The longest established sports store in Monaghan says courses provided by the Local Enterprise Office have been “absolutely essential” to building its online presence! 

Dermot McDermott, owner of McDermotts Sports Centre in Monaghan Town, said the courses have “enabled me to sell confidently online and market my business to a wider audience.”

In the last 18 months the store, started in 1978 by his parents, has built its online store at www.sportscentre.ie where, “we have the entire contents of our business.” 

“It enables people to check out our products while they are at home.  They can research the product, check out what sizes we have in stock and come into the store and get even more knowledge from me or our staff.”

He says that without an online presence “I feel you are possibly trading with one arm tied behind your back.”

He has availed of a range of courses from LEO Monaghan related to online selling and marketing.

The first course, on building a website, he took at the start of the pandemic and followed it with courses on marketing, social media marketing and specific aspects of online selling.

He says it is an area where “like most retailers (I) would not have had the level of knowledge required to develop it more, and so these courses provided by Monaghan LEO have been absolutely essential to develop my online presence.”

“It has enabled me to sell confidently online and also to market my business to a wider audience. I am quite confident that what we are doing is on the right track, we are learning every day but with the help of the courses from Monaghan LEO, we feel we are moving in the right direction.”

Dermot, who is  former senior player with Monaghan GAA, said, he would “wholeheartedly encourage” other retailers to go to LEO Monaghan for supports.

“Every day is a school day now in retail.  It is evolving at a very fast pace led by a lot of the huge online retailers, so as small retailers we have to do our best to follow up.”

Dermot first had contact with LEO Monaghan in 2016 and says being a retailer is competitive and is no longer about simply having a shop counter. 

“You have to have that online presence in terms of sale and marketing so I would encourage all retailers to avail of whatever supports that are there.”