By Claire Corrigan
Mullingar businesses have the opportunity to take their businesses online and local shoppers who want to buy from local shops without leaving their homes can now do so, it was announced at a meeting held by An Post and Mullingar Chamber of Commerce at the Greville Arms Hotel last Wednesday.
Mullingar Chamber have teamed up with An Post for the pilot programme which will allow local residents to shop locally on the internet. Mullingar is one of just three towns in Ireland chosen (alongside Bantry and Ennis) and is the first of those towns to be given a presentation on the new initiative.
Addressing the attendance, Liam O’Sullivan who is Director of Operations at An Post said that since 2008 An Post has seen a 38 per cent decline in its volume of mail which equates to €160 million worth of revenue. “This is due to an increase in e-bills (electronic bills online). We have seen tremendous growth in parcels and packets driven by online shopping which has been impacting on our business and everywhere else.”
To tap into this trend, An Post are launching a new initiative called eLocal that will mean local people can buy from local businesses online and be assured next day deliver. “We have a workforce of 7000 and cover every single household in the country five days a week. Over the past year we have been working on a new offering which we will pilot in here. It’s a big town with a big catchment of people and lots of individual businesses. We intend to reinvigorate all of the shopping in every town right across the country.”
In his presentation he said research showed that people would rather shop online from China even it’s more expensive in some cases “just for the thrill of having it come through the door.” “There is this notion sometimes too that greater value can be got by shopping online. Main street shopping has declined and web based shopping has grown,” he added.
An Post has developed new technology that will allow consumers to purchase goods from them through a number of different methods including ‘click and collect’ and purchasing items online and having them delivered to their home. “Other businesses register on Amazon and they sell their wares through that. Amazon hosts tens of thousands of other shops from all over the world. This is about putting businesses into the eCommerce world if they’re not there already. ”
Revealing the sheer volume of packages that An Post deal with, Mr. O’ Sullivan said they receive around 300,000 packages every two weeks from China into Ireland. Taking Marks and Spencers as example, he said that companies with a large marketing campaign attract people directly to their website without the aid of forums like Amazon. “The consumers view online shopping as a better experience and we feel that if the businesses on the main streets of Ireland don’t move with the times, they’ll get left behind.”
To further illustrate the popularity of online shopping he told the attendees that 110,000 consumers have registered for AddressPal, a new An Post initiative that allows customers to have their UK online shopping delivered to Ireland by providing a UK delivery address. “The numbers are extraordinary and we can’t buck the trend. Online is where is is now. We think if we work together we can make money.”
NEXT DAY DELIVERY
He said the service will provide a next day delivery service to every home that is serviced by Mullingar Post Office. “There is no online retailer anywhere in Ireland that could match that speed. We want to give the fastest online speed from ordering online to having it delivered to your door and that is the biggest differentiator. There will also be deliveries on Saturday. People are prepared to wait three or four weeks for an item coming from China and now they can have it next day here.”
He said that there are many elderly people who currently rely on other people to do their shopping who could avail of the service to order their basics from local grocery shop.
“We have a lot of people living out in rural areas so access to your shops can be an issue. The core service will feature an online all market place and for Mullingar it will be eLocal.ie/mullingar.”
He said that each business that signed for the initiative would be supplied with a website and customers could make purchases in various different ways. “People can order from you by phone or through the website and we will deliver the purchases by the following day. They can pay over the phone, or pay you in store by cash. It’s easy access to all the shops that they might have stopped shopping in whether they have a laptop or smartphone or not.”
He said that all of the payments that are due to the shops involved will come through An Post’s website which will transfer it back to the retailers. “When the consumer places an order you will be notified by email and lets us know that you want a collection. You will need to bag the order is specific packaging”
He said that Joe Shaw, Mullingar Delivery Service Manager and his team will collect late in the evening or early in the morning and ring customers to let them know what time they are coming to deliver their purchases.
“Businesses will effectively be provided with a professional website free of charge. An Post will create the town website which will be eLocal.ie/mullingar and will pull up the Mullingar businesses. When you click on a certain business the full inventory that you have for sale will appear and we can pull in official photos for products and help you with that. We will create the eLocal branding, sponsor the local press and radio advertising and supply you with the packaging for free. There have three different boxes sizes that go up to 20kg and there will also be pouches.”
He said customers could make orders up to 6pm and later if an individual business wished to do so. “Anyone with a 10 km radius of the town we will collect from your business for free. For towns further afield such as Castlepollard, they can also go up online and if they bring the package to their local post office will also have next day delivery. The item will be tracked the whole way through so when a consumer signs for it you will get an online copy of their signature and confirmation of delivery.”
“In conclusion there’s no cost of entry, no licensing, or charge for packaging and collection. Free collection within 10 km of the town but Saturday delivery will attract an additional fee.”
“The initiative is payment managed as in we have created a gateway that will take everyone’s debit and credit card information which will come through our system and transfer the funds back to you. The price for the whole service is €7.50 per transaction irrespective of the size of the box which goes up to 20kg and for click and collect that will be €3.30.
“You can offer the fastest home delivery that there will ever be and you can also sell to the rest of the country too if you choose but we think the sweet spot here is selling to your people in your area. We are going to put a serious amount of effort and energy into pushing this,” Mr. O’Sullivan concluded.”
