KILDARE CONSUMERS RESPOND FOR CALL TO LOOK FOR LOCAL

Two thirds of Irish consumers made local purchases following campaigns

Research released by the Local Enterprise Offices has shown that 66% of Irish consumers bought goods or services locally, to support their local economy, as a result of seeing or hearing the Look for Local campaign or similar shop local themed campaigns this summer.

The research, which was conducted as part of the Local Enterprise Office Kildare’s “Look for Local” campaign, showed that the same figure, 66%, said they intended to continue to spend more on local goods and services in the coming months. 

The results also showed that 75% of adults are now more inclined to shop for local businesses online since 91% believe there are now more local Irish businesses online than ever before. 

In 2020 the Local Enterprise Office Kildare approved over 701 Trading Online Vouchers which enabled small businesses to set up an online trading presence.  This was up over 1,500% from the year previous (45) and helped small businesses to keep the virtual doors open, when the physical ones were shut. 

Those surveyed also showed an understanding of the benefits of spending in your community or town with the research highlighting they “strongly agreed” that looking for local is beneficial to the economy and jobs and have a positive environmental impact.  

The Look for Local campaign was launched earlier this summer by the Local Enterprise Office Kildare, funded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Local Authorities. 

The campaign which was rolled out locally by the Local Enterprise Office Kildare involved national and local advertising and promotion across the Summer encouraging consumers to look for local when purchasing products, services, or experiences.

The campaign saw over 4,500 local businesses listed on the Look for Local hub on the Local Enterprise Office website that consumers could access and browse to see what was available in their area. 

Damien English TD, Minister for Business, Employment and Retail said; “Across the Summer we saw thousands of Irish businesses reopening their doors, many for the first time since the pandemic began.  This would have been a very exciting but anxious time for them as they recommenced trading to the public.  What this research shows is that the Irish public responded to the 'Look for Local' call by the Local Enterprise Office Network and supported their own when they needed it the most. People are aware of the benefits of looking for local and they consciously chose to support local businesses this summer and plan to do so into the future. This is a testament to the campaign.

“We have worked closely with the Local Enterprise Offices across the past 18 months to sustain businesses, help them upskill, get online and in some cases pivot as we adapt to new ways of trading, we will continue to support these small businesses that are the life blood of communities across the country.” 

Head of Enterprise, Jacqui McNabb, said; “The Look for Local campaign was an opportunity for the Local Enterprise Office to show support to all those small businesses in Kildare as they reopened and encourage consumers to do the same.  To see that people intentionally spent with our local businesses this Summer is fantastic, but it also shows that consumers believed in the quality of product, service and experience they were getting on their own doorstep. 

“As was outlined during the campaign, every euro that is spent locally here in Kildare is an investment in our community and that money has a knock-on effect through the county.  Consumers now understand that spending locally will positively impact the economy and jobs in their area and going forward for small businesses there is a big opportunity to capitalise on that sentiment.”

“The 'Look for Local' Campaign has further enhanced local communities to engage & spend with businesses that are in their village or town. It has also raised the awareness of the importance of spending money where their house is, as without their support businesses and thriving communities can't survive alone” (Barry Flanagan of Kildare Brewing Co. Sallins, Co. Kildare.)

“The Look for Local has been such a positive and rewarding campaign for us to be a part of. Our Local Enterprise Office has always been incredibly supportive -helping us to increase our export market, update our website and even expand our business- but the impact of this push to support local and invest in your community has created such an amazing shift in consumer buying. We have been blown away by the support from customers and other businesses and love how invested our community has become in building everybody back-up” (Nessa from Sam agus Nessa, Furniture & Homewares Designers, Kildare).

The survey by GroupM Research, sampled over 700 Irish consumers, and highlights how Irish consumers were keen to support their own local businesses as the country reopened across the summer.

In addition to the Trading Online Vouchers the Local Enterprise Office continues to work with small businesses across the country with training, mentoring, sector & issue specific consultancy and financial supports to help them start up and grow as the country reopens fully. 

For more information on Look for Local go to www.LocalEnterprise.ie/LookForLocal and support Look for Local online using the hashtag #LookForLocal