Debenhams and the Great Irish Rip-off

During a recent visit to Ireland we were shocked to discover the price of goods consumers are faced with in Irish outlets of the major UK retail chains.

We’ve been visiting family in Ireland over Christmas, and with the cold weather needed some extra bits and pieces for our young daughter.  I’d heard anecdotally in the pub (where most good information gets shared in Ireland) that Debenhams, a recent addition to the department stores in Cork City, following the closure of long term local Roches Stores, had a ridiculous markup on their UK prices.

It was only when we went to buy some items for our daughter for the cold weather that we had first hand experience of what a rip-off Cork, and Irish consumers in general, are experiencing when they go to the shops.

To give an example, we bought a warm top for our daughter, from designer Jasper Conran (though admittedly I’ve never heard of him outside of Debenhams itself).  We purchased out of pure need, and didn’t really stop to research prices – surely they couldn’t be that far off the UK prices?

• The UK price of this top from Debenhams UK site is £16 (currency conversion site XE.com translates this to €17.81)
• The price in Debenhams in Cork was €25 (£22.46 according to XE.com)

This equates to a markup (on their already profitable price) of 40%.

Apart from feeling I’ve been had myself in our purchases, I know that our purchase was not a unique one – in fact this seems to be par for the course in the Irish consumer market.

I heard an encouraging story from the car hire firms, which validated my own decision not to rent a car.  Shopping online before leaving for Ireland, I was being quoted prices as high as €700 to rent a very small car for two weeks.  It was too much, so I opted to not rent a car and depend on taxis and the kindness of friends and family when in Ireland.

Speaking to an insider from the industry I learned that the car companies had hiked up the prices three weeks before Christmas, as they typically do.  However, they had so mis-judged the market this year that a slew of cancellations and customers walking away from the quotations ensued.  In a desparate attempt to bring the customers back the firms dropped their prices at the last minute, but it was too late.

Ireland faces a long recession, budget deficits and serious unemployment.  But if it’s population want to do something to help end the recession as quickly as possible, the sooner they refuse to pay the ridiculous prices charged on the high street, the sooner retailers will wake up and price their goods more realistically.    Visitors to Ireland already see the sky high prices for what they are – and the Irish tourism figures dropping in 2008 reflect that – hopefully the locals will make the same realisation very soon.