Wow - Price Difference IE/UK

dolphin city

went shopping this morning for a special occasion - saw a lovely item in a UK based store at a cost of 99 Euro. I noticed the sterling price was pulled off. As I have friends in the UK I decided not to purchase and see how much the price was in the UK - it was 65 Sterling. But 65 Sterling only adds up to 75 Euro. Why are they adding an extra 25 Euro onto the top and why pull off the sterling price tag - do they think they can fool us by doing that.

McTigs

Britsh chains have been fooling us for years with this, nothing new here.

Tesco, topshop, M&S, HMV, Monsoon etc etc etc

When questioned, apparantly "ireland is a very expensive place to do business" or some other bull.

baldshin

1. They are adding extra on top to make up for the more expensive costs involved in running a business in Ireland, such as higher wage, rent, tax, transport etc. Ireland is also a different market than the UK. You can get something in China for E10 that would cost E50 here, but do people complain? Similarly, you often see books with lower $prices printed on them than euro, different market=different prices.

2. They removed the sterling price as sterling is not the currency used here, and is not legal tender here. Also, they probably removed it so that every customer, who thinks they know best about the pricing, didn't point out to them that it's cheaper in Britain.

dolphin city

I will be purchasing it, but it will be from the UK. Not from Ireland. Id rather keep the 25 Euro in my own pocket.

they tried the "more expensive" story on alcohol in Ireland too, until people started going North - now we are cheaper than the UK.

biko

The same garment will be even cheaper in the US and even cheaper in Asia.
It's all about what people are willing to pay and also the cost of keeping a business in Ireland, which probably is more expensive than in the UK.
Cheapest is always to try it on in the shop and then buy it online.

Not a Galway issue so bumped to Consumer Issues.

dolphin city

baldshin wrote: »

1. They are adding extra on top to make up for the more expensive costs involved in running a business in Ireland, such as higher wage, rent, tax, transport etc. Ireland is also a different market than the UK. You can get something in China for E10 that would cost E50 here, but do people complain? Similarly, you often see books with lower $prices printed on them than euro, different market=different prices.
.

surely its not THAT expensive here that the chainstore must add an extra 25 Euro ON TOP OF the exchange rate for an item costing approx. 100 Euro. This was one of the cheaper items in the store. No wonder they set up in Ireland.

McTigs

Just what everyone else does. Paw the item in the rip off store then buy it online or down in Argos.

To be honest, i think most stores have brought their prices right down to compete with online shopping. The difference used to be huge but not so much anymore. I honestly prefer to buy from a local shop and feel like i'm contributing to the local economy and don't mind the wee bit more but i draw the line at 20-30% premiums

As stated above there are all sorts of factors - rents, what people are willing to pay, minimum wage, rates, FX rates.

Minimum wage comparison in Euro from Google:
http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=z3ennpo156rm1e_&met=minimum_wage&idim=eu_country:IE&dl=en&hl=en&q=ireland+minimum+wage#met=minimum_wage&idim=eu_country:IE:GB

lainey316

There are many factors that allow for a reasonable increase, but some chains take the proverbial. Topshop are about the worst, as far as I've seen.

Take a £40 pair of jeans - the XE conversion puts £40 at €46.10, so a legitimate price is maybe €50-52, I add around 12.5% for higher VAT and the higher costs (minimum wage, average rent etc.) to see what I think is a fair price. The actual retail price? €61.

Similar £40 jeans in Warehouse are in fact €52. £42 jeans in Oasis are €53. Close enough to what I thought would be a reasonable price. Topshop - not so much.

Monsoon/Accessorize are another particularly bad offender.

McTigs

In my view rent is the big factor. Landlords are taking the piss and it all trickles down to the end consumer.

Insane rents are the biggest threat to the survival of retail trade, a bit of foresight on the part of the landlords wouldn't go astray

Vintagechic

lainey316 wrote: »

There are many factors that allow for a reasonable increase, but some chains take the proverbial. Topshop are about the worst, as far as I've seen.

Agreed.

Topshop is way cheaper online even with postage. I know I probably shouldnt buy off them and buy local but its just too expensive and I love their stuff!:rolleyes:

pleasant Co.

McTigs wrote: »

Britsh chains have been fooling us for years with this, nothing new here.

Thank goodness all our local irish guys offer the same products but cheaper....

...wait a second...that's not what happens at all!

keithclancy

dolphin city wrote: »

went shopping this morning for a special occasion - saw a lovely item in a UK based store at a cost of 99 Euro. I noticed the sterling price was pulled off. As I have friends in the UK I decided not to purchase and see how much the price was in the UK - it was 65 Sterling. But 65 Sterling only adds up to 75 Euro. Why are they adding an extra 25 Euro onto the top and why pull off the sterling price tag - do they think they can fool us by doing that.

