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05 May 2011
DoneDeal for successful Wexford Internet business
BEHIND A red door in The Bullring, with Innovation House written over it, the busy staff of one of Ireland’s most successful Internet companies works each day, unbeknownst to most Wexfordians.
Last month DoneDeal.ie had its most successful month yet, attracting over two million visitors to its website, up one million on March 2010. In less than five years, DoneDeal.ie has grown to become one of Ireland’s hottest internet properties.
Owner Fred Karlsson (39) told The Echo the sky is the limit from here. “We are very busy and we’re currently looking for a software developer. We are now the foremost website in Ireland for buying and selling second hand stuff.”
From a standing start in 2005, the website has grown by an average of 400-500 per cent each year. At the end of 2010, active ads totalled more than 110,000 on the website with an average of 60,000 new items advertised each month.
Employing seven people full time, as well as marketing staff in New Ross and a customer service centre in Waterford where 12 people are employed part-time, Mr. Karlsson said he loves doing business in Wexford.
Having moved into Innovation House in December from Tuskar House, off John’s Gate Street, Mr. Karlsson runs DoneDeal.ie with his wife Geraldine.
Enjoying a market leadership position in selling classified ads twice as big as its nearest competitor, DoneDeal.ie now has 119 classified sections on its website, with products ranging from art and antiques, right through to video games and vehicles, being bought and sold.
Parallel to the growth of classified advertising placed on DoneDeal.ie, has been a closely correlated growth in the traffic numbers to the site. Statistics issued by DoneDeal.ie indicate that traffic to the site has been growing at more than 10 per cent, month-on month.
At the end of March 2011, DoneDeal.ie was attracting more than two million unique visitors to its website every month, according to independent website metrics company, Ireland Metrix.
DoneDeal.ie’s success is not due to any one single factor but a combination of key elements including the quality of the user experience; search engine optimisation; customer support; a low cost base; company culture; and timing. It’s probably no coincidence that the website’s growth really exploded in 2008 when the recession officially began and consumer spending took a sharp nosedive.
Mr. Karlsson said: “We believe our growth trend is set to continue into 2011. At the moment, over 200,000 Irish customers visit our site every day and we hope to double that during 2011. How we do this is by listening to customers, by continuing to innovate and by continuing to offer people a great, easy and safe place where they can buy and sell second-hand stuff.”
From Sweden, Mr. Karlsson came to Ireland in 1997 with a view to working his way around the world. He’s been here more or less ever since, moving to Wexford in 2004 to be close to his wife Geraldine’s (nee Cullen) parents. The following year they set up Donedeal.ie, a consumer trading site.
Mr. Karlsson immediately fell in love with the pace of life in Wexford.
“I personally love Wexford. I’m from a similar-sized town in Sweden so it feels familiar to me, and I especially love the three-minute commute to work and the local characters and the way you get to know everyone,” said Mr. Karlsson.
“It’s a fantastic place to do business. As we are internet based business we can do our business from anywhere. Our challenge is that we are the only major internet based company in Wexford and we can’t meet up with people from other companies.”
Relying on Broadband, the staff can work from home or from Innovation House. Having worked in a number of European countries Mr. Karlsson said he hopes he has brought the best aspects of work from each to combine them at DoneDeal.ie
“It’s a good place to work and everyone is enjoying it. The staff gets a lot of responsibility and challenges, but we’re enjoying the success.”
“Setting up a business exclusively dependent on the Internet has been a very exciting journey, new social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook enable us to engage with our customers on a whole new level”, Geraldine Karlsson said recently.
Madeleine Quirke, CEO, Wexford Chamber said: “It is fantastic to see a Wexford based company such as DoneDeal.ie, acclaimed as one of Ireland’s biggest growing websites. In a relatively short space of time they have achieved a very strong national profile and provided local employment, I hope their success will encourage and inspire many budding Internet entrepreneurs.”
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