‘Little benefit’ in cross-border alcohol shopping

THERE is “little benefit” in going over the border to buy alcohol this Christmas, it has been claimed, as retailers in the Republic are finally competing with the North on price.

Pricing intelligence company Profitero reports supermarkets in the Republic are now offering a competitively priced range of alcohol products ahead of Christmas in a bid to dissuade shoppers from heading across the border.

The company also suggests next year will see increasing price competitiveness between north and south, particularly in grocery, household goods, beauty and healthcare, electrical goods and in both A-brands and own-brand products.

Profitero chief executive Vol Pigrukh said it was actually cheaper to buy drink in supermarkets in the Republic.

“Through our competitor price monitoring application, we are finding that in the monetary sense there is little benefit in cross-border shopping.

“I think many were really surprised by our recent research in the area of supermarket alcohol prices. When you factor in the cost of eating out, petrol and tolls going north, there is little or no value to be had by such shopping trips.”

Mr Pigrukh said retailers were now realising it was “now or never” in terms of opening up to suggestions in order to survive, and that retailers were increasingly monitoring the prices offered by their competitors in the North.

“In our pricing monitoring application, we are noticing Irish retailers are monitoring the adjustments in their northern competitors’ prices closely in recent months,” he said.

“We know this because we can see they are reacting quickly to these price changes by adjusting their own prices accordingly.”

He said traditional brick and mortar retailers needed to realise that online was outperforming all other retail areas.

“As town centres lose more retailers to the downturn, businesses ignoring such warnings about the need to have a strong online presence are in danger of going out of business.”

* See profitero.com