Come on!! Defend your prices South Irl Retailers

gerrycollins

seeing as costs are now been put on the adgenda did you know that retailers have to (ie no bloody choice) give their staff a 2.5% pay rise at the end of april and another 2.5% in August. Where am i going to find that to pay it?

For me and others and insurance is going up as the insurance companies claim that claims go up in times of resession. Now thankfully im on a scheme and my rate of increase was miniminal but others may face a higher increase.

Just quickly on the lower ESB prices, the reduction only happened this past month and to be honest the first reduction will only ease the pressure they will need to reduce it drastically for it to have an impact on prices at the till.

cheapskate

I don't think anyone is denying that retailers are facing a more difficult period than we have all experienced in the past ten years

Gerry, If you have been in business over the past 10-12 years then you've made a tidy profit when times were good and guess what .....good times are over for a bit, we all face our bills to pay, rising costs, lower wages (some of us)
I do think that the government lost the run of themselves introducing such a high minimum wage in comparison to the UK, but then the cost of living in this country is higher, we have to pay more for our goods & services.....cycle continues

(ie no bloody choice) give their staff a 2.5% pay rise at the end of april and another 2.5% in August. Where am i going to find that to pay it?

What choice does the consumer have, there's a Cartel out there, Oh yea they can drive 100 miles over the border to save a few quid!

I'm not anti-retailer or anything only recently I've ordered and paid in advance for Top end Speaker system €4000 which I sourced in Ireland, Yes it was cheaper in the UK, but I don't knock people who feel the have to OR want to shop in the North

CS

rubadub

gerrycollins wrote: »

did you know that retailers have to (ie no bloody choice) give their staff a 2.5% pay rise at the end of april and another 2.5% in August.

I didn't know this, why is this the case? Is it the national wage agreement or something? My company does not give this and I would expect many retailers do not. Or is the min wage going up?

ScouseMouse

Yes, the min wage allows for staged pay increases on those dates.

However, increasing wages at this time is a nightmare and will only cause staff to loose hours to pay for it !

darc

cheapskate wrote: »

Gerry, If you have been in business over the past 10-12 years then you've made a tidy profit when times were good and guess what .....good times are over for a bit, we all face our bills to pay, rising costs, lower wages (some of us)

CS

The single biggest problem for retailers in Ireland is the astronomical rent that is charged by landlords.
Classic example - small store in south anne street 540 sq ft (pixels cameras)
Rent is €175,000
Rates are €14,600
Add in electricity at approx. €5000 / year
Staff (3) at approx. €100,000 /year
Insurance @ €4,000

Total operating costs if you were to take on this store (details on hwbc.ie website) come to €300,000.
In 2001 a similar sized store on South Anne street was renting at under £70,000 & rates were under £5000.

So go after the landlords for prime reason prices are dearer.

UK Comparison - Prime unit in Deansgate in Centre of Manchester, 3 doors from House of Fraser, Size 678 sq ft. Rent £78,000. Rates £4100. Staff costs £65,000, Other costs £5,000, total operating costs £149,000 / €168,000 or 40% below cost of st anne st!

gerrycollins

rubadub wrote: »

I didn't know this, why is this the case? Is it the national wage agreement or something? My company does not give this and I would expect many retailers do not. Or is the min wage going up?

it applies to grocery retailers who signed up to it and which always paid a slightly higher rate than min wages but for that in store unions could not hold a shop to ransom over wages as it was agreeded in the JLC.

The current rates were agreeded at a time when inflation was at an all time high so the JLC bent over an took one from the unions and didnt listen to our appeals,

gerrycollins

cheapskate wrote: »

I don't think anyone is denying that retailers are facing a more difficult period than we have all experienced in the past ten years

Gerry, If you have been in business over the past 10-12 years then you've made a tidy profit when times were good and guess what .....good times are over for a bit, we all face our bills to pay, rising costs, lower wages (some of us)
I do think that the government lost the run of themselves introducing such a high minimum wage in comparison to the UK, but then the cost of living in this country is higher, we have to pay more for our goods & services.....cycle continues

What choice does the consumer have, there's a Cartel out there, Oh yea they can drive 100 miles over the border to save a few quid!

I'm not anti-retailer or anything only recently I've ordered and paid in advance for Top end Speaker system €4000 which I sourced in Ireland, Yes it was cheaper in the UK, but I don't knock people who feel the have to OR want to shop in the North

CS

Personally im only in the business a few years so im still at the natural loss making stage however this year was to be my money making/breakeven year but thats gone now.

As for the 10 to 15 yr old retailers you are right. however the bad ones who dont adapt to the current situation will be the ones who will lose out most.

