Come on!! Defend your prices South Irl Retailers

the groutch

there is so much vagueness and comparision of unlike for unlike by the OP that I dont know where to begin

Guy:Incognito

the groutch wrote: »

there is so much vagueness and comparision of unlike for unlike by the OP that I dont know where to begin

I tried to make a strat but he ignored most of it.

gerrycollins

where is the OP?

Hagar

Gone to Newry for a spot of shopping perhaps...

ecom

as a relatively new (very) small retailer myself (1 year or so), I completely agree that the suppliers in Ireland do charge considerably higher prices than suppliers in the UK or elsewhere.

That is why I now source most of my product from outside Ireland.
As a result of this any product I sell that any of the major supermarkets here sell, I sell cheaper. In most cases 10% to 15% cheaper and in some cases a lot more. Every now and again the larger stores offer a special on a product which will beat my price, but these specials only ever last a few days whereas my low price is long term.

Believe me if I can do it, they can do it, however I believe they choose not to.

I could never sell the product as cheap as they sell in the UK because of the difference in VAT, exchange rate and extra delivery cost to ship to Ireland, however I can definately sell considerably cheaper than the large supermarkets.

I choose to do this to differentiate myself from competitors and because I as a consumer was and still am sick at being ripped off.

Please dont ask me where my shop is as I'm not intending this to be an advert, but I will give you a few examples:


Listerine Original Mouthwash 500ml
Tesco Price = €5.19 (was €6.90)
My price = €4.00

Gillette Fusion Power Blades 4pk
Tesco Price = €12.19 (was €13.99)
My price = €11.00

Vaseline Int Care Aloe Fresh Lotion 400ml
Tesco Price = €7.29
My Price = €4.00


I chose Tesco as a comparison as their prices are easily available online.

Obviously a shop like Tescos has considerably higher running costs but surely as a bulk buyer they buy the product cheaper than I do?

Kimia

Was in New Look recently (in the south) and was checking out shoes.

The label says £25 and €40. The shop had put a sticker over the sterling price but I had a look under it.

Another time, in Dunnes, there were slippers on sale for €4 and I found a tag which had €4 or £2. They had tried to cut off all the sterling prices but someone forgot one!

This can't be right? How can anyone defend this??

rubadub

ecom wrote: »

Believe me if I can do it, they can do it, however I believe they choose not to...

Obviously a shop like Tescos has considerably higher running costs but surely as a bulk buyer they buy the product cheaper than I do?

As a retailer you must know that the manufacturers would simply stop supplying tesco, dunnes etc if they did the same practice as you. I figure this is how €2 shops can sell chocolate bars much cheaper than tescos etc too.

It is like off-licences selling multipack beers singly, legally there is nothing wrong with it, but it is frowned upon by the suppliers, small stores can get away with it, but they would stop supplying the big boys if they did it.

I have heard the term "grey imports" for what you are doing, first heard this in the 80s when small shops in town and in UK games magazines would sell japanese megadrives & snes's. The manufacturers try to control sales in each region and charge what they can get in each region/country.

If tesco could do it then why wouldn't they?

Hagar

rubadub wrote: »

...but they would stop supplying the big boys if they did it.

I'm not so sure, if they did that who would sell their product?

ecom

rubadub wrote: »

As a retailer you must know that the manufacturers would simply stop supplying tesco, dunnes etc if they did the same practice as you. I figure this is how €2 shops can sell chocolate bars much cheaper than tescos etc too.

I dont agree at all with this.
Do you honestly think that manufacturers would at any stage stop supplying their biggest customer?

€2 shops can sell chocolate bars cheaper than Tesco because they choose to do so and not have as much margin.

Your average bar of chocolate in Musgraves (and I'm sure they arent the cheapest) costs 35c. If a Centra charge 99c for that bar then all it means is that their margins are higher. If they charged 50c for the same bar, the manufactuers arent going to stop supplying Musgraves

rubadub wrote: »

I have heard the term "grey imports" for what you are doing, first heard this in the 80s when small shops in town and in UK games magazines would sell japanese megadrives & snes's. The manufacturers try to control sales in each region and charge what they can get in each region/country.

I can understand this however its not the practice that I necesarily adopt. Much of the branded product I sell is UK manufactured and distributed in exactly the same way as the same product that Tesco sell is.

rubadub wrote: »

If tesco could do it then why wouldn't they?

