Hugh Durkin, Irish Internet Guy

Tradedoubler in Ireland - gathering steam

Since about February this year i’ve been increasingly dealing with Eoin and the other guys (and gals) over at Tradedoubler Ireland.  I first got in touch with them and had a fairly decent meeting as I was planning the development of Compare.ie, a price comparison site focussed mainly on retail with the main criteria for prospective merchants being that they ship to Ireland and have Euro pricing plain and clear to see for all on their websites.

Initally, I have to say, I felt slightly sorry for Eoin, Matt, and the gang @ Tradedoubler Ireland - they’re the first affiliate network to set up an office in Ireland, and for very good reason.  Traditionally us Irish are at least 3 years behind the UK and other territories when it comes to online marketing in all its forms, which is a shame taking into account we pride ourselves as being the ‘digital hub of Europe’, being the main European home to the likes of Paypal, eBay, and Google.

As an example of how backward we are, i’ve set up ni.Compare.ie to kick the whole Compare.ie project off, as datafeeds are widely available in the UK with sterling pricing, but datafeeds with pricing in Euro are rare to come by and there just aren’t enough offers available to sustain a price comparison website.  ni.Compare.ie now has over a quarter of a million products from over 120 merchants while Compare.ie (in Euro) hasn’t launched yet, and may have to launch with horrible currency conversion based pricing, using the UK datafeeds.

So why aren’t we up to speed when it comes to internet marketing?

It sounds odd coming from someone living in what is now deemed a rather entrepreneurial country, but we’re actually quite afraid of risk and change!  Media agencies in Ireland have been slower to adapt and focus increased efforts into online, so we’re playing catch up.  I remember an amusing meeting from about three or four years ago when a prospective client informed me that ‘nobody uses the internet yet’ - to which I reminded them exactly how we’d scheduled this particular meeting.  Via email.  Things are changing fast though, and Irish media agencies have now bulked up their online marketing departments.  Slowly but surely, we’re getting there.

Tradedoubler had a presence in Ireland a few years ago, through an agency called Cybercom, but most of the activity seemed to be on lead generation for newsletter databases and such, with no focus on retail or any other verticals.   Hopefully now though, with an office in Dublin and ever increasing staff numbers, Tradedoubler will crack Ireland.  Certainly Tradedoubler UK seem to have a wide rang of merchants that would suit brilliantly - plenty with Euro pricing and product datafeeds which in theory can be quickly adapted to cater for the Irish market.  Media agencies over here now seem to ‘get’ online more than before - the advent of social networks and their huge level of uptake in Ireland has helped that along.

I wish Tradedoubler Ireland well, and hopefully it’s the forerunner to an affiliate network invasion of Ireland!