European shoppers are targeting UK retail products
Those headlines now feel like a distant memory, with the recent weakness in the pound (£) and the economic downturn causing a general fall in retail prices, it would now seem the UK is one of the least expensive places to buy retail goods in whole of Europe.
The rise of the Euro against the Pound
As the graph shows the pound has seriously devalued against the Euro and this means that Europeans with money to spend will get much better value for money spending their cash in the UK. Property prices have fallen off their highs by 20%-30% and together with the weak pound Europeans looking to buy property in the UK will have a perceived 50%-55% decrease in price.
The same thing could be starting to happen in the second hand car market. All through September – November last year I advertised my car in several major on-line and off-line publications without receiving a single legitimate sales call. I recently re-advertised the same vehicle and was amazed when two in every three callers were ringing from Europe and beyond.
On a recent trip to Bulgaria I was further amazed to hear that native Bulgarians are arranging shopping trips to the UK. They are coming to purchase seemingly inexpensive designer goods from stores like TK-Max and everyday goods from outlets like Primark. Groups of Bulgarians are getting together and sending one friend or family member on a cheap flight into the UK, with the sole purpose of purchasing a haul of relatively cheap retail goods.
This undoubtedly highlights an opportunity; UK retailers should be looking to market themselves and their perceived extremely low prices into Europe. Furthermore, European retailers and consumers should be looking to take advantage of the strength of the Euro and where possible purchase goods from the UK.
