromobility-startups

Quantum Erasure

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118550058#Comment_118550058

Like Saoirse

Capt'n Midnight

Have you seen how much An Post charge ?

Cheaper to order junk off AliExpress for someone and stick a message in address than to send them a postcard.

Less hassle too since you don't have to go to a postoffice to by a stamp.

L1011

Irish people like going to shops.

We had plenty of substantial distance selling operations in the days before shopping centres and widespread car ownership - Cotts of Kilcock were the Irish equivalent of the catalogue era Sears and a critical advertiser in the early days of Raidio Eireann for instance. But once people could go to specialist / larger stocked shops themselves, that's what they did.