Click Green, Buy Nearby Campaign

by | Nov 26, 2020 | Shop Local | 0 comments

November 25th, 2020

Online shoppers urged to ‘Click Green, Buy Nearby’ this festive season to support businesses in Ireland.  With €4.65 billion expected to be spent by Irish shoppers during the festive period, buying nearby will make a huge impact locally

Digital Business Ireland (DBI), the leading representative body for digital, eCommerce, and online businesses have today urged consumers to support businesses and jobs in Ireland by making an effort to Click Green and Buy Nearby when shopping online this festive season.

The Covid-19 pandemic and associated public health restrictions have fuelled a huge surge in online shopping which has prompted the Click Green, Buy Nearby campaign, launched today by Digital Business Ireland (DBI).

According to findings in a recent Tipping Point Report compiled by .IE and Digital Business Ireland,  47% of all online spend during the Covid-19 pandemic is fulfilled by businesses operating outside of Ireland with the remaining 53% of consumer spend benefitting Irish SMEs. 67% of those buying from SMEs said they did so out of a sense of solidarity.

Chief Executive of DBI, Lorraine Higgins explained: 

The key objective of our campaign is to encourage online shoppers to make a concerted effort to purchase goods and products from local websites in order to help these businesses bounce back. We know the vast majority of online shoppers want to support Irish businesses so tapping into this sense of patriotism for the economic good of the country is crucial. In a recent Report we compiled in conjunction with .IE we learned that 41% of respondents purchased a product from a local business online. So, we are hoping our campaign will encourage more to Click Green, buy nearby and support businesses in their own community.

And she continued:

As the busy Christmas period approaches and consumers minds focus on gifting to families, friends and colleagues over Black Friday, Cyber Week and Small Business Saturday we are appealing to peoples sense of national solidarity. There are many benefits from clicking green and supporting businesses in Ireland from a trust, safety and price transparency which is not always the case with international sellers.

Retailers and businesses have invested in their ecommerce infrastructure in order to have an online capability so we are appealing to people to shop on .IE websites, do a deep dive of Google searches and the products for sale on online marketplaces and  ensure they are supporting businesses located here. By Clicking Green, and buying nearby you will be helping the recovery of businesses, protecting jobs and communities at a time of great difficulty.

Minister of State, Anne Rabbitte said:

There has never been a more important time to support local businesses and I am delighted to lend my support to Digital Business Ireland’s Click Green initiative, urging consumers to support businesses and jobs in Ireland by making an effort to Click Green and buy nearby when shopping online this festive season.  If just some of the over €4 billion worth of consumer spending predicted this festive season was directed towards local businesses then there would be a huge uplift for many SMEs supporting over one million jobs in our community.  I am asking people to make a conscious decision to think before you click, search for offerings from local business, many of whom have transformed their business models to provide an online service offering nationwide delivery.