| County | Percent |
|---|---|
| Dublin | 19% |
| Galway | 9% |
| Cork | 8% |
| Tipperary | 8% |
| Clare | 6% |
| Limerick | 6% |
| Meath | 5% |
| Wexford | 5% |
| Mayo | 4% |
| Offaly | 3% |
| Kerry | 3% |
| Kildare | 3% |
| Laois | 3% |
| Longford | 3% |
| Louth | 2% |
| Wicklow | 2% |
| Carlow | 1% |
| Cavan | 1% |
| Kilkenny | 1% |
| Roscommon | 1% |
| Waterford | 1% |
| Westmeath | 1% |
| Antrim | 1% |
| Leitrim | 1% |
| Sligo | 1% |
| Armagh | 0% |
| Derry | 0% |
| Donegal | 0% |
| Down | 0% |
| Fermanagh | 0% |
| Monaghan | 0% |
| Tyrone | 0% |
| Country | Percent |
|---|---|
| Ireland | 83% |
| England | 10% |
| Spain | 2% |
| Wales | 2% |
| France | 1% |
| Austria | 1% |
| Belgium | 1% |
| Luxembourg | 1% |
| USA | 1% |
We started selling the Dovado USB Mobile Broadband Router (UMR) on 24 January 2009 and sales have been steady since, we’re pleased to say, despite no formal advertising or marketing. Generally customers have found us via the manufacturer’s website, by searching the web or by word of mouth. A big thank you to you all.
From the outset, our perception was that demand for the 3G router in Ireland was spread right across all counties, with many of the queries coming from the more remote locations. To put these perceptions to the test, a sales breakdown by county is shown on the right (up to the time of writing, of course).
Highlights
Perceived spread is valid. Outside of Ulster, we’ve sold into every county in Ireland. I’m not sure what this says about Donegal and Monaghan (the only counties in the Republic without any sales). Are they poorly served by 3G?
Strongest sales in main centres of population. Despite the clearly unfounded perception that we’re dealing with a mostly rural customer-base, sales to Co. Dublin account for nearly 20% of all Irish sales. Indeed all the main centres of population figure strongly, further evidence of the demand for this product across the whole country.
Our sales outside Ireland on the increase. A second table shows how sales to other countries compare. Sales to the UK have been there since the outset albeit at a smaller level than Irish sales, probably due to the greater availability of 3G routers in the UK. Since we became the manufacturer’s recommended worldwide supplier in April 2009, sales worldwide are now on the increase.
Conclusion
There is strong demand for this product in Ireland and we’re probably only reaching a fraction of it – the early adopter type of user keen to do a bit of research. If you manage a high street shop selling related products of services in any town or city in Ireland, there is a largely unfulfilled demand for a 3G router, so please get in touch to discuss our trade prices.
3 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.
Yes you’re right Gerry, Ulster (Donegal in particular) is very poorly served by 3G broadband. We’ve got one but our reception is terrible and we never get over EDGE speeds.
Thanks for the comment, Steven. I did a quick check on coverage maps from O2 and 3 – as usual the maps suggest there should be reasonable coverage around many towns in Donegal and Monaghan, but I imagine in reality that can often mean ropey 2G at best, as you suggest. I suppose the geography in Donegal is more challenging than in most other counties.
Actually since this article was posted we have sold several routers to customers in Donegal, leaving Co. Monaghan as the odd one out in the 26 counties.