I have always advocated shopping around and I was even up north with the missus shopping during the past year. However in my opnion Coke or Persil etc wont give a toss they are still making a sale.

As for the government thats a topic for another day.the cycle is a vicious one which still starts at the top. other countries are investing in capital projects such as schools hospitals and such to generate jobs and stimulate the economy instead thats too much for our boys to organise they decided to tax everyone at source and hope it will sort everything out. soon there will be nothing to tax.sorry for the mini rant and off topic

ecom

As I mentioned earlier I am a small retailer who keeps prices as low as possible, lower than the supermarkets, because this is the model I have chosen and it works for me.

I agree that all retailers costs in Ireland are considerably higher than the UK, however I don't agree that it justifies 50 to 100% price difference.

I am completely on the side of the consumer here in that yes in a lot of cases we are being 'ripped-off'. Having said that though, we are free to choose where we shop as much as a retailer is free to choose how much they charge. If we dont like what they charge then we just need to shop elsewhere. Retailers are under no obligation to lower prices just because we (consumers) want them to. If they charge higher prices and still get the customers then thats good for them.

As a retailer I am currently passing on the lower prices due to the weak sterling. I was literally lowering prices on a weekly basis until recently.

Quite possibly I will need to increase prices again when the sterling becomes stronger.

I also continously look for savings in my business costs on a monthly basis to ensure that I can keep my prices low. Even though I've only been trading for a year now I'm in negotiations about a rent reduction. I've also reduced energy and waste costs in the past few weeks. All saving that will be reflected in my pricing.

I guess my (very longwinded) point is that at the end of the day retailers can charge what they want to charge. It's up to consumers to shop around to find the product cheaper. And whether thats in a discount store, online or up the North, it's generally always possible.

ejmaztec

I wonder what effect this will have, apart from giving some Irish suppliers a headache and adding even more to the unemployed list, although it might force Irish suppliers to drop their prices to keep in business and retain their staff eg. Mars, Coca Cola etc etc....



http://www.independent.ie/national-news/tesco-price-plan-will-bypass-irish-suppliers-1711740.html

Tesco price plan will bypass Irish suppliers

TESCO Ireland said yesterday that comparisons with Northern Ireland prices are damaging their reputation and sales, forcing them to start purchasing more goods directly through the UK supply network in order to narrow the gap.
A confidential document circulated to suppliers said they were moving to source all international branded goods directly through their UK commercial operation because of the damage done by higher prices in the Republic. "Consumers, media and Government associate Tesco Ireland almost exclusively with price differentials between Northern Ireland and Ireland," it said.
Damage
"Having invested circa £3bn (€3.4bn) in Ireland, the damage to the Tesco Ireland brand by our almost exclusive association with the retail premium versus Northern Ireland is unacceptable," the document added.
Because Tesco did not have a strong presence in the border towns, the impact of cross-border shopping did not "net out" across the group through increased sales there, as would be the case for international suppliers, it added.
The result was that like-for-like sales had been "well below expectation", particularly for branded goods, according to the report, details of which were published in online newsletter 'Retail Intelligence' yesterday.
Tesco Ireland spokesman Dermot Breen confirmed that the chain is moving to source most of its international branded groceries through the UK.
However, this would not impact on Irish-produced goods which would continue to be sourced directly in Ireland, he said. "We are buying centrally for the international branded products, but Irish products are purchased locally and that will continue to be the case," he said.
The new purchasing pattern will apply to packaged branded goods which are generally produced overseas, such as soups, cereals, jars, toiletries, nappies and baby products; but not to fresh products such as meat and milk which are mostly produced and sourced in Ireland.
The switch to centralised purchasing through the UK chain is believed to be nearing completion.
- Aideen Sheehan

darc

Finally tesco are using their power positively. Distributors are the second biggest scourge of Irish retailers with many still on the 1.60 exchange rate.

If distributors finally wake up and landlords reduce the rents, then you'll see a much samller gap bewteen UK & Ireland.

If Tesco reduce their prices, so too will dunnes & musgrave (supervalu / centra).

Maybe Debenhams will too - but I guess pigs will fly before that happens!:D

Absolam

darc wrote: »

Finally tesco are using their power positively. Distributors are the second biggest scourge of Irish retailers with many still on the 1.60 exchange rate.

If distributors finally wake up and landlords reduce the rents, then you'll see a much samller gap bewteen UK & Ireland.

If Tesco reduce their prices, so too will dunnes & musgrave (supervalu / centra).

Maybe Debenhams will too - but I guess pigs will fly before that happens!:D

I would have said Tesco are effectively moving jobs from Ireland to the UK as a result of bad publicity. Tesco may end up looking better to their customers, but there is no doubt that a lot of Irish people will lose jobs as a result of this.

darc

Absolam wrote: »

I would have said Tesco are effectively moving jobs from Ireland to the UK as a result of bad publicity. Tesco may end up looking better to their customers, but there is no doubt that a lot of Irish people will lose jobs as a result of this.

