Sunday Times: Ikea 22% more expensive in ROI over NI

JTMan

I'm going up North to buy my sofa ...

Savvy Irish shoppers are saving 22% by crossing the border to buy their flatpack furniture

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6736277.ece

Shoppers at Ikea in the republic are paying up to 22% more for identical furniture products than customers in the UK, according to a Sunday Times consumer survey carried out last week.

The price comparison also shows that bargain-hunters in the republic could drive to the Ikea outlet in Belfast to shop and still save money.

Launched last Monday, the Swedish furniture superstore claimed that prices in Ireland’s first and only outlet would be in line with those in the north.

Those claims, however, are disputed by a survey of 15 items from Ikea Ireland’s website.

A shopping list of three products from this list — a Hopen chest, a Malm headboard and a Mandal bed frame — comes to €607. With the €3 parking charge payable between 4pm and 8pm, shoppers would spend €610 for the trip to the store on Dublin’s northside.

The same items in Belfast, which has tended to attract thousands of southern shoppers as it is just two hours away from Dublin, cost £467, or €545 at last week’s exchange rates. Petrol for the 200-mile round-trip across the border costs between €30 and €40 return.

This means that shoppers could get the furniture and come home for about €580 — less than the cost of the same items in Dublin.

An extreme example of the price discrepancy is the Attityd mini-kitchen, which was priced at €799 on the Irish website. On the UK site the same product costs £599 (€699) — €100 cheaper.

Although less expensive items have smaller price differences, there are still variations in the cost of many products. For example, a Tårnby rug listed at €85 in Ballymun, will cost €5 less in Belfast at £69 (€80).

Where customers will see real savings is on the bigger items of furniture, according to the survey. Shoppers who buy several items together, spending a couple of hundred euros, will really notice. Ikea responded to the price comparison by saying that there are 9,500 items in its range.

“It is the case that some items may be cheaper and some may be more expensive, but as Garry Deakin (the store manager) has previously said, on average, prices are more or less similar,” said the spokesman.

The company said that prices are set only once a year and will not change until 2010. However, the company predicts that the pound will strengthen against the euro by Christmas, which it hopes will make the Ballymun store cheaper.

“In addition, pricing at the Dublin store is priced against the euro and local market conditions and not against sterling directly,” said the spokesman. “That VAT is 15% in Belfast and 21.5% in Dublin has some bearing on pricing also.” An average 12,000 people visited Ikea in Ballymun every day this week.

Dermott Jewell, CEO of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI), called on the furniture giant to “review” its prices and bring them in line with those in Belfast or face losing customers. “Most consumers in the current climate are very price conscious. With the ease of crossing the border they’ll go there for better prices,” he said.

Jewell said that Ikea was made aware of the issue of differing prices before it began work on the Ballymun store. “What’s the point in them even being there if shoppers can get the same product elsewhere for cheaper? They must seriously address their price strategy,” Jewell said.

Elizabeth Morris, from Ballymun, who queued for the opening of Ikea from 7am on Monday, said that the prices are “very cheap”. “We got great stuff for the kitchen and it was cheaper than similar stuff elsewhere. But if it was even cheaper to go to Belfast once I changed my money I would definitely go there instead,” she said.

Kintarō Hattori

Yawn.

Blue_Wolf

Agreed. Get over it mate. Why don't you just move up to Northern Ireland and stay up there?

ejmaztec

I bet they're giving the stuff away in Sweden.

Ibrahimovic91

Boring

taram

Wait, so the article is saying I can spend two hours in the car and half a tank of petrol to save 27 euro? Or save a fiver on a rug... Em okay. I think I'll take my chances going to the Irish store. Big difference between saving 300 euro on a home entertainment system in Currys and a few cent on some teaspoons in IKEA :P

darc

back at you - from Irish Indo last week...

"Despite our higher VAT rate, some soft furnishings are cheaper in Dublin than in Ikea's Belfast store.

A price comparison of six products yesterday found that four were cheaper to buy in Dublin than in Northern Ireland.

