shopping cart Archives | ClearSoft Web Design & Development

LEO Grant – Some Advice

Earlier this year, the Local Enterprise Office announced changes to the Online Trading Voucher Scheme that many businesses have availed of. The closing date for these applications was the end of September – it may well open again in the future so with that in mind – below is some advice to those that may look to avail of it should it be re-opened.

Understand the rules

Lets start off with the ground rules of this scheme. The Trading Online Voucher Scheme is aimed at small business with up to 10 employees to trade more online. Grants of up to €2,500 are available with 10% co-funding from the business. So essentially for €250 input from your business, you can get work completed to a value of €2750.

The grant can be used to develop a new or upgrade an existing e-commerce website, add online payments or booking systems or develop an app. You must be trading for at least 6 months prior to application to avail of this scheme and you must attend an online trading seminar with your Local Enterprise Office. Your yearly turnover must be less that €2 million.

Note: you may only draw down the grant after the work has been completed and the provider has been paid in full. This is very important to understand before applying.

Case Study – Medoo.ie

Technologies Used

PHP
MySQL
WordPress
WooCommerce
CSS3
Javascript
jQuery
AJAX
PayPal
SSL

Description

Medoo.ie is the Irish flavour of a Hungarian fashion franchise owned by a Wicklow couple. They approached us in Q1 2020 with their ideas and asked if we could help them realise their dream. Of course this is exactly the kind of project that excites too so from day 1 we were a match made for each other.

In 2019, online sales figures in Ireland hit €2.2 billion. This is more that double the €1.05 billion figure from 2010. Furthermore current predictions are for that figure to hit almost €4 billion by 2024 so it’s fair to say that online sales are trending up. Fashion is the biggest online shopping segment in Ireland accounting for 29% of all online sales and this is the healthy market that Medoo Ireland want to enter.

Case Study – Glamourize.ie

Technologies Used

PHP
MySQL
OpenCart
CSS3
Javascript
jQuery
AJAX
PayPal
SSL

Description

Glamourize.ie is the brainchild of couple based in north Wexford who wanted to take their existing online presence to the next level. They specialise in ladies accessories and had been in business for a number of years with a well known online store platform. They felt the need to upgrade their existing store to look more visually appealing with a stronger brand – this is where they felt their existing solution was not strong enough.

If somebody is going to make an online purchase on your site – they need to have confidence. They need to trust your brand, your products and first impressions are so important. Off the shelf solutions E-Commerce are great for cost savings and speed to market. They are often very easy to set up, you don’t need a web developer, you don’t need seperate hosting and you don’t even need a domain name. However there are huge limitations with these systems – mainly around design and customer experience. One shop tends to look the same as all others and it’s hard to stand out from the crowd or put your own personal touch on the site to re-inforce your brand values.