It might bring some dsitributors to their senses. - The number of jobs affected would be very little as the only "added value" part of the process is taking the products off one truck, putting into a warehouse & then reloading it onto another truck.

dh0661

ecom wrote: »

As I mentioned earlier I am a small retailer who keeps prices as low as possible, lower than the supermarkets, because this is the model I have chosen and it works for me.
I am completely on the side of the consumer
As a retailer I am currently passing on the lower prices due to the weak sterling. I was literally lowering prices on a weekly basis until recently.

What area are you operating in ?

PM me if you would prefer not to tell around here.

ch750536

Typical of Tesco.

Like I said, just stop shopping there if you want to save Irish jobs.

Keep shopping there if you wish to donate cash to the UK funk you fund.

Red Sleeping Beauty

ch750536 wrote: »

Typical of Tesco.

Like I said, just stop shopping there if you want to save Irish jobs.

Keep shopping there if you wish to donate cash to the UK funk you fund.

Same could be said of a lot of non-Irish companies no ? HMV for instance. Not that that Hilary Duff CD is an essential product or anything

ejmaztec

Alan Rouge wrote: »

Same could be said of a lot of non-Irish companies no ? HMV for instance. Not that that Hilary Duff CD is an essential product or anything

On the other hand, there are many Irish companies spending their money overseas, like Musgraves buying UK and Spanish chains, or the Kerry Group with business interests all over the planet.

In the global setup there's no such thing as one way traffic.

Red Sleeping Beauty

ejmaztec wrote: »

On the other hand, there are many Irish companies spending their money overseas, like Musgraves buying UK and Spanish chains, or the Kerry Group with business interests all over the planet.

In the global setup there's no such thing as one way traffic.

And yet Fianna failure et al want us, the people to waste our money buying "oIrish" overpriced stuff.

I wonder how much of Diageo's/Guinness' profit stays in the country. Diageo who own Johnnie Walker Red Label moved that trademark to Holland I think so they could avoid paying a certain amount of UK tax. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/02/tax-gap-diageo-johnnie-walker. I don't know enough about this country's tax system but I wonder if there's any "Irish" companies registering their trademarks abroad to get some tax breaks.

I think Bono's Dutch now isn't he ?

mcwhirter

gerrycollins wrote: »

Not altogether the supplier totally dont forget where they manufacturer in Ireland they suffer the same ESB and wages and insurance etc as me.

Whats gets me is the stuff that manufactured outside the country even outside europe, its an irish based office I have to order via and that adds up the price also.

Maybe the press should be highlighting this fact rather the blaming the retailers.
There needs to be an overall change in the system.

gerrycollins

mcwhirter wrote: »

Maybe the press should be highlighting this fact rather the blaming the retailers.
There needs to be an overall change in the system.

in general i think the media just pick on the first available source they can think of and run with it.

eg i know the banks/developers etc are been talked about as a major player in the economic downfall of the country however us ie you and me who buy the papers are not been targetted.

we are the clowns who paid the massive prices for the houses got the massive mortage etc but nobody is blaming us for been part of(not the cause) the ecomonic downfall.

brian ireland

Open any news paper and look inside at the full page colour adds for supermarkets every day. Cant see how this media is going to bite the hand that feeds.

Corruptedmorals

darc wrote: »

If Tesco reduce their prices, so too will dunnes & musgrave (supervalu / centra).

It was in the Tribune business sector that Tesco are going to reduce prices, seeing as their market share has dropped. Dunnes started dropping prices at the start of March, mainly increased deals but also permanent price reductions in grocery but not as drastic as drapery as grocery is doing really well and drapery was really suffering. Nearly everything is reduced by about a quarter to a third and sales have shot up.

I think Super Valu are obsessed with price matching rather than price beating.

Dellas

ch750536 wrote: »

Typical of Tesco.

Like I said, just stop shopping there if you want to save Irish jobs.

Keep shopping there if you wish to donate cash to the UK funk you fund.

Do you know how many Irish nationals are employed by the UK economy in all parts of the United Kingdom??

Squidgie

ch750536 wrote: »

Typical of Tesco.

Like I said, just stop shopping there if you want to save Irish jobs.

Keep shopping there if you wish to donate cash to the UK funk you fund.

Shop in the south and keep all our foreign nationals in jobs!!!

Patriotism? What a joke, my mate works in Longford county council and they have just awarded a huge contract to a company from Tyrone!!!

Each to their own, shop where you want! Go up north, the government are.......