Spanish chain makes Irish pay 60% more

HappyHarry

From The Sunday Times 3-Jan-2010

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6974076.ece

Text:
Irish shoppers have long paid the price when it comes to British stores adding a bit extra to the sterling conversion on price tags. Now it seems eurozone retailers are doing it too.

Massimo Dutti, a Spanish-owned clothing chain, is charging Irish customers up to 60% more on some items than at its Spanish branches. Merchandise in the company’s Dublin store has price stickers with an Irish flag stuck over the original tags. Peeled back, they reveal much lower euro prices.

A brown leather belt is priced at €39.90 in the Dublin branch in Dundrum town centre. Removing the sticker reveals the belt costs €15 less in Spain, where it sells for €24.90. Similarly, a ladies’ sleeveless top costing €29.90 has an Irish sticker of €39.90 covering the original price.

A men’s black leather jacket that costs €249 in Spain is €350 in Ireland, 41% more. A girls’ coat that is €64.90 in Spain is €25 dearer in Dublin, retailing at €89.90. A brown leather bag that costs €140 in Spain is €195 here.

Dermott Jewell of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland said the price differentials showed that even retailers operating in the eurozone were taking advantage of Irish customers. “This has nothing to do with the cost of overheads,” he said. “The reality is we are seen as a country where high prices are considered normal. There is an easy opportunity to come into Ireland and set up the same store and take significant profits over another jurisdiction. The price in Spain already includes a profit margin. So an extra 60% on the price here means the profit margin could be as high as 100%.”

A survey by The Sunday Times of 15 items sold by Massimo Dutti, including children’s clothing, found that on average they were 33% more expensive here than in Spain. Massimo Dutti is part of the Spanish Inditex group, which includes Zara, Bershka and Pull and Bear clothing shops, all of which have Irish outlets.

A comparison of the prices on the Irish and Spanish versions of the Pull and Bear website shows similar discrepancies. A blue floral clutch [bag] that retails at €14.95 in Spain is 33% more expensive in Ireland at €19.95, while a silver-coloured necklace that costs €9.95 in Spain is €12.95 here, 30% more.

The Zara and Bershka websites do not carry prices, so Irish customers cannot easily find out if they are being charged more than in Spain.

Jewell advised consumers to check prices online and where possible to order directly from the retailer’s website for other European countries. “Quite a number of these websites are set up so they adjust the prices back to our market, or they won’t accept a credit card from Ireland,” said Jewell. “The only way we can force the prices down is to not buy the product at all.”

Neither Massimo Dutti nor Pull and Bear sell items online.

Previous surveys by The Sunday Times have found that Irish branches of UK high-street chains were still converting their sterling price tags at a rate of around €1.50 to the pound, despite it being worth less than €1.13. Some shops used to display price tags with both sterling and euro, making it easy to calculate the currency exchange rate.

Most of these now carry euro-only stickers, or have removed the sterling amount from dual-price tags. Others have used black markers to hide the original sterling figure, making it difficult for Irish customers to work out whether they are being charged more.

Massimo Dutti declined to comment.

Belmono

Yep, the difference is prices between Spanish High Street stores and their UK and Irish equivalents is significant. You might be surprised to see me refer to the UK also - I've seen numerous examples of products with the Spanish euro price changed to sterling (not to mention the hefty difference in Ireland), so a 79yoyo jacket is 79 pounds in the UK. (Apologies if this appears slightly off-topic)
Massimo Dutti is the high-end shop in the Inditex group, of which Zara, Pull and Bear, Bershka and Stradivarius are all a part. No surprise, then, that we're being ripped off here in Ireland by all of them. Call it consistency, I suppose!