The Best Ways to Support Local Businesses in Ireland

That coffee you bought from the café on the corner? Turns out it rippled further than you might think. Research from Ireland’s Local Enterprise Offices found that €10 spent locally generates more than €40 in community benefit through employment and related spending.

Local authorities offer 7 support methods: Regenerating town centres, licensing, infrastructure ·
5 consumer actions to help small businesses: Share social media, leave reviews ·
Local Enterprise Offices provide: Financial supports, training, mentoring ·
DLBA tip 1 for support: Positive Google Business review

The table below consolidates the most-cited statistics from official Irish sources on local business support.

What can you do to support local business?

Five practical actions sit at the centre of official campaigns, and the numbers suggest they work. When the Look for Local campaign ran in summer 2021, 66% of Irish consumers reported buying local specifically because of it—and 66% said they intended to keep spending that way after the campaign ended. That’s not a fluke; that’s a pattern backed by research conducted on over 700 participants in September 2021.

Shop locally and leave reviews

• Use directories like ShopLocalOnline.ie filtering by county, town, or business type
• Visit Dublin markets to support local food producers and small retailers
• Give positive Google reviews to increase business visibility and credibility, per the DLBA

Share on social media

• Share a business page on Facebook or retweet offers to amplify reach for free
• Use platforms like SupportDublin.com and Shoplocal.irish to discover businesses worth shouting about

Use local services

• Choose local tradespeople, cafés, and services over national chains where quality is comparable
• Buy from local designers and social enterprise products like We Make Good
• Recommend sustainable businesses within your community network

What this means: small shifts in individual behaviour compound into measurable economic impact when sustained across a community.

What is the best way to promote a local business?

Promotion works two ways: businesses need tools to reach customers, and customers need ways to find them. Official Ireland addresses both through a combination of online directories, grants, and campaigns designed to shift habits at scale.

Leverage online visibility

The Local Enterprise Offices approved 1,218 Trading Online Vouchers in 2019. By 2020, that number jumped to over 13,000—a 950% increase that reflects both demand and the urgency created by the pandemic (Local Enterprise Office). Those vouchers helped small businesses establish or expand their online presence, making them findable through directories like ShopLocalOnline.ie.

Engage community

82% of consumers were more likely to buy local in 2021 versus 2019, with 84% expressing that likelihood for online shopping and 80% for in-store purchases (Local Enterprise Office). The takeaway: community engagement isn’t soft—it’s measurable behavioural change.

Utilize official supports

The Local Enterprise Offices provide what they call a “First Stop Shop” service, offering grants for feasibility studies and financial support for new or expanding businesses employing up to 10 people (Local Enterprise Office). Beyond direct financial help, LEOs offer mentoring, training for sole traders, micro, and small businesses—tailored to local market conditions in each of the 31 offices across Ireland.

The implication: government investment in town centres and small business support creates the conditions for growth, but consumer participation determines whether those investments yield returns.

What are the 3 P’s of business success?

The 3 P’s—People, Process, Product—form a foundational framework for any business, including local ones supported by LEO programmes. Getting these right determines whether a small business survives its first year or builds lasting momentum.

People

Your team is often the most visible part of your business. For a local café, that means hiring staff who know regular customers by name. For a tradesperson, it means showing up on time and communicating clearly. The Local Enterprise Office offers mentoring specifically to help sole traders and micro businesses build these soft skills alongside technical ones.

Process

How you deliver your product or service matters as much as the product itself. LEO training covers everything from digital tools (thanks to the Trading Online Voucher programme) to operational planning. With 85% of consumers feeling more businesses are trading online than ever before (Local Enterprise Office), having a smooth online ordering or booking process is no longer optional.

Product

Local businesses often compete on quality and authenticity rather than price. Supporting local designers and social enterprises—products like those from We Make Good—gives consumers options that feel distinctive. When product quality matches the story, customers come back.

What this means: for business owners accessing LEO training and mentoring, the 3 P’s framework provides a checklist for turning government support into sustainable revenue.

What are the 5 keys of business success?

Beyond the 3 P’s, established sources identify five key drivers that separate businesses that grow from those that stall. These apply whether you’re a corner shop or a scaling startup.

Key drivers from established sources

Industry guidance identifies five consistent drivers: clear market positioning, financial management, customer acquisition strategy, operational efficiency, and adaptability. The LEOs’ 12-action policy statement for 2024-2030 (Gov.ie) explicitly targets decarbonisation and digitalisation as modernisation paths—suggesting that environmental and digital adaptability are now considered essential drivers, not optional extras.

“People are aware of the benefits of looking for local and they consciously chose to support local businesses this summer and plan to do so into the future.” — Local Enterprise Office

“This research has borne out the huge groundswell of support of local businesses we have seen this year… the impact has been significant and the response from businesses has been outstanding.” — Oisin Geoghegan, Chair of the LEO network

The pattern: official campaign statements and industry frameworks both point to the same conclusion—sustained local support requires both consumer habit formation and business capability building.

What are the 5 C’s of community?

The 5 C’s of community—Connection, Contribution, Collaboration, Coordination, and Celebration—offer a framework for thinking about why local support matters beyond economics. When a community rallies around its businesses, the effects compound.

Building strong connections

Connection between consumers and local businesses creates loyalty that national chains struggle to replicate. The Look for Local campaign tapped into this: “People are aware of the benefits of looking for local and they consciously chose to support local businesses this summer and plan to do so into the future,” according to the Local Enterprise Office. That’s not marketing language—that’s measurable behavioural intent.

The 5 C’s framework suggests that when communities celebrate local success stories and coordinate purchasing power—even informally—they create conditions where small businesses can invest in better products and staff. The economic multiplier is real: €10 spent locally generates over €40 of benefit to the local community in terms of employment (Local Enterprise Office). For every euro you hand to a local vendor, roughly four euros’ worth of community benefit flows back.

What this means: the €10-to-€40 multiplier depends on sustained consumer commitment to local purchasing—the data from 2021 shows the potential, but ongoing behaviour matters more than historical snapshots.

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Beyond retail shopping, using local handyman platforms Ireland local handyman platforms Ireland for home repairs directly funnels money back into community enterprises.

Frequently asked questions