Next, the British clothing and homeware giant, have cut prices in their Irish stores by 10% today.
The UK’s Brexit vote saw a collapse in the value of sterling and Next has become the first British retailer to pass these savings on to Irish consumers. Since the UK voted to ‘Leave’, the value of sterling has dropped. This time last year £1 was worth €1.36, whereas now it is worth around €1.12, which is a decrease of nearly 20%. The price reductions will take effect both in-store and online.
Price discrepancies between the UK and Ireland, which have always been a source of conflict between Irish consumers and UK retailers have become harder to justify in recent weeks. The collapse of the sterling should mean that products coming from UK suppliers should be significantly cheaper in the Republic but Irish consumers are seeing little evidence of this in stores.In some cases, identical products can be over 40% more expensive in Ireland than in the U.K. In announcing a universal price reduction of 10 per cent, Next is likely to put pressure on other retailers to follow suit.
This could result in some significant price falls in the run-up to Christmas.
