ireland not capitalising on the Uk market!

kevin212

i am from Ireland and i live in the UK mainland due to work and i like to spend my money in Ireland when possible but i notice that some Irish eCommerce websites dont ship items outside of ireland is there more red tape involved? logistic reasons? or currency issues? surely when the eCommerce platform is in place it would be easy to arrange for delivery to the uk especially considering how easy the UK postcode system is? is delivery for smaller items an issue?

regards curious Kevin

_Brian

kevin212 wrote: »

i am from Ireland and i live in the UK mainland due to work and i like to spend my money in Ireland when possible but i notice that some Irish eCommerce websites dont ship items outside of ireland is there more red tape involved? logistic reasons? or currency issues? surely when the eCommerce platform is in place it would be easy to arrange for delivery to the uk especially considering how easy the UK postcode system is? is delivery for smaller items an issue?

regards curious Kevin

In general posting an item from IRL to UK is multiple times the cost of UK to IRL, in general it makes us uncompetitive.

jimmii

I find it strange not to offer it at all. I can't see why many people would use Ireland to UK as a customer but we always offered it and people ordered from the UK despite the same products being cheaper in the UK but if that's what they want to do who are we to complain!

I guess some don't offer it as they think it may be more awkward having to sort out an international delivery and there isn't the demand to deal with that inconvenience that or they just don't realise it's not available!

_Brian

jimmii wrote: »

I find it strange not to offer it at all. I can't see why many people would use Ireland to UK as a customer but we always offered it and people ordered from the UK despite the same products being cheaper in the UK but if that's what they want to do who are we to complain!

I guess some don't offer it as they think it may be more awkward having to sort out an international delivery and there isn't the demand to deal with that inconvenience that or they just don't realise it's not available!

I offer it and its no more work for me to ship stuff.. but I know it can be got cheaper in the UK when our shipping is taken into account.

jimmii

_Brian wrote: »

I offer it and its no more work for me to ship stuff.. but I know it can be got cheaper in the UK when our shipping is taken into account.

Yeh wasn't any more work for us either but I am guessing not everyone realises that.

pedroeibar1

Ireland not capitalising on UK market? Have you looked at the Ireland to UK export figures? (If you are that worried go buy a sandwich in any UK supermarket, it will have been made by Irish company Greencore.;)

Tigger

I don't understand how postage works
If I give something to an post I pay them it's about €7 to post registered small parcels
But if someone sends me something from the uk an post brings it from Dublin to Me and it costs half and they get nothing

I understand there is the upu but it seems like we deliver other people's post cheaper than our own
I know a guy that ships seeds international and he drives up to the north every other day
Reckons he saves tens of thousands a year (they give him a bulk rate an post won't )

kevin212

Thanks Guys im guessing the volume of goods coming into Ireland is greater than the volume leaving the country which may account for why the Uk to Ireland route is more competitive than the ireland to Uk route having done some research i had spotted a few companies providing the service which you mentioned taking goods to the UK via the north it seems where there's a will there's a way

Gloomtastic!

Could Parcel Motel help OP?

They do a return to UK option for between €14.50-16.50.

http://www.parcelmotel.com/prices/#prices-send

MizMix

50% of my sales were from the UK last month. Took me a few months to get to that stage but it's more lucrative with current exchange rate. Prices etc are on sterling too which makes a difference in conversion. Also I live close to the border so I post via first class once or twice a week. But even if I didn't do this I could use a large envelope rate from here or An Post offer decent enough parcel rates for the UK as a business customer

VincePP

Tigger wrote: »

I don't understand how postage works
If I give something to an post I pay them it's about €7 to post registered small parcels
But if someone sends me something from the uk an post brings it from Dublin to Me and it costs half and they get nothing

I understand there is the upu but it seems like we deliver other people's post cheaper than our own
I know a guy that ships seeds international and he drives up to the north every other day
Reckons he saves tens of thousands a year (they give him a bulk rate an post won't )

Uk has 2 options - airmail, which is about 30% more expensive than Ireland to uk and surface mail which takes 3-5 days but is quite a bit cheaper than Ireland to uk airmail.

An post only offer an airmail service as the volume just isn't there to offer both.

Parcel delivery firms offer surface options and if you do volume you will get rates if about €6 for up to 20kg to any UK address.

As for op - massive amount of Irish product is in UK. In many cases you don't see it. In food, a lot is own brand or brands you don't realise are Irish - goodfellas pizza is one example and about half the mushrooms sold in uk are Irish and most infant formula.