Lorcan Lynch, director of Lifestylesonline Ireland, says Irish consumers are embracing e-commerce.

Despite the many economic challenges facing Ireland as a country, the digital sector is seeing a level of growth that reflects the rapid change in consumer confidence to engage with the Internet as a serious purchasing channel in Ireland.

More than three million consumers now actively use the Internet, with 1.2 million having purchased something in the past 12 months.  

Travel and accomodation still account for the majority of online purchases, but there is growing demand in online retail, banking and entertainment sectors.

Taking advantage of this emerging trend, Lifestyles Online Ireland has developed a platform which delivers positive consent leads and data for brands actively using online as a channel to market. Having been active in the data sector in Ireland myself for 15 years – and at one stage heading up the Experian Marketing Division in Ireland  – I am a firm believer in data as a key business driver in the current climate in this country.

Against a background of restrictive data collection regulation in Ireland which has resulted in very little consumer data now available in the Irish marketplace, there is an opportunity to help businesses grow their email and postal data files through their data collection platform. 

Lifestyles Online has been very active in the UK market for the past five years, collecting an average 1.4 million unique consumer records and completing up to two million consumers surveys per year, and we have migrated a very successful online data collection model from the UK, localised to fit the Irish market space.

The data collection website network was launched in June this year and the platform is now generating tens of thousands of positive leads. We expect to triple the leads generated per month by December.

Ireland has a growing consumer appetite for online content and, with confidence in purchasing online at an all-time high, it seems now is a good time to be active in this rapidly emerging digital market.  

Email: lorcan.lynch@lifestylesonline.ie