Argos UK vs. IE Price Comparison Tool

viking

I've put together a quick site that will do a UK v. IE price comparison on a product from the Argos catalogue:

http://www.cataloguecompare.com/

Pop in a catalogue number, if the product exists on both argos.ie and argos.co.uk then it will be compared and the pricing difference shown.

The site has been up a few days and so far, from catalogue numbers that have been entered, these are the Top 10 price differences between the Argos UK and IE sites:

Cat. Number|Product Title|Price Difference*
659/1348|Silentnight Mayfair Microquilt Super Kingsize Divan.|€1347.48
660/1867|Rest Assured SK 1400 Pocket Divan/Memory Matt - 4 Drw.|€1252.63
660/1290|Silentnight Super King Divan/Pillow Top Mattress - 4 Drw.|€1252.63
660/1441|Silentnight Super King Divan/ Memory Mattress - 4 Drawers.|€1243.76
204/0154|18ct Gold 2 Carat Diamond Cluster Ring.|€698.71
204/0563|18ct Gold Boat Cluster Ring.|€388.19
335/6029|Reebok RE-13313 T 7.5 Treadmill.|€374.66
563/3238|Sony HDR-XR200V 120GB Black HDD Handycam with GPS.|€307.22
335/3792|York 51047 T203 Treadmill.|€288.19
486/3913|Whirlpool 20RBD1L Black Side By Side Fridge Freezer.|€271.44


* Prices converted to Euro using Daily ECB Rate of 1 GBP = EUR 1.136

Saruman

Some shocking price differences there, especially in the beds!
If the price updates on either website does your site know that or do you just have prices as they were when you made the site?

Brilliant idea by the way and it looks to me like you are calling current prices so well done on that.

viking

Saruman wrote: »

If the price updates on either website does your site know that or do you just have prices as they were when you made the site?

The site doesn't keep track of any price changes on either site for product catalogue numbers that have been entered for comparison but it could do it. Just to point out, the site has not queried either argos.ie or argos.co.uk for every product in the catalogue, the table above is simply based on the catalogue numbers that have been entered by visitors in the last few days since it went live.

But, as you say, some of the price differences are quite amazing to say the least! I wasn't expecting to see 160%+ differences on products...

foggy_lad

after checking several prices the figures seem to hover around 30% higher prices in the republic

ch750536

Shop around all, the proof is in front of you.

Well done OP.

Saruman

Would this be a good sticky for bargain alerts? Check prices here before buying something in argos as you could save a fortune driving up north.

viking

Just to show that its not all one way with regard to the price differences. here are the top 5 products, compared by visitors so far, which are cheaper in the Republic:

Cat. Number|Product Title|Price Difference*
335/5855|York 51050 T301 Treadmill.|€346.32
335/0692|Reebok RE-13103 Performance X Trainer C5.1E.|€63.30
559/1143|Canon EOS 450D Digital SLR Camera with 18 55 Lens.|€2.37
533/7723|Sony BDPS350 Black Blu-ray Disc Player.|€1.54
566/8973|Nintendo DSi Console - Black.|€0.40

ch750536

can we offer a prize to the first person to find something cheaper in Ireland?

I have £100 of Woolworths vouchers somewhere here.

Saruman

You must have missed Vikings post before you

Better give him those vouchers... assuming woolworths were still trading

rubadub

ch750536 wrote: »

can we offer a prize to the first person to find something cheaper in Ireland?

Yeah, it is pretty easy to do, just do what all the others do to justify to themselves that their trip saved them a fortune. Find a cheap shop with a good offer in the republic, then only search in high price stores in the UK with no offers on, maybe Harrods or something.

I said before about a lad in my work who would usually buy €1 cans of beer down here, not particular about brands. So he goes up north and gets a beer he never heard of before as it was on offer. Then came back down and found it for €2.80 in his local offie. Since then it turned out the bottles were small, and the ones here were 500ml. He still convinced himself he saved a fortune though he NEVER would have paid €2.80 for a bottle of beer in the first place.

MontgomeryClift

Just been searching for tools at Argos. £25 (€30) Black & Decker Jigsaw is €35 in Ireland. The £40 (€47) Jigsaw is €55. Inflated prices for Ireland still!

91011

MontgomeryClift wrote: »

Just been searching for tools at Argos. £25 (€30) Black & Decker Jigsaw is €35 in Ireland. The £40 (€47) Jigsaw is €55. Inflated prices for Ireland still!

that's actually not too bad - there is extra 3.5% vat here and we all know costs are higher. (not so high as to justify a 1.5 multiple as used by debenhams)

1.33 multiple is as high as it should be allowing for higher costs & vat

r3nu4l

Glad to see proof of what I've been saying for a long time. From my own experience, plenty of products are cheaper in Ireland than in England and vive-versa. Not so much rip-off Ireland as just plain old rip-off consumers by giving 'good deals' on some items while fleecing on others.

MontgomeryClift

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/0072650/Trail/searchtext%3EJIGSAW.htm

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/0072650/Trail/searchtext%3EJIG+SAW.htm

The £40 saw is now £54.95 (€64.00) at Argos UK. In Ireland, it has risen from €55 to €77.

So a £15 (€17.50) increase translates to a €22 increase for Ireland. Irish VAT difference on that increase would account for less than €1. So it's not a matter of VAT. Perhaps costs are higher, but surely costs don't increase so greatly as the price of the item increases.

The price ratio from Ireland to the UK in this case has gone from 117% to 120%.