Buy Irish Campaign

audge

Hey, not sure if anyone can help me, I am trying to put together a buy irish campaign for work, launching in the new year....
I am googling like crazy, but would anyone know off hand of companies, big or small, any kind of industry, that have been involved, or would like to be involved in a buy Irish campaign???
All help would be much appreciated!

Thanks a million,

Audrey

whiskeyman

what do you mean?
You looking for these guys?
http://www.guaranteed-irish.ie

Not many companies have a "buy irish" policy... it rules out (probably cheaper and better quality) competition.

audge

whiskeyman wrote:

what do you mean?
You looking for these guys?
http://www.guaranteed-irish.ie

Not many companies have a "buy irish" policy... it rules out (probably cheaper and better quality) competition.

Cheers, I have got in touch guys and we will probably become a member.

To put it in the simplest terms, the more people buying a product, the cheaper we can afford to sell it, and still make a profit.
We actually do want to reduce our prices, cos foreign products are way cheaper, but we just cant do it, we need to get our numbers up.

I know there are companies like us, and if we all came together, maybe just maybe we could get through to even 2% of the irish population, which would be enough for us to drop rates.

whiskeyman

audge wrote:

Cheers, I have got in touch guys and we will probably become a member.

To put it in the simplest terms, the more people buying a product, the cheaper we can afford to sell it, and still make a profit.
We actually do want to reduce our prices, cos foreign products are way cheaper, but we just cant do it, we need to get our numbers up.

Don't you mean "your" product here?

I think you're putting cart before horse here.
You're relying on increased sales to reduce price... by the method of "going Irish" I presume.
Its not really working tbh... all you can do is use the Irish factor as part of your selling points.

Getting to price though... you should factor this into the equation.
For most goods and services, consumers will buy at best value - that doesnt have to mean "cheap". (You'll get to know that cheap is a terrible word. Never use it in business where possible, unless your deriding something).
Value is where they can balance between price and quality.
Is your product good value?
Apart from price, what other selling points are there?
Any USPs?

Bascially, the whole "buy Irish" is no longer a silver bullet. Consumers these days dont care much for it, especially in an age of internet buying and "rip-off Ireland".

audge

I know we cannot ride on the back of the "buy irish" but it is still an element I want to push.
We are a samll company who offer a high quality service, and a very personal service, we literally tailor make our products for the clients needs, they are other elements that we push.

whiskeyman

audge wrote:

I know we cannot ride on the back of the "buy irish" but it is still an element I want to push.
We are a samll company who offer a high quality service, and a very personal service, we literally tailor make our products for the clients needs, they are other elements that we push.

I see your point, but Id be wary of a "buy Irish" campaign at the moment, especially due to anti "Rip-Off Ireland" culture.
Irish goods have been tarred badly with this brush and it may actually work against you if you push it too much.
example - you've a higher price to a similar competitor as a customer weighs up his/her options.... see's "we're irish blurb" = "typical rip-off Ireland" would be the attitude of a potential customer.
For agrigoods, this may be offset as we still have a fondness for the belief that Irish goods are better, but for anything else, I'd avoid it tbh.

whiskeyman

Perhaps it would be better to push your "irishness" elsewhere.
Instead of buying it for the sake of it, use it elsewhere.
Does the fact that you're Irish make other selling points better?
e.g - do you have an office here potential customers can see the operation / meet in person / goods being producted etc..?
Perhaps look at sponsorship of a local sports club or something in the community - this is a much better way of identifying yourself.

GP

audge wrote:

I know we cannot ride on the back of the "buy irish" but it is still an element I want to push.
We are a samll company who offer a high quality service, and a very personal service, we literally tailor make our products for the clients needs, they are other elements that we push.

how does the fact that you say your product is Irish made, make your product any better than one made in Slovakia by an equally diligent company.

I think you should promote by using the above comments you made re: service, quality etc. rather than say - it's made in Ireland therefore it's better than anywhere else.

hullaballoo

Incidentally, the government "buy irish" campaign was held to be anti-competitive by the european court of justice.

That won't effect you (it doesn't operate against non-government bodies), but it is something to bear in mind.

Also, Irish people are increasingly shying away from nationalistic buying so perhaps another usp will do the trick for you.

Good Luck.

noinc

I really don't want to be racist but it makes me laugh that somebody wants us to buy Irish to stop, or at least compete with foreign imports when all I can see are non Irish people working in a country with over 400,000 unemployed. I do try to support local business as well as national companies but if I get a non national shrugging his or her shoulders because they cannot understand what I say to them, that's it, I don't go back. I should also piont out that I will not do business with any company whose staff are rude or unhelpful.

Do I want to buy Irish tomatoes that are looked after and harvested, packed etc that are non Irish to start with. Give me a break !

