Guilty of dealing cocaine SHOPSURGEDTOHEED DIGITALREVOLUTION
COCAINE dealer Jonathan Daly (33) from 12 Chambersland Close in New Ross was ordered to carry out 120 hours of community service on conviction for having illicit drugs for sale or supply to others at his home last year.
The search which uncovered the cocaine also revealed a stun gun which Judge Gerard Haughton formally declared forfeit to the State.
The community service order imposed at Wexford District Court was accepted by the defendant in lieu of five months in jail. It will offer us huge potential and the removal of the tanks to open up the vista and improve the eastern approach into the town.’
She said there are new businesses opening and less derelict buildings. ‘By working together the town can only get much better. We are working on the Great New Ross River Walk also so we are only at the start. When the ring road opens we will drive a shop local campaign and we can continue this momentum by having major investment and taking advantage of the continuing improving economy here. We have brilliant people and we need to keep investing and embrace the future and get people to come back.’
Lorcan Kinsella of Brand Nova digital marketing said it is an extremely difficult time to be in business as shoppers move increasingly from shopping in bricks and mortar buildings in towns, to online.
He said there are 52 social media platforms, urging businesses to only use the one or two that work for them. ‘Hard work, discipline and consistency are required. It’s harder now that it was before as there has been a paradigm shift in the way we look at business in New Ross. In every town you see shops closing down because now we have ecommerce and you are trying to pay rates and all your costs while people working in a garden shed with no overheads are selling to 30 countries.’
Lorcan said the keywords businesses should be bearing in mind are traffic and conversion.
‘Businesses have a Facebook account but no website. Your website is your brand, your legacy. Social media will suck the blood out of your brand. You use it to send traffic back to your brand. We need an action, a purchase. It’s about credibility, trust and authenticity. Our world has been turned upside down and we are expected to embrace it. This is across every busines here. Times are changing at an extraordinary rate.’
He said shoppers are purchasing items outside of Ireland ‘as we don’t have the options for them to buy locally’.
He relayed a story about a Kilkenny furniture shop owner who he advised to sell his goods online. The man reluctantly agreed and his business took off. ‘54 per cent of people have shopped with a competitor whose business is online. 52 per cent of people don’t believe that local shops are equipped for the digital age. A wesbite helps you to tell your story.’
Lorcan said there are no plumbers in New Ross who have their own website and 212,000 people are looking for things to do in Wexford and there is no dedicated website.
‘ There are really good products out there that are not being seen. It’s all about traffic to your website for conversion and to get conversion rates from 1 per cent to 2 per cent and from 6 per cent to 7 per cent etc.’
He said skin-to-skin communication is vital and it’s not all about online.
Local businesswoman Aideen Ni Riada was MC for the event, which also featured speakers Greg Fry who is an international social media trainer, Lorraine Higgins, Deputy CEO with Retail Excellence, Marguerite Murphy of Bank of Ireland, Tom Bermingham of Wexford Local Development, Tom Banville and Aidan Murphy from Bank of Ireland.