You mean price difference EU/UK not IE/UK.
We do use the Euro elsewhere aswell.

River Island, Monsoon, Top Shop etc etc .. all more expensive here in the Netherlands than in the UK.

theblueirish

I witnesses a row in a shop in Letterkenny last year, the goods were marked as €52/£40.
The girl handed the cash desk girl £40 and was told that it was only worth €44 and she would need to pay the €8 difference, well to say the customer lost the plot is to put it mildly the whole store had joined in and a big fuss was created.
The store manager would have been better taking the £40 as they lost quite a few customers over it.
Vat is almost the same, wages are a bit higher but at the end of the day if people are willing to pay it shops will charge it.

Theblueirish

sandin

dolphin city wrote: »

I will be purchasing it, but it will be from the UK. Not from Ireland. Id rather keep the 25 Euro in my own pocket.

they tried the "more expensive" story on alcohol in Ireland too, until people started going North - now we are cheaper than the UK.

Alcohol came down in price becuase the duty on alcohol was dropped to a similar level of the UK

On clothing many stores have finally woken up and changed their prices but stores such as debenhams & monsoon have yet to learn. Oasis, Karen Millen & coast seem to be about the same price here & UK.

BTW - Currency exchange is about €1.17 to £1 at the moment. 2 Weeks ago it was €1.22. IMO up to about €1.30 per £1 is fair enough as costs are higher here (we all get paid more than the poor sods in the UK)

Please name & shame the store.

McTigs wrote: »

Just what everyone else does. Paw the item in the rip off store then buy it online or down in Argos.

ARGOS???? - They're one of the worse for price gouging! About 50 headline items are cheaper than others and the other 10,000 items are way over priced.

dudara

Moved to Rip Off Ireland

dudara

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

baldshin wrote: »

1. They are adding extra on top to make up for the more expensive costs involved in running a business in Ireland, such as higher wage, rent, tax, transport etc.

Commercial rates and rents are massive here compared to the UK The other point / extension to this, which is often overlooked, is that every Irish based supplier of goods and services to the retailer here (be that the cleaning company, packaging supplier, security providers, couriers etc) are all operating with the same higher cost base which means every expense of running a business here in Ireland is higher which feeds into the sale prices at retail and indeed wholesale level here.

dudara

theblueirish wrote: »

I witnesses a row in a shop in Letterkenny last year, the goods were marked as €52/£40.
The girl handed the cash desk girl £40 and was told that it was only worth €44 and she would need to pay the €8 difference

Letterkenny is in the Republic where the Euro is the currency. Therefore the price was €52.

At the day's exchange rate, the £40 offered probably exchanged at about €44, meaning the customer should make up the difference.

The fact that the shop can accept sterling does not mean that they price in sterling.

lainey316

It is legitimate to charge more here to cover additional costs so they can maintain their margin in multiple markets.

It is not, however, legitimate to for one shop to price a £40 at €61 when another can manage just fine at €52. Both stores have the same costs, they locate in similar areas often next to each other in department stores, have crossover in their target market. The more successful, popular one is the one that charges more. Surprising? Not really.

ben.schlomo

Today or yesterdays exchange doesnt matter as the stores pre-purchase their goods months in advance.

borderlinemeath

Rates
Rent
Payroll
Insurance
Utility bills
Transport & Warehousing
Fluctuating currencies

All contribute to the higher cost of running a business in this country.
Is it ideal? No, far from it, but we get paid far more than our UK counterparts, from minimum wage up to professional levels.

Would you be happy to take a paycut to bring you more in line with your UK equivelent? I shouldn't think so.
So why would you expect to pay the virtual equivelent for goods and services?

Discodog

The UK companies are here because they can make huge profits. There is often no Irish competition. So the way to get cheaper prices is to stop buying & if you have to buy choose the cheapest.

Consumers will be under huge pressure because of the "patriotic" argument.

sandin

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Today or yesterdays exchange doesnt matter as the stores pre-purchase their goods months in advance.

That argument was fine 3 years ago, but with Sterling / Euro at €1.10 - €1.25 consistently since April 2008, that excuse no longer holds. Yes costs are higher - but only by about 6-8% as the UK has had both wage and rent inflation since 2007 and we've had deflation.

In fairness, most stores have adjusted their prices, but a few still charge way above what the market is at.

dolphin city

I'm sorry but I really don't fall for the "higher expenses" here in the republic - they tried that on with us with the alcohol - it was only when people started driving up to the north and bringing down supplies that they decided they could actually bring down their prices here. Haven't we been ripped off enough.

