Oklahoma-based Web site helps shoppers embrace Irish roots

BY KEVAN GOFF-PARKER
THE JOURNAL RECORD

OKLAHOMA CITY – With 25 million Americans claiming Irish ancestry, market research expert Janne M. O'Donnell knew she didn’t necessarily need the luck ‘o the Irish to succeed when she created her Web-based Irish product company, A-Wee-Bit-Of-Ireland.com, in 2003.

“Having done the market research for an accountant friend who later decided not to make the jump, I thought this is a great opportunity,” O’Donnell said. “I had spent 23 years advising others on how to run their businesses, so I decided to do it myself. I knew the potential was there, and today I love the ability to put my marketing strategies into action.”

She said A-Wee-Bit-Of-Ireland.com is “home of the finest Irish woolens and linens on the Web.” All the Web site’s products are made in Ireland. The Web site offers an array of Irish perfumes, colognes and soaps, as well as 100-percent linen baptismal gowns, baby blankets and christening bonnets. Buyers can also purchase handmade sterling silver brooches that depict traditional Irish images for their ruanas, scarves, tams or capes and traditional woolen sweaters and caps.

“There are only 44 online sellers of Irish products in the United States,” O’Donnell said. “It is a huge market and a terrific opportunity. The margins are great for an online business and our sales have increased 450 percent from 2004 to 2005. Sales are up 700 percent this year, and our overall Internet sales increased 26 percent last year.

“People prefer to buy online,” she said. “I didn’t want to sell that ‘Kiss Me I’m Irish’ crap. I wanted really beautiful products crafted by the Irish people. I’ve personally been to Ireland and visited with the crafts people who create these products. This is what I’m really proud of.”

Of Irish decent herself, O’Donnell is extremely proud of her Irish roots. Her great-grandfather came to Canada during the 1840s after surviving and escaping on the “death ships” away the famine in Ireland. She has also traced her ancestry back to Bryan O’Donnell and Bridget Doherty in 1796.

She said shoppers won’t find an Irish Skipper Cap made in China when they shop her Web site.

“Our caps are made in the County Donegal and are made by John Hanna,” she said. “I’ve met him. They’re pure wool.

“I know the quality of the products is good,” she said. “We sell exclusively traditional Irish goods and as you can tell, I’m very proud of being Irish!”

O’Donnell said when she first started her business, she bought some modern-day products and tried to sell them online, but they did not sell well. She believes her clientele, many who come from the East Coast, desire Ireland’s traditional products.

“The modern sweater designs didn’t sell,” O’Donnell said. “Truly traditional Irish fishermen’s sweaters are designed so that their patterns reflect what clan they come from. That’s so when a fisherman was lost at sea, when his body was recovered, his kinsmen could bury him with his clan.”

O’Donnell said she found using the Yahoo store was the best way to establish her online business.

After she opened her business, she and her husband, John Moyer, traveled to Dublin, Ireland, and attended Enterprise Ireland, an economic development gathering that helps to match sellers and purchasers of Irish merchandise. They also attended the Royal Dublin Society, where they met more Irish merchants. She now travels annually to the Emerald Isle and attends conferences held by the Celtic Buyers Association of America.

“It is a part of my marketing strategy to change my Web site once a week,” O’Donnell said. “Our biggest seller is the Celtic ruana, a wool wrap that Irish women have worn for centuries. In 2004, I expanded and refined my line and added perfumes, which is now my second-biggest seller. It was a good strategic decision to go into consumables because people come back and buy more perfume after six months.”

Based in Norman, O’Donnell said she plans to add an employee this year, as well as build a warehouse to store her expanding line of Irish finery.

In celebration of the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day holiday, O’Donnell said she plans to fix her family corned beef and cabbage and sing plenty of Irish songs, but she admits she’ll probably be checking sales on her Web site constantly throughout the day into the evening.

“My business strategy is based on managing our Google ranking by constantly changing our Web site,” O’Donnell said. “We want to come up on the first Google page for Irish products you find when you surf and we use our pictures of Ireland to draw people into the Web site. My business goal is to be the largest online seller of Irish ruanas and Irish perfume in the United States and to have fun doing it. So far, I love it!”

For more information, call 1-866-321-7101 or go to http://www.A-Wee-Bit-Of-Ireland.com or http://store.yahoo.com/a-wee-bit-of-ireland/.

Kevan Goff-Parker reports on general business news. She can be reached at (405) 278-2849 or kevan.goff-parker@journalrecord.com.