Very good question, however the answer is 'profit taking'. They are going to charge what we as consumers are willing to pay. There is very little price difference between a basket of goods bought in Tesco's and the same basket bought in Dunnes or SuperV.

If I was a cynic I'd tell you why I think that is

rubadub

Hagar wrote: »

I'm not so sure, if they did that who would sell their product?

Other supermarkets willing to buy at the high price and pass it onto the customer. I am sure Ben Dunne would absolutely love it if he was the only coke dealer in dublin. (coca-cola I mean;))

ecom wrote: »

Do you honestly think that manufacturers would at any stage stop supplying their biggest customer?

Yes, I thought this would be common knowledge to any retailer like yourself, do you think the manufacturers are happy with what you are doing (I am by the way!).

ecom wrote: »

€2 shops can sell chocolate bars cheaper than Tesco because they choose to do so and not have as much margin.

Your average bar of chocolate in Musgraves (and I'm sure they arent the cheapest) costs 35c.

My mate has a card for musgraves and I have been in the odd time, I have never seen great deals there. Bars are 5 for €2 in the €2 shops, that is 40cent each, and for bars like terrys chocolate orange, toblerone, bournville, ones that tend to be a little more expensive. Also they often have limited edition bars you never see in regular shops, this really led me to think they source from abroad.

ecom wrote: »

I can understand this however its not the practice that I necesarily adopt. Much of the branded product I sell is UK manufactured and distributed in exactly the same way as the same product that Tesco sell is.

I expect tesco get what they can from the cheapest source, but price controls definitely exist on some products, it is certainly nothing new, look at region coding on videos and games going back to the 80's. I know levis stopped tesco trying to import jeans from the US to sell in the UK & here. I have never seen UK branded coke in a major irish supermarket, but no doubt if a maker does let them away with it they will do it, and milk it dry, it would be foolish not to.

Have a read of this thread.
http://wwww.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=58908965

It has a link to this http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=NEWS+FEATURES-qqqm=nav-qqqid=39196-qqqx=1.asp

Boxes of Pampers nappies that are being sold at €25 to Irish retailers are available for €10 in Britain. The Sunday Business Post sourced cases of Coca-Cola that typically sell for €9 in Ireland for €5.60 (»5) in Britain.

Price lists acquired by this newspaper showed a huge disparity in the prices which suppliers in Ireland are charging retailers compared to the prices British suppliers are charging.

‘‘The prices differences are huge, but this should not let the big retailers like Tesco with pan-European buying power off the hook,” said one medium sized independent retailer One large retailer said it had approached the British outfits directly, but many refused to open an account that bypassed the Irish office.

‘‘It is important to remember that the Irish market is extremely small, so when there is trouble, they simply shrug their shoulders,” he said.

‘‘They have passively decided they are not going to do anything about it.” The retailer said he felt ‘‘absolutely powerless. The finger is consistently being pointed at us for being too expensive, but the vast majority of us are not making huge profits’’......

REI said a comprehensive survey of 20,000 products found that the Euro supplier price was less than the UK supplier price in less than 1 per cent of cases.

‘‘Something is seriously wrong when standard grocery brands are up to 250 per cent more expensive when sourced by retailers in Ireland than in Britain,” Fitzsimons said

‘‘The anti-competitive practice of many fashion and cosmetic brand owners who refuse to allow Irish retailers to buy in sterling, instead insisting on euro payment at a premium of sometimes 50 per cent on the sterling price, will in effect lead to significant business closures.......

parsi

brian ireland wrote: »

Sanex deodorant £0.99 €2.99

Dunnes had this for 99c IIRC

Though have a look at this - http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/product_range/2744_3421.htm
UK5.99 - 10.99 here.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Mitchum roll on , £2.73 (€) - http://www.boots.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10052&productId=5187&callingViewName=&langId=-1&catalogId=11051

It's just under €5 here.

brian ireland

gerrycollins wrote: »

where is the OP?

Sorry Gerry & Hagar. Easter Weekend is a time for the family. I haven't vanished.
I was looking through a few prices for myself, as I said on my original post, The price quoted are not my personal findings. So now I will post my own.

