Prosperity. Happiness Works.

A new deal aggregation site has been launched in response to the explosion in daily deal websites here.
DealPage.ie brings deals from various sites to one location.

Its co-founder Charles Maltha says the site is a direct response to the 20 daily deal sites in Ireland at present.
“Our site makes it easier to find deals and allows people to subscribe to just one newsletter instead of being overwhelmed by lots.”

The market has been flooded by deal sites in the past year, all vying to take their share of the multibillion euro industry.
The use of the sites in Europe grew by 162 percent to 34.9 million visitors in December 2010 according to Comscore.

Players here include CityDeal.ie, BoardsDeals.ie, DealsIreland.ie, LivingSocial.com and GrabOne.ie.
“We are adding new deal sites regularly and have developed special filters to allow visitors to customise the deals based on their preferences,” said Maltha.

The Twitter campaign to get Ireland trending worldwide during President Obama’s visit has been branded a success by organiser PocketNative.com.

The aim was to have the hashtag #irlday trending and to gain publicity for Ireland’s tourism, hospitality and food sectors.
While #irlday didn’t trend worldwide, it was part of a major surge of tweets about Ireland on 23 May. The hashtags #obamavisit and #potusie featured prominently.
Statistics compiled by data extraction company, Knexsy, show there were 12,803 #irlday tweets on the day from across Ireland.
John Twohig, sales director, PocketNative.com, says with such a short lead-in time, the project was a success.
“We’d over 250,000 uses of the hashtag in the four week period, which was incredible. On the day we had the Irish Government on board, and got the US Government tweeting using the hashtag.”
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, TD issued a press release, while comedian Dara O Briain appealed to his followers to get the tag trending.

There will be a strong focus on the quality of ecommerce websites thanks to the introduction of a new quality mark.
Retail Excellence Ireland (REI) has launched the mark to promote ecommerce.

David Fitzsimons, chief executive of the retail industry body, says the changing economy prompted the group to introduce the award.
“The only positive news from a retail perspective is from those who have an online presence, and there is real opportunity to grasp the world of online,” he says.
“We’re keen to get as many retailers involved in the online space and to disseminate and share in best practice.”
The mark will be independently assessed by REI, Google and AMAS, with minimum performance criteria required. Recipients can use and market the quality mark on their websites.
Meanwhile the closing date for entrants into the REI’s eCommerce Website of the Year award is 27 May which has a prize worth €20,000.

Social media is coming full circle with the launch of a new product that brings it offline.
Dublin- and Blackpool-based firm Blue Apricot brings social media in-store and at events with social media display screens.

Darren Fenton, managing director, Blue Apricot, is hoping to replicate the success this technology has had in the US, in Ireland. He says it can engage potential customers.
“In the process you get to build your marketing lists, social networks and overall e-marketing campaigns.”
The screens provide a mix of applications, user interface design and content management controls.
The idea is that they bring digital signage to life by offering streaming links to social networking sites such as Twitter, Foursquare and Facebook.
The screens can show live streaming from the sites, but content is filtered so only positive messages are shown.
For example, the in-store screens will advertise when customers who check-in to a business online can get a discount.

Ireland’s new crowdfunding website Fund it has attracted funds totalling €30,000 just four weeks after its launch.

Already two projects have reached and surpassed their targets with days still to go in their fundraising time.

The platform was launched by Business to Arts in March in an effort to create an opportunity for creative ideas to go to pitch for support. Creators submit projects and select time periods in which they wish to fundraise.

Stuart McLaughlin, chief executive, Business to Arts, said: “While ‘Fund it’ is still in its infancy, the early signs are that the ‘crowd’ have embraced this new model of support, and this creates a new range of opportunities and possibilities for both the creative community in Ireland and consumers.”
The Irish Museum of Modern Art hosted the first project and reached 100 per cent five days ahead of the deadline. The museum raised over €4,800 from 88 individuals, and will purchase four drawings by artist Bea McMahon. Eleven projects and ideas have so far participated.