Buying or Selling in Leitrim? Make ShopinLeitrim.Com Your One Stop Shop

Believe it or not it is now possible to buy and/or sell Leitrim products and services on line through the dedicated website shopinleitrim.com established by Garreth McDaid who also runs web development company ‘Night Blue Fruit’ from his home in Drumshanbo. Currently on the website you can, from anywhere in the world, and in the one transaction if you wish, book and pay for training courses or buy seeds from The Organic Centre, you can also buy the Leitrim Guardian, other books, crafts, set dancing music, wedding stationery and luxury wine and food hampers.

The site has also sold tickets for various draws. Services can also be sold through the site as long as they have a fixed price so basically any Leitrim based company can contact Garreth who will come out and meet with you to go through the process, terms and conditions and who will manage everything for you from that point.
The idea for the innovative site came to Garreth at an event run by Leitrim County Enterprise Board at which a presentation was been given on selling online and what facilities/packages are needed to do this. Garreth felt that for several reasons the most efficient and effective way of doing this would be for a number of small businesses in the county to band together and sell through one dedicated site that would significantly reduce not only the costs involved but also the red tape and importantly the risks. Cost wise to sell online a business needs digital security, an online credit card facility and their own software and systems then there’s the complexity of setting something like this up. ‘Because of fraud issues the rules are very strict and prohibitive for small business as for example they have to be able to demonstrate evidence of previous online sales,’ says Garreth. With all the fear associated with online fraud the shopinleitrim.com business takes away the fear and the risk as everything is managed for you for a small cost of 5% commission and there are no other associated costs so it’s a fantastic opportunity for companies to sell locally and globally. Garreth approached Leitrim County Enterprise Board with his plan for the business and they provided him with an invaluable grant in the setting up stages. The site has now been up and running successfully since December 2007.
Of course the other side of the coin is that the site allows Leitrim people around the world to support and sustain small business in the county by buying from the site. ‘A lot of the market so far is the ex-pat community’ says Garreth who feels there is a lot of untapped potential for small businesses in selling online and that perhaps not everyone is aware of this. ‘Every small business wants opportunities to sell and the online market globally, the potential in the sheer scale of that market is there to be tapped into so there’s no reason why Leitrim businesses shouldn’t be selling beyond Ireland.’
If you would like to contact Garreth for more information on selling your product or service through the shopinleitrim.com website you can email info@shopinleitrim.com or call 071 9641544. For Night Blue Fruit, Garreth’s company that specializes in advanced web development and sms integration as well as providing a range of consultancy services to businesses the same number applies.
To talk to someone in Leitrim County Enterprise Board about available supports and services for your business call 071 9620450.