Background information

The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI) has proposed this scheme in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the urgent need for retail companies to achieve a step change in online capability.

The fund will be administered by Enterprise Ireland on behalf of DBEI with a total fund size of €2 million. Applications for funding will be invited through a public call for submission of projects. Successful applicants will be awarded funding to support a maximum of 80% of the project eligible costs with a maximum grant of €40,000.

Content of measure

The purpose of this fund is to enable Irish-owned retailers to enhance their digital capability and 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. Typical elements involved in developing a sophisticated and transactional online presence include research, consultancy costs for strategy development, implementation and training.

The applicant must be an Irish-owned retail enterprise that had 10 or more employees on or before 29 February 2020 and has the potential to sustain or create jobs, generate growth in online transactions and has an ambition to internationalise their business in future.

The business must also:

• have an existing online presence (e.g. website or social media);
• have a retail outlet and derive the majority of revenue from the retail outlet(s);

Successful applicants will be awarded funding to support a maximum of 80% of the project costs. The minimum grant amount payable is €10,000 under this Scheme.

Use of measure

According to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: 185 applications were approved under the first call with a total value of €6.58 million. A further 145 applications were approved under the second call with a total value of €5.31 million.

A third call launched in May 2021 resulted in 133 applications being approved with a total of €5 million funding being provided.

Prior to this, according to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, 370 companies received funding under the Online Retail Scheme to the value of €12.8 million.

According to the COVID-19 and Brexit Business Supports Tracker 2021:

• Call 1 - The value of approvals when reporting discontinued on the 22 of Jan 2021 was €6.58m.
• Call 2 - The value of approvals when reporting discontinued on the 22 of Jan 2021 was €5.31m.
• Call 3 - The value of approvals when reporting discontinued on the 16 of July 2021 was €6.35m.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Sector specific set of companies Companies providing essential services SMEs	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Public support service providers	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

N/A

Views and reactions

No involvement.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 26 April 2020: Enterprise Ireland (www.enterprise-ireland.com)
• 31 December 2020: COVID-19 and Brexit Business Supports Tracker (enterprise.gov.ie)
• 04 May 2021: Minister Damien English announces new €5m Online Retail Scheme (enterprise.gov.ie)
• 30 June 2021: Minister English announces €5m in grants to retail sector through Covid-19 Online Retail Scheme administered by Enterprise Ireland (enterprise.gov.ie)
• 30 June 2021: Minister English announces €5m in grants to retail sector through COVID-19 Online Retail Scheme administered by Enterprise Ireland (www.gov.ie)
• 24 September 2021: COVID-19 and Brexit Business Supports Tracker 2021 (enterprise.gov.ie)