The products include:

A Klippan two-seater sofa priced at €125 in Ballymun. The UK price was £117.45 (€135.76).
A Klippan pouffe was €45 in Dublin, compared with £39.15 (€45.25).
The IKEA 365+ 18-piece dinner service was €29.99, almost €3 cheaper than the £28.38 (€32.80) charged in the North.
A Granat cushion which cost €2.99 was seven cent cheaper in the Republic. "


Basically there are something like 15,000 items for sale in Ikea. Do you really think every price of every item is going to be identical to the daily exchange rate in 2 different stores in 2 different countries.

dave98

darc wrote: »

back at you - from Irish Indo last week...

"Despite our higher VAT rate, some soft furnishings are cheaper in Dublin than in Ikea's Belfast store.

A price comparison of six products yesterday found that four were cheaper to buy in Dublin than in Northern Ireland.

The products include:

A Klippan two-seater sofa priced at €125 in Ballymun. The UK price was £117.45 (€135.76).
A Klippan pouffe was €45 in Dublin, compared with £39.15 (€45.25).
The IKEA 365+ 18-piece dinner service was €29.99, almost €3 cheaper than the £28.38 (€32.80) charged in the North.
A Granat cushion which cost €2.99 was seven cent cheaper in the Republic. "

well if the Granat cushion is 7cents cheaper here than the north, I think i'll buy in bulk and drive up to belfast and sell them at the norths price:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

darc

Don't forget, its silly season for newspapers. No politics / No courts, even no scandals! - They have to fill up the papers somehow, so they'll go thourh thousands of prices of stores and find 4 or 5 items out of the thousands of items and make it a mega headline.


Of couse tha fact that their newspapers are cheaper in the north, is of no interest!:rolleyes:

viking

In fairness to IKEA they seem to have really made an effort to ensure pricing here was in line with the UK.

It only seems to be higher value items that have a larger price difference but if you strip away VAT and factor in what it would cost you to travel up north and back, then it still makes sense to purchase in Ikea Dublin.

E.g.
http://url.ie/25vj
~€100 difference (inc VAT)
~€50 difference (ex VAT)

Kalashnikov_Kid

Minimum wage in Ireland: €8.65ph

Minumum wage in UK: £5.73ph

Shock horror the North is cheaper...

Blue_Wolf

No matter how many times you tell people this...they will never understand.

Kalashnikov_Kid wrote: »

Minimum wage in Ireland: €8.65ph

Minumum wage in UK: £5.73ph

Shock horror the North is cheaper...

Dopey

I was in IKEA Dublin yesterday and noticed a 15% difference in the price of one item that I new the price of in Belfast. This is after taking into account the VAT and exchange rate. I checked the web site to see if the price had changed up north and it hadn't.

Kitchen chair cushion £4 in Belfast and €5.75 in Dublin.

Convert £4 GBP to EURO = 4.70536 EUR (1 GBP = 1.17634 EUR on www.xe.com)

Add the VAT difference (6.5% Is this correct?) 4.71 + 31c = €5.02

That works out at 73 cent difference or roughly 15%. IKEA stated that the prices were the same in the south as the north. Am I missing something

herya

Dopey wrote: »

Am I missing something

Yes you need to check the remaining 14999 items they have on offer.

Dopey

herya wrote: »

Yes you need to check the remaining 14999 items they have on offer.

Yeah good one :rolleyes:

Gran Hermano

I worked for a company with a Belfast office, Dublin based staff earned 25% more.

ntlbell

Dopey wrote: »

Yeah good one :rolleyes:

AFAIK they said they would do there best where possible to try and keep them close.

I don't see why we have to keep going over the same aul ground

firstly generally the rate on xe.com is not the rate you get at the bank.

secondly rent/power/wages/insurance/etc/etc

are totally different here than they are up north

if you don't want to pay the southeren price get in your car

spend the 20/30e in petrol the few hours drive and go up north

then you can decide what to spend the 1.75 on that you saved

WIZE

Please Mr/Mrs Mod

Could we please have an Ikea Super thread or an IKEA Forum as everyday there is a new IKEA thread

Thanks BVB


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055632129
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055639320
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055640302
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=61331968

dudara

Moved to Rip Off Ireland where I believe this is already being discussed.

dudara

rubadub

Dopey wrote: »

IKEA stated that the prices were the same in the south as the north.