[QUOTE=I was looking at recession bustours web site and it confirmed what i was thinking. Prices in the south are a joke. this is from their site..[/QUOTE]

To be honest I lost interest in looking for cheap price comparisons because there are so many.
Here are a few
Tesco Ireland V Asda UK
Colgate Advanced Whtng 100ml -Tesco ie €4.49 (Asda £2.92 )
Listerine Stay white 500Ml -Tesco ie €5.79 (Asda £3.31)
Sudocrem Antiseptic 250ml -Tesco ie €6.67 (Asda £3.41)
Bramley cooking apples per kg -Tesco ie €2.38 (Asda £1.58)
Uncle Bens rice G.V -Tesco ie €1.95 (Asda £1.65)
Green giant corn nibblets 340grm -Tesco ie €1.14 (Asda £0.67)

Its not just food, it rampant across all products. I understand what you said in a previous post that the suppliers are not giving the best prices to Irish retailers. In my line of business if we cant get realistic prices from Irish companies unfortunately we have to look to OUR European market for better prices.
Mybe a bit more of this might focus the suppliers minds

ecom wrote: »

as a relatively new (very) small retailer myself (1 year or so), I completely agree that the suppliers in Ireland do charge considerably higher prices than suppliers in the UK or elsewhere.

That is why I now source most of my product from outside Ireland.
As a result of this any product I sell that any of the major supermarkets here sell, I sell cheaper. In most cases 10% to 15% cheaper and in some cases a lot more. Every now and again the larger stores offer a special on a product which will beat my price, but these specials only ever last a few days whereas my low price is long term.

Believe me if I can do it, they can do it, however I believe they choose not to.

I could never sell the product as cheap as they sell in the UK because of the difference in VAT, exchange rate and extra delivery cost to ship to Ireland, however I can definately sell considerably cheaper than the large supermarkets.

I choose to do this to differentiate myself from competitors and because I as a consumer was and still am sick at being ripped off.

Please dont ask me where my shop is as I'm not intending this to be an advert, but I will give you a few examples:


Listerine Original Mouthwash 500ml
Tesco Price = €5.19 (was €6.90)
My price = €4.00

Gillette Fusion Power Blades 4pk
Tesco Price = €12.19 (was €13.99)
My price = €11.00

Vaseline Int Care Aloe Fresh Lotion 400ml
Tesco Price = €7.29
My Price = €4.00


I chose Tesco as a comparison as their prices are easily available online.

Obviously a shop like Tescos has considerably higher running costs but surely as a bulk buyer they buy the product cheaper than I do?

the groutch

there we go, not comparing like with like, one lot is from tesco, the other is from asda, and that's could easily be all the items asda had a offer on at the time
you can't go around making wild accusations and use one of the cheapest in the uk with one of the more expensive in eire
sure if I was to compare the cheapest in eire with the most expensive in the uk, I'm sure that the € price down here would be less than the £ price in the uk for some itmes

brian ireland

the groutch wrote: »

there we go, not comparing like with like, one lot is from tesco, the other is from asda, and that's could easily be all the items asda had a offer on at the time
you can't go around making wild accusations and use one of the cheapest in the UK with one of the more expensive in eire
sure if I was to compare the cheapest in eire with the most expensive in the uk, I'm sure that the € price down here would be less than the £ price in the uk for some itmes

? I don't work for consumer affairs. I am only pointing out the facts. I don't have the time print every price difference in the country just to prove to you what you already know. wild accusations???? Think not!!

Green giant corn nibblets 340grm -Tesco ie €1.14 (Asda £0.67) Tesco uk £0.67

brian ireland

Poundland uk. Everything 1 pound. Maxwell house coffee 1 pound 100 grms Maltesers 1 pound. Profits up 122% last year

Anyone know if they are coming to Ireland??

the groutch

okay maybe I was being a bit blunt, but it would have made things alot easier if you had said where the source of the prices was from the outsiet, as north & south is so vague

gerrycollins

ecom wrote: »

I dont agree at all with this.
Do you honestly think that manufacturers would at any stage stop supplying their biggest customer?

Without causing too much offence and mods feel free to punish if i word incorrectly.

I know a large Irish establishment with buying power to beat the band. They are committed to supporting irish jobs(so what i hear you say) so they buy from irish suppliers or irish based offices.

they decided one time for a laugh to buy their mars bars(only an example please) from the back of beyonds through uk based operations to save on the sterling/euro crack. Mars found out and reminded them that they had a contract with their irish office and the order was refused.

