Twenty five retailers in Bandon and Clonakilty are looking forward to a prosperous Christmas season and New Year with the aid of a new retail training programme funded and managed by The West Cork Enterprise Board. The intensive programme which took place over the past two months provided participants with the knowledge and expertise to progress their retail businesses and plan ahead for a successful 2013 with the guidance of well known retail guru, James Burke.
The West Cork Enterprise Board decided to host the programme in response to the current needs of retailers following the recent floods which devastated so many businesses in Clonakilty in June of this year and Bandon in November 2009. The programme gave retailers the opportunity to look ahead to a brighter future by focusing on a range of areas including developing sales growth strategies, strategic retail management, negotiation and developing world class customer service and visual merchandising and display.
Each retailer also received individual mentoring from one of Ireland’s top retail consultants, James Burke, who has worked closely with Fergal Quinn and will feature in the new “Feargal Quinn’s Retail Therapy” programme which airs this winter on RTE.
Speaking of the course, Christine Heffernan, Training Co-ordinator, West Cork Enterprise Board said, “The objective of this programme was to give retailers new tools which will help them to grow sales and plan ahead for their businesses. It is vital that our local retailers are afforded the opportunity to undertake such programmes to ensure that our towns can continue to not just survive but thrive through these challenging times. Our local retailers are the lifeblood of our towns and it is extremely important that they be given new tools with which to improve their business and this is what this programme was all about.”
Also speaking of the course, retail consultant James Burke said, “This has been a great programme to be involved with and it has been a pleasure to work with retailers who despite some tough times are still positive about their businesses. With overall retail sales in Ireland down by more than 4% for 2012 alone, it is imperative for retailers need to plan ahead for their business and with Christmas around the corner I am confident that each of our retailers can increase their business over the coming months by 5% by putting in to practice some effective techniques which they have learned on the course.”
Note to Editor;
County & City Enterprise Boards are Funded under Ireland's EU Structural Funds Programme 2007-2013 with funding from the Exchequer and the European Regional Development Fund.