Any links on this? I have heard it several times now with no actual links. Preferably a link to what IKEA actually said themselves, NOT what some gutter press journalist interpreted them to have said.

I would be completely shocked if they did make such a statement, it makes no sense at all.

rubadub

Shoppers at Ikea in the republic are paying up to 22% more for identical

I know times are tight, but surely they could have afforded the extra bandwidth to have "up to" in the headline too. Is there any paper that is not resorting to gutter press tactics these days? the Irish times and Sunday times are wallowing in the same gutter as the sunday sport these days with this crap.

eightyfish

Dopey wrote: »

I was in IKEA Dublin yesterday and noticed a 15% difference in the price of one item that I new the price of in Belfast.

The minimum wage is €2 higher per hour, the retail taxes are higher, the distribution costs are probably slightly higher, why would expect the prices to be the same?

eightyfish

rubadub wrote: »

Any links on this?

"Even Ikea is cheaper up north", Sunday Times.

35notout

I hear Ikea is cheaper in Sweden too..............

Dopey

rubadub wrote: »

Any links on this? I have heard it several times now with no actual links. Preferably a link to what IKEA actually said themselves, NOT what some gutter press journalist interpreted them to have said.

I would be completely shocked if they did make such a statement, it makes no sense at all.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0722/1224251064355.html

tracy1

Ikea doesnt really do it for me, you should shop around maybe and buy local!

ntlbell

Dopey wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0722/1224251064355.html

PRICES IN the new Ikea store in Dublin, which opens next Monday, will be about the same as in its Belfast store, according to the company. By Christmas, prices in the Ballymun store will be lower than in the North as sterling strengthens against the euro, the Dublin store manager Garry Deakin predicted yesterday.

I don't see one quote in that article from anyone from ikea not one.

Dopey

ntlbell wrote: »

PRICES IN the new Ikea store in Dublin, which opens next Monday, will be about the same as in its Belfast store, according to the company. By Christmas, prices in the Ballymun store will be lower than in the North as sterling strengthens against the euro, the Dublin store manager Garry Deakin predicted yesterday.

I don't see one quote in that article from anyone from ikea not one.

I can't argue with you regarding the quote ntlbell however the Times is a reputable newspaper and the title does state - Ikea says Dublin store will match Belfast on price.

I did hear the same statement on Radio 1 last week.

I can't imagine why the media would make up stories in favour of IKEA Dublin.

By the way, thanks for highlighting about in your previous post I almost missed it. May I add that 15% of a price difference is not about the same

ntlbell

Dopey wrote: »

I can't argue with you regarding the quote ntlbell however the Times is a reputable newspaper and the title does state - Ikea says Dublin store will match Belfast on price.

I did hear the same statement on Radio 1 last week.

I can't imagine why the media would make up stories in favour of IKEA Dublin.

By the way, thanks for highlighting about in your previous post I almost missed it. May I add that 15% of a price difference is not about the same

the times is although may not be "making" up stories in this case most certainty do print a lot of nonsense a lot of the time.

_everything_ is not 15% difference and your basing it on xe.com which is NOT the rate YOU get from the bank it's ABOUT the rate.

there will always be differences the same way there will be differences between ikea scotland and sweden and everywhere else ikea is

did you know compared to the US it's ABOUT 45% more expensive here?

it's a mute point ikea are not ripping anyone off here it's two different countries with two different sets of costs

if you want to complain get on to your local TD and moan about power charges, artificially high minimum wages etc etc etc

Dopey

I stand corrected. IKEA Dublin is 22% more expensive than Belfast.

See other thread in this forum by Fungus - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055638786

ntlbell

Dopey wrote: »

I stand corrected. IKEA Dublin is 22% more expensive than Belfast.

See other thread in this forum by Fungus - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055638786

can a mod please do something about this nonsense.

it's getting so tiring and we have asked numerous times for a sticky to be put in the thread if it's about cross country prices etc it's not a rip off

how much is a big mac in thailand? :rolleyes: