Online sales snowball on Thursday and Friday

There’s no business like snow business was the tune being sung by Irish online operators who reported a dramatic surge in business as a result of the blizzard-like conditions that have shrouded the country in a blanket of white.

Bricks and mortar retailers who lost two days of trade to the snow storms might end up losing even more as online traders saw more business drift in their direction as a result of Storm Emma.

While the weather has proved to be catastrophic for many traditional retailers, some of their online competitors reported a sales bounce of as much as 25 per cent as Irish consumers refused to allow the snow to get in the way of their spending habits.

Online sales snowballed on Thursday and Friday as a Status Red weather alert forced the nation indoors and retailers to shut up shop. Strong sales across e-tailers were expected to continue over the weekend as they seek to recoup revenue lost through store closures with special online offers.

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Many sites were selling discounted products to shoppers if they used storm-related voucher codes.

25 per cent spike

Irish online fashion retailer Vavavoom. com said the current weather crisis has been very good for business. "We've seen a 25 per cent spike in sales since the onset of the snow," Vavavoom managing director, Paddy King said. "The Beast has brought lots of business".

Holland and Barrett distribution manager for Ireland, Jonathan Heffernan reported a similar uplift in online orders to their Ballina distribution centre. "It's a time of year when people are particularly health conscious and sales of natural medicines and wholefood stuffs would be strong anyway but there's been a huge surge in online sales over the last two days. We're already busy getting orders ready for despatch and delivery."

"We are seeing high volumes of sales from Irish and international retailers translating into packet and parcel volumes on our data systems" said Garrett Bridgeman, An Post's Managing Director of Mails and Parcels.

While orders may have been placed, many consumers will have to wait for their products to arrive as roads across the state remain impassable although Mr Bridgeman said full-scale deliveries by An Post will resume as soon as the road conditions allow.