I would love to be in you position but sadly im not and neither are a lot of retailers around.

the groutch

gerry, is this the same establishment who say that the difference is they're irish, yet about two thirds of their staff appear to be foreigners

Red Sleeping Beauty

brian ireland wrote: »

Poundland uk. Everything 1 pound. Maxwell house coffee 1 pound 100 grms Maltesers 1 pound. Profits up 122% last year

Anyone know if they are coming to Ireland??

It'll be TwoEuroLand if they do :rolleyes:

brian ireland

Sorry made a mistake

the groutch

you made your point that they are supporting irish jobs, I was purely stating my opinion that that is not entirely true, I have nothing against anyone of any nationality working in this country, I admit I should have used a more politically correct term rather than just "foreigners"

meathette

I think most people on this place love to come on and disagree..... while the OP prices might not be the most accurate we all know we are being ripped off! I think that is his point and I for one am also sick of paying a euro price and looking in disgust at the "equivalent" sterling price. Bottom line is retailers are not passing on the recent drop in the value of the sterling and it is mostly the large chains which are based in Britain. I don't think it is too much to ask for retailers to pass on the changes which have taken place- lower electricity costs, falling wages (most people have now taken a pay cut in all sectors) and better euro/sterling exchange rate. God help the people who are really struggling with money- food alone costs a fortune!!

cheapskate

Is there any particular reason why your called the Groutch:D

I'm backing Brian here, it is a joke but it's on us!
Retailers here do have higher operating costs and thats fact but does this warrant the price differential, I think not!

70% off, everything reduced! and I'd bet they'll still break even if not make a tiny margin, No?
So we have been paying these largely inflated prices in the good times and now they cry foul.
Hoteliers and b&b's used to be reasonably priced until they priced themselves out of the market, could the retailers be following suit? (Not good for any of us, even the consumer in the long run)

Guys/Gals get off your high horses and try to be positive about what Brian tried to start here, Not knocking him at every post!

CS

gerrycollins

the tag line was for retailers to come and defend themselves. I have and in one thread on here i have offered a poster the choice to view my books and the poster has not taken up the oppertunity.

@ the grouch no comment but the point was more that the supplier was refusing an order via some far off land because there is a contract in place between them and their irish office and the deal/order should only be done through the irish office.

ejmaztec

gerrycollins wrote: »

Without causing too much offence and mods feel free to punish if i word incorrectly.

I know a large Irish establishment with buying power to beat the band. They are committed to supporting irish jobs(so what i hear you say) so they buy from irish suppliers or irish based offices.

they decided one time for a laugh to buy their mars bars(only an example please) from the back of beyonds through uk based operations to save on the sterling/euro crack. Mars found out and reminded them that they had a contract with their irish office and the order was refused.

I would love to be in you position but sadly im not and neither are a lot of retailers around.

I'm sure that the country is riddled with these restrictive practices, and am pretty sure that there must be an EU competition law that makes them illegal. It's about time some high-powered smart-arse EU lawyer got his teeth into this carry on - and got the full support of the Irish government to boot.

If consumers can avail of intra-EU bargains, the retailers should be allowed to do the same, so that they don't have to shut up shop.

Guy:Incognito

meathette wrote: »

I think that is his point and I for one am also sick of paying a euro price and looking in disgust at the "equivalent" sterling price. Bottom line is retailers are not passing on the recent drop in the value of the sterling

If sterling goes through the roof, would you be happy for them to ramp up the € price to match ?

animaal

Stekelly wrote: »

If sterling goes through the roof, would you be happy for them to ramp up the € price to match ?

Do you think that if sterling went through the roof, the large multiples wouldn't raise the Euro prices?

brian ireland

Stekelly wrote: »

If sterling goes through the roof, would you be happy for them to ramp up the € price to match ?

Your comparison is pointless. Do you never shop around in your local town for the best price? Petrol, Electrical goods, Alcohol? Or do you just pay the whatever price is asked just incase the price might go up someday?

Guy:Incognito

animaal wrote: »

Do you think that if sterling went through the roof, the large multiples wouldn't raise the Euro prices?

Thats not what I aske, you want prices lowered because of currency flucuations in another country.

brian ireland wrote: »

Your comparison is pointless. Do you never shop around in your local town for the best price? Petrol, Electrical goods, Alcohol? Or do you just pay the whatever price is asked just incase the price might go up someday?

My comparison was very valid. What has shopping around got to do with expectign prices to drop because another countries currency weakens?