Tue, 11th Apr, 2023

Enterprise Ireland has just announced another call for its Online Retail Scheme.

The Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment (DETE) has launched a further call for Online Retail Scheme aiming to encourage the retail sector in Ireland to develop a more competitive online offer that will enable an increase in their customer base and build a more resilient business in the domestic and global marketplace both online and offline.

This is a Competitive Fund which will be administered by Enterprise Ireland on behalf of DETE with a total fund size of €3.4m.

The purpose of this funding is to help Irish-based retailers with a pre-existing online presence to:

• support their digitalisation,
• respond to both domestic and international consumer demand for online shopping,
• strengthen small retailers in finding and retaining customers with their existing infrastructure,
• protect their physical operation by enabling growth through an online marketplace and new shopping avenues,
• support capability building for digital skills
• create new roles within the business in e-commerce and supporting activities

Successful applicants will be awarded funding to support a maximum of 50% of the project eligible costs of €50,000 with a maximum grant of €25,000.

Typical elements involved in developing a sophisticated and transactional online presence and strategy include research, consultancy costs for strategy development, implementation and in-house training.

Click here for further information.

Who Can Apply?

The applicant must be an Irish based retail enterprise that has 10 or more full-time employees and has the potential to sustain or create jobs, generate growth in online transactions and with an ambition to internationalise their business in future. An application must be submitted in the name of a company registered with the Companies Registration Office and incorporated in the Republic of Ireland at the time of application.

The business must also:

• have an existing online presence (e.g. website or social media)
• have a physical retail store and derive the majority of company revenue from retailing products directly to individual consumers:
  • Where a company provides both products and services, the applicant must provide a breakdown of sales revenue showing that products account for more than 50% of total revenue for a recent trading period, which may be up to the call close date
  • Where a company has a mixture of business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) operations, the applicant must provide a breakdown of sales revenue showing that sales from B2C activities account for more than 50% of total revenue for a recent trading period, which may be up to the call close date
• employ at least 10 employees in the Republic of Ireland on a full-time equivalent basis in the latest accounting period or has grown to this level since that date (up to the date of current call open of 4th April 2023)

Successful applicants from previous calls are eligible to re-apply under this call, once they have:

• been awarded Online Retail Scheme grant before once only,
• completed the project funded,
• proposed a clearly different project to that undertaken under a previous approval.

Key Dates:

• Call Open date: 4th April 2023

• Webinar - Online Retail Scheme April 2023 Call, 2pm Tuesday 18th April. Click here to register.

• Call Close date: 3rd May 2023 at 12.00pm (noon) for online application

How to Apply:

The Scheme is a competitive offer. Submission of the project is a two-stage process, a complete application consists of an application form submitted via online portal available on Enterprise Ireland’s website and company’s most recent full year of Statutory Accounts (no more than two years old at the time of application) submitted via email. (please note that after submitting the application, you will get a bounce back email from Enterprise Ireland asking you to submit your accounts separately)

This application form must be received no later than Call close at 12.00pm noon deadline on 3rd May 2023 in order for your application to be deemed valid with accounts submitted no later than 3rd May 2023 at 5.30PM close of business.

Full details can be found on the dedicated Online Retail Scheme page at https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/funding-supports/online-retail/online-retail-scheme/