“The Slip Sweet Shop is as much about sweets as bringing back something
from all our childhoods”, says Brian. And visitors to the website -
www.slipsweetshop.com – can instantly see what he means. The sight of old
favourites like acid drops, bulls’ eyes, sherbet lemons and humbugs sets the
mouth watering and is so evocative you can almost smell them.

The first step in the process was to set up a bricks and mortar shop in
The Butterslip on Kilkenny’s High Street. “I had to do a bit of research first
to find out if the sweets were still being made in Ireland or the UK. In England most small towns have a sweet shop like this so I found that the sweets were available. After that, I
set up the shop and this was followed by the online shop. Kilkenny is probably
too small a market for a shop like this so the online shop is very important
for my business.”

Getting Irish Business Online (www.gettingbusinessonline.ie)
is a partnership which was launched by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD in May this
year, it is between Google, Kilkenny County Enterprise Board, Blacknight
Internet Solutions and An Post and it is targeting the 40% of Irish SMEs
including sole traders that do not have a website or an online presence. The
campaign is calling on all businesses that do not have a website to log on to www.gettingbusinessonline.ie where they can create their business website for free.

Google Online Sales manager Claire Walsh explains,
“Google research shows that almost 60% of Irish commercial SMEs do not have an
entry in an online directory and that 40% do not have a website. Having
a website is just the first step but it is the most important one. There are
things you can do to enhance your presences such as being e-commerce enabled
and doing online advertising but at the moment we are trying to encourage
people to simply take the first step.”

She adds, “Kilkenny businesses need to get online
to avail of new customers and give added value to their existing customers. We
know that the idea of setting up a website can be a little overwhelming to some
people which is why the free template website on offer at www.gettingbusinessonline.ie
is very easy to set up and for those who would like help putting it together
they should contact their County Enterprise Board.