eWaterford provides online platform for all businesses

HelloWorld.ie has answered the call for a dedicated online shop for Waterford where retailers can upload their product and consumers can buy all the need in one location while ensuring to support local business.

Created by Bryan Hurley, a Waterford native and owner of Hellowworld.ie, eWaterford.com is being supported by Waterford Chamber.

According to Bryan: “Any Waterford business is now free to sign-up and add their products and services to eWaterford.com. When your customers order your products and services on eWaterford.com, their order details and requested items are sent to your business for processing. Your customer will indicate in their order whether they would like to request a local collection or quote for delivery.”

Each business on eWaterford gets a dedicated business page complete with images, contact information, biography, administration panel, and order reports. Customers can contact businesses directly through eWaterford to enquire about your products or services. Your products, services, and company profile can be shown on a searchable map of Waterford which allows people to find the businesses that support the area where they live, work, and play.

“The COVID-19 crisis is having a colossal effect on businesses throughout our country, but I see it first-hand here in Waterford,” says Bryan.

“While the virus was taking hold in March, I was working with my clients to help them adapt to the evolving social guidelines. Business meetings went online, conferences became web forums, classroom teachers have become video production and social media experts. Remote is the new normal, and people have adapted quickly. While offering products and services remotely is not a new concept in today’s hyper-connected world, this crisis has pushed all the waders off the deep-end, they are fast sinking and their customers can no longer see them. To help you become more visible in this new isolated world there are new and existing supports that assist companies to adapt to a changing business landscape.”

Bryan believe the Business Continuity Voucher is a great initiative by the Local Enterprise Office (localenterprise.ie) which allows qualifying businesses to receive up to €2,500 in third party consultation costs to help make informed decisions about what immediate measures and remedial actions should be taken to protect staff and sales. With many existing businesses now looking to offer their products and services online, this voucher can be used to get advice on how to best adapt your existing retail products and services to your isolated customers. Contact Waterford Chamber today to start your application.

“When you are ready to build your eCommerce website you should first look at the Trading Online Voucher which is also available through your LEO. This can provide qualifying businesses with co-funded assistance of up to €2,500, cutting development costs by up to 90%. If you are a medium to large company with 10 or more employees, you may be eligible to apply for the Online Retail Scheme offered by Enterprise Ireland (enterprise-ireland.com) which could help fund up to 80% of costs up to €40,000. These supports and more can be found on the LEO and EI websites.”

Planning and building your very own online retail website, tailored to the way you do business, should be your ultimate goal. But eCommerce websites can take some time to plan, build, and launch, so Bryan has created eWaterford to bridge that gap in the meantime.

Your customers haven’t gone anywhere, that’s the problem! Create your business listing on eWaterford.com today and let your customers know you have not forgotten them.