Bizstartup.ie - ENTREPRENEURS

Alan Gilligan, Amy Wright and Simon Dunne

Onoffer.ie

Launched by three friends – Alan Gilligan, Amy Wright and Simon Dunne – Onoffer.ie showcases the latest deals from retailers and businesses around Ireland, ranging from hotel breaks away, meal deals at restaurants and hairdressing offers.

Gilligan says the decision to start researching the business potential for a website of its kind came about by accident.

“We were out for an early bird one evening and we were all just catching up. We were wondering if there were any offers on and we couldn’t think of any one source of information that we could go to.

“When we did start looking around, we noticed there was a big gap in the market for a one-stop information source that would have all of these offers."

The trio spent six months doing intensive research on the business potential of starting such a website before officially launching Onoffer.ie in November 2009.

Visual appeal and easy navigation

They teamed up with Fruit Design, which designed Onoffer.ie.

“They are fantastic with the design functionality and functional aspects of a website. That was something that was very important to us – we wanted a website that was really easy to navigate, was user friendly and also looked visually appealing to promote clients’ offers in the best-possible way,” affirms Gilligan.

It has also worked to their advantage that each of the founders hails from a different professional background.

Wright is from a graphic design background, so she’s responsible for the look and feel of the site, whereas Dunne comes from a sales and marketing and fund accounting background and Gilligan comes from an accountancy background.

“Myself and Simon [Dunne] went to college together where we did management and marketing. We all have different skills to bring to the table and the synergy of those works quite well together,” says Gilligan.

Plans for the coming year

He says Onoffer.ie will look to continually grow and to cover all of Ireland’s localities in 2010.

“We want people to come to the site and find all of the offers specific to their own area, as well as offers from the bigger, national chains. We really want to expand to cover a lot of local retailers as well as bigger retailers in the whole country – even your local corner shop.

"One of the things we’ve noticed is that local retailers have fantastic offers on. They are every bit as good as the larger chains but people just don't know about them unless they walk in and see it.

“We want our website to be a place where the smaller retailers can compete on a level playing field with the larger chains.”

He says all a retailer needs to do is send an email to Onoffer.ie detailing what their offer is. When a retailer wants to change an offer, it can be updated for them there and then on Onoffer.ie.

Feedback through its forums

Onoffer.ie has just launched a forums section on its website this week.

‘We’re looking to build a community feel to this site so that’s what the forum will achieve. We’re hoping that people will help each other find offers that are the best value for money and also to give the retailers, the clients, a way to interact with people," says Gilligan.

"It’s so much more than just plain advertising. It’s encouraging interaction – for brands, including the small retailers, to interact  with the people who are purchasing from them," explains Gilligan.

"There are also many more benefits for users, as those who sign up to Onoffer.ie have the chance to enter competitions to win weekends away and meals for two each week, along with other competition prizes. They can also elect to receive regular updates on the latest offers in the categories that interest them."

360-degree view

In addition, Onoffer.ie is hoping to get hotels to put up videos of their rooms, leisure centre and restaurants so that people can visualise whether a hotel appeals to them or not.

In the next three weeks, the site is also launching a blog whereby people will be able to check out lots of articles on value-for-money information and ways of saving money, as well as just offers.

Says Gilligan: “It’s giving people the platform to talk about bargains that they’ve found and to help others out.”