I certainly don't believe that adding on 25 Euro PER ITEM is what they have to do to open a store here - that is PER ITEM - they are raking it in.

I have pawed the item here and I have a friend of mine picking one up for me i the uk today. The 25 Euro difference feels really good - IN MY PURSE!

the groutch

so riddle me this OP and other begrudgers:

if everyone is being ripped off, and all these shops are making so much extra money off this, why are half the shops (slight exaggeraion for effect) in most towns closed down, and 500,000 people on the dole queue?

the reality is that until you've tried running a business yourself, you're in no position to comment.

sandin

the groutch wrote: »

so riddle me this OP and other begrudgers:

if everyone is being ripped off, and all these shops are making so much extra money off this, why are half the shops (slight exaggeraion for effect) in most towns closed down, and 500,000 people on the dole queue?

the reality is that until you've tried running a business yourself, you're in no position to comment.

Because people think falsely that "small" shops charge more when the exact opposite is true.

Your local hardware store is cheaper than B&Q, your local boutique will be cheaper than Monsoon, your local electrical store will be cheaper than argos etc etc.

Large retail companies have huge head office & marketing expenses. they put huge money into shopfitting and pay highest rents so that they can be in a prime location, they also have shareholders than want a share of profits. Local independent retailers, don't have shareholders or head office staff to pay. They rarely have super designed shopfits and are normally in secondary (cheaper rent) locations. This allows them charge a much lower price for goods, offer a better service and far superior quality.

But try telling that to joe public!

(yes, the family used to have a footwear store.(10+years ago) we were about 20% cheaper on the same products, yet because we hadn't the super duper shopfit and weren't in the big shopping centres, we didn't do enough business)

Absolam

lainey316 wrote: »

It is legitimate to charge more here to cover additional costs so they can maintain their margin in multiple markets.

It is not, however, legitimate to for one shop to price a £40 at €61 when another can manage just fine at €52. Both stores have the same costs, they locate in similar areas often next to each other in department stores, have crossover in their target market. The more successful, popular one is the one that charges more. Surprising? Not really.

Of course it's legitimate. If they were both charging the same price, they'd be price fixing, and that's illegal. As long as there are variations in price you know that there is competition in the market.

lainey316

Absolam wrote: »

Of course it's legitimate. If they were both charging the same price, they'd be price fixing, and that's illegal. As long as there are variations in price you know that there is competition in the market.

Price fixing only applies where there is collusion between parties to set a fixed price for an item. Competitive price equivalency is entirely legal. Similar shops with similar markets will charge similar prices for similar products - that's market forces, not price fixing :rolleyes:

Regardless, the similar items are both the same price in the UK - £40, so if your "price fixing" applied it would apply there.

wmpdd3

McTigs wrote: »

Britsh chains have been fooling us for years with this, nothing new here.

Tesco, topshop, M&S, HMV, Monsoon etc etc etc

When questioned, apparantly "ireland is a very expensive place to do business" or some other bull.

Tesco clothing's price is converted at a rate of 1.15. The current customer bank rate is 1.17 so Its cheaper to buy Tesco clothing in Southern Ireland than it is in the UK.

wmpdd3

dolphin city wrote: »

went shopping this morning for a special occasion - saw a lovely item in a UK based store at a cost of 99 Euro. I noticed the sterling price was pulled off. As I have friends in the UK I decided not to purchase and see how much the price was in the UK - it was 65 Sterling. But 65 Sterling only adds up to 75 Euro. Why are they adding an extra 25 Euro onto the top and why pull off the sterling price tag - do they think they can fool us by doing that.

Debenhams?

borderlinemeath

Discodog wrote: »

The UK companies are here because they can make huge profits. There is often no Irish competition. So the way to get cheaper prices is to stop buying & if you have to buy choose the cheapest.

Consumers will be under huge pressure because of the "patriotic" argument.

UK companies are here because there is demand for their products, the same as US companies, european companies etc. Consumers want choice and plenty of market research is done before a company sets up here. Or would you rather have it back like the 1960s - when a girl wanted a new guna she went into Clerys or Arnotts? Because that is what will happen if consumers take their custom out of the state - the multiples will just shut their doors and leave vacant units and redundant staff. HMV/Waterstones are a prime example of this after poor Christmas trading.

It's not just as simple as saying buy the cheapest thing either - in my last job the staff had to wear black trousers and most of them wore the cheap polyester penneys ones that cost €6. They always either split at the seams or zips broke or the fabric went to shiite after a couple of washes. So they kept buying them, a new pair every couple of months - all the €6 add up.
I wore trousers from Gap, they are still the same colour after countless washes, are in perfect condition and have plenty of life in them. I think they cost about €40.
Some people choose quality over price.