At the Letterkenny Chamber and AIB seminar “Retail- The Winning Formula” in The Radisson Hotel Letterkenny. Photo Clive Wasson
Over 200 business people from across Donegal came together this week to hear from one of Ireland’s key Retail Experts, Simon Healy.
Jointly organised by AIB in partnership with Letterkenny Chamber the roadshow that has taken place across the country attracted one of the biggest audiences here in Letterkenny.
Retailers and business people got an insight from Simon on wining retail strategies and how they could gain a competitive advantage on the high street.
They also heard from Gordon Burke, Donegal Local Enterprise Office on the support and programmes available for businesses including assistance with going online, mentoring and their range of training programmes.
Toni Forrester, Letterkenny Chamber gave a short overview of the success of ShopLK to date and encouraged all to become ambassadors for retail in Letterkenny.
At the Letterkenny Chamber and AIB seminar “Retail- The Winning Formula” in The Radisson Hotel Letterkenny. Photo Clive Wasson
The local flavour was provided by Mairtin Kelly, Kelly’s Centra & Diner, Mountaintop who told his own retail story explaining how they have remained successful over the last number of years.
Speaking about the event Mairtin said “It was a great pleasure to be part of the Chamber & AIB Retail event and I picked up some great learnings for my business from the speaker Simon Healy and around the room from like-minded individuals. The timing of this event was perfect for me as we re-launch of our new look Centra Store at the Mountain Top and introduce “Jakes Famous Burger” franchise to our American Roadside Diner customers this Friday 29th April. With a big day planned I’m sure it’ll be a huge success”
Barry Naughton, Regional Director AIB Bank in the Northwest said “We were delighted to host this event for Donegal Retailers in Letterkenny in partnership with Letterkenny Chamber. As Simon outlined we are retailers also and are constantly striving to improve our offerings to our business clients through our Backing Brave programme. As part of this programme we have appointed qualified Business Advisors in every branch, provide customers full access to a team of Business Advisors by phone outside normal banking hours, including weekends, and commit to a 48 hour turnaround of business loans up to €30,000. We also can provide businesses with discounted loans in partnership with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland(SBCI) and more details on this can be found online or in your local branch.”
Some of the large crowd at the event in Letterkenny.
In his talk Simon emphasized the need for research, he encouraged everyone in the audience to look at their demographic, check out CSO statistics and then target their customers specifically. He gave some basic advice on ensuring your outlet whether on the high street or online was clean, fresh and inviting and suggested you appoint a minister of social media in your business to really take advantage of this technology.
The event reminded us that in this very competitive market people still buy from people and that the customer should be at the centre of all you do.
Speaking after the event John Bowe, President Letterkenny Chamber, said “This event reflects what an excellent retail community we have here in Donegal. Local retail is at the heart of communities across the County and it was a great pleasure to be able to bring a specialist such as Simon Healy to Letterkenny. His vast experience was reflected in concrete, practical tips that he passed on and I have no doubt that this event will inspire those who attended to even greater success.”
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