TESCO IRELAND is to introduce euro-sterling price parity on all its clothes from Monday as part of a €20 million price restructuring.
Customers will be able to pay whatever the sterling price is on the tag in euro and, based on today’s exchange rates, shoppers in the Republic will consequently pay 7 per cent less than their counterparts in Northern Ireland for the same products.
Tesco has been one of the stores which has drawn considerable flak from consumer groups and politicians in recent months for failing to pass on savings as a result of weakening sterling. Critics have identified clothes being sold in Tesco’s outlets in the Republic at prices well over 30 per cent more than prices in the North.
While the move has been welcomed, it is unlikely to lead to Northern shoppers flocking to Tesco outlets south of the Border, as clothes amount to just 5 per cent of Tesco retail sales – although a company spokesman said clothes sales in the Republic were “growing significantly”.
When asked whether the chain was planning to introduce price parity across its larger grocery range, the spokesman said this was a more complex situation, but claimed Tesco was “working to reduce the gap there too”.
Chief executive of the Consumer Association of Ireland Dermott Jewell predicted the move would generate significant goodwill for the retailer. “Let’s be honest, it is a positive move and one which I think will be of benefit to Tesco as it will almost certainly be remembered as the first store to act,” he said. “It is putting it up to the other retailers and they have a choice of putting their houses in order or be left behind.”
No one from Dunnes Stores, the other major clothes and grocery retailer operating north and south of the Border, was available for comment yesterday.
