A COMPANY based in the Spa has won an E-Commerce Award at the inaugural Realex Payments E-Commerce Awards held at the RDS in Dublin recently.

Purchase.ie based in the Spa, Tralee was one of 11 companies shortlisted as a finalist as best Micro E-Commerce Business in Ireland and won the award.

Purchase.ie who specialise largely in the sale of products aimed at helping customers reduce energy bills and other domestic charges was selected as winner of the award.

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“We are completely chuffed to win this award,” said Colm Griffin of Purchase.ie. “It has been a struggle at times since the business was founded back in 2009 and many people advised me over the years to give up and get a 9 to 5 job. Being selected as a winner of this award is like getting vindication for seven years of hard graft.”

Purchase.ie initially operated out of Dublin but relocated to Kerry back in 2014 and has grown from strength to strength since then.

“The great thing about E-Commerce is that you don’t have to be based in an area which has a high population density” said Colm. “In my opinion the government should be looking to encourage more E-Commerce type businesses to locate in rural Ireland and create rural employment considering there is a growing housing crisis in Dublin whilst villages and small towns the length and breadth of Ireland are secluded and in decline.”

Moving forward, Purchase.ie hopes to continue to grow their product range and will be attending a number of International Trade Shows early in 2017 in an effort to find suitable goods to offer customers. They also hope to create a few local employment opportunities over the next 12 months.

“I would genuinely like to see County Kerry becoming some sort of E-Commerce Hub and if I can find a few local business people that feel they could share that vision then I would love to sit down and talk to them and make something happen,” said Colm.