NoQuarter

Hullaballoo beat me to it, i was about to mention there may well be a problem in relation to the free movement of goods under the TFEU.

might be worth a read: http://www.law-essays-uk.com/sample-essays/european-union/free.php

gavney1

I think it's worth pointing out that to lots of people a "buy-irish" sticker on something can actually be harmful to its sales, particularly in this recession.

The reason is that if something says "Irish-made" on it, people are going to immediately assume it's more expensive than something else, even if it's not.

Most people will actually LOOK at prices but not all. Many people just make assumptions based on the brand/ label

For instance, look at all the people who went crazy going up to Sainsbury's cause things were cheaper up north (apparently). Whenever I compared prices between Sainsbury's and Tesco (Ireland), I didn't find any difference. In fact, plenty of things were cheaper in Tesco.

The other point is that lots of people have lost alot of patriotism lately I imagine.

J_Wholesale

Every time I hear that Dunnes Stores tagline "Because we're Irish" on the radio, it makes me laugh. They may be an Irish company, but they don't sell Irish produce. Walk into any Dunnes in the country and you won't find any Irish apples or other fresh fruit, despite the fact that it's the middle of the apple picking season and every farmer's market in the country has them.

Nobody believes an 'Irish' label anymore. Even things you would expect to be Irish, like Boyne Valley honey, is anything but. Go down this route and you'll be attaching yourself to a falling star.

gavney1

J_Wholesale wrote: »

Every time I hear that Dunnes Stores tagline "Because we're Irish" on the radio, it makes me laugh. They may be an Irish company, but they don't sell Irish produce. Walk into any Dunnes in the country and you won't find any Irish apples or other fresh fruit, despite the fact that it's the middle of the apple picking season and every farmer's market in the country has them.

Nobody believes an 'Irish' label anymore. Even things you would expect to be Irish, like Boyne Valley honey, is anything but. Go down this route and you'll be attaching yourself to a falling star.

+1

I actually quite like Dunnes Grocery (I hate their textile end though). But the tagline "the difference is we're Irish" automatically makes me assume they're dearer than Tesco.

YouProduce

I am setting up a website to help people source locally and buy irish: www.youproduce.ie

fergalr

noinc wrote: »

I really don't want to be racist

Then stop being racist.

fergalr

Regarding the overall 'buy Irish' campaign, we have to be careful as a whole not to underestimate the value of trading with other countries.

Buying non Irish produce, if other countries can produce it more efficiently than we can, is a good thing.

Ultimately there are some products that we just can't produce as efficiently as other countries.
We shouldn't try compete with these, and its actually bad for the country if Irish people buy less efficiently made products, just because they are Irish.

I know there's a lot of other complexities to take into the equation, but its something to bear in mind. I don't buy things just because they are Irish.
I will buy them if the fact they are Irish allows better quality good cheaper (ie allows us to have locally produced food that has travelled less far, so has better nutrients, etc)

YouProduce

I totally agree Fergal, buying Irish is a practical issue, with many good reasons that have nothing to do with protectionism.

- There are quality issues and the deterioration of products that travel long distances. Obviously this effects fruit more than washing powder.
- There are good reasons to worry about international commodity prices and how they can fluctuate wildly causing food prices to balloon. That is obviously unlikely to effect us in the short-term, but significantly dangerous if it happens to cause concern.
- There are good reasons to believe that mental & physical health in society are better served by people being closer to the actual production of the products we consume everyday & for the work that people do to be close to the point of consumption. People have many reasons for doing what ever work that they do, from money to social capital to paternal approval from a boss or a group to customer approval that comes from the quality of the product. Being close to the consumption of the product of your labour makes for high levels of social approval which builds community.

Those are my thoughts anyway. Nothing racist or naive about buying irish from my perspective.

fergalr

YouProduce wrote: »

I totally agree Fergal, buying Irish is a practical issue, with many good reasons that have nothing to do with protectionism.

- There are quality issues and the deterioration of products that travel long distances. Obviously this effects fruit more than washing powder.
- There are good reasons to worry about international commodity prices and how they can fluctuate wildly causing food prices to balloon. That is obviously unlikely to effect us in the short-term, but significantly dangerous if it happens to cause concern.
- There are good reasons to believe that mental & physical health in society are better served by people being closer to the actual production of the products we consume everyday & for the work that people do to be close to the point of consumption. People have many reasons for doing what ever work that they do, from money to social capital to paternal approval from a boss or a group to customer approval that comes from the quality of the product. Being close to the consumption of the product of your labour makes for high levels of social approval which builds community.

Those are my thoughts anyway. Nothing racist or naive about buying irish from my perspective.

I think those are very good and very sensible points - and I definitely agree that they are good reasons to buy locally produced food.
We should definitely factor things like these in to our purchasing decisions.
I still don't think we should 'buy Irish' just because its Irish, or preserves local jobs in the short term, at the cost of overall efficiency; at the same time local produce has advantages, as you've pointed out, that we should definitely take into the equation.