This article is from page 12 of the 2008-08-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
CLARE people are adapting to the recession by looking for deals on in- ternet shopping sites, a new survey has revealed.
The county has topped an All-Ire- land survey of internet shoppers in terms of the amount of computer software, health and beauty products and hi-fi equipment bought using the eBay website.
According to the Head of Products at eBay Ireland, Eamonn Galvin, the recent downturn in the economy has led to many Clare people turning to the website in search of a good deal.
“It is very interesting to see how well Clare has done – I’m not sure of the reasons for it, maybe it’s to do with Ennis and the good connectivity but certainly Clare People are amaz- ingly active on eBay,” he said.
“One of the big difference between e-bay in Clare and markets like
America is that the people in Clare seems to use it more to buy every day items that they could easily get in the local shops. In America it’s a lot about collectibles – we do have good sales on them in Clare but we also have great sales on mainstream items like clothes and accessories, computers, home electronics.
‘We did a price survey on a number of products from mainstream retail- ers and eBay and some prices are up to 72 per cent cheaper on eBay, with the average being about 42 per cent cheaper on e-bay. With the current economic climate people are going online more and looking for bar- eT eae
Clare shoppers also came second behind Wexford in the amount of home furnishing bought per head of population which the county came third in both the amount of books and computers bought using the eBay website.