Studio Lugh Serves Irish ECommerce in Longford/Leitrim/Westmeath

Longford photographer Neil Lennon of Studio Lugh has 20 years of professional photography experience gained in Paris, New York and Milan. He brings these skills to the Midlands to service the Irish eCommerce and visual advertising market.

Studio Lugh is based in Longford, Ireland. It brings twenty years of professional photography experience from Paris, New York and Milan to the Irish Midlands. Essentially a product photography studio, it aims to serve the fast-growing €4.5bn Irish eCommerce market by providing high-quality photographs to illustrate catalogues and visual advertisements.

The photographer, Neil Lennon, has vast experience of the luxury fashion, jewellery and perfumes market. He has assisted some of the best-known international photographers, working for the major fashion houses throughout the world. He has worked extensively as a photographer for Parisian mail-order companies, department stores and supermarket chains. He produced a large volume of photographs on a monthly basis over a period of two years for a Parisian fashion magazine.

Studio Lugh strives to improve Irish eCommerce. At present, few Irish retailers sell online despite the size of the market. This results in 70% of online sales going overseas to neighbouring markets, loss to the national economy and damage to employment levels. There is a perception that eCommerce in Ireland is a difficult business. Broadband speeds are insufficient in some areas, we don't have post codes, eStores are difficult to maintain and Ireland's economy is in bad shape, retail is suffering generally. However, 40% of Irish consumers intend to purchase more goods and services online in the next year, 60% would buy from an Irish website offering equivalent offers to international sites.

Fortunately, two thirds of Irish business-to-consumer companies have an optimistic outlook on growth for the next two years. The internet's contribution to the Irish economy will grow from about 3% of GDP at present to 6% by 2016. Ireland's digital economy is forecast to grow from under €5 billion to over €11 billion in the next three years, creating new jobs and businesses.

This is good news for the Irish economy, business owners and employees. Ireland has just successfully exited from the EU bailout programme and now needs to stimulate its economy. The government is introducing unique, residence-specific post codes and is progressing with it National Broadband Scheme which aims to bring high-speed connectivity to rural areas. It is now up to businesses to create their eStores: there is a demand and the market is lucrative.

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