Teknovis

I have almost completed my Christmas shopping for 2009. I did all of this online for the second year in a row! (Last year’s shopping is described in Online Christmas Shopping 2008.)

I did not buy a single item in Ireland this year, and this was mainly due to the ridiculously high costs. I understand that part of this is due to the higher VAT on items in Ireland (see Online Shopping just got Cheaper), but I also think that retailers are still ripping-off consumers. Indeed, the most expensive single item I bought was a piece of Japanese electronics. The Irish price was over 50%  more expensive than the price I bought it for abroad!

While I am writing about shopping, I came across a very entertaining online shop - http://producten.hema.nl/ (You need sound, and a small amount of patience, for this :D )

Tags: eShopping, Ireland, Tax

I read two interesting articles in the paper earlier this week about Irish people and shopping online.

The first article contains the results of a survey of 1,000 Irish people. The main finding was that Irish consumers spent an average of 1,700€ online in 2008, and that approximately a quarter of these people expect to spend more online in 2009. I certainly spent more than the average online in 2008, but I am probably in the majority who do not believe that this will increase in 2009 :o

Another interesting finding of the survey was that 90% of shoppers believe that they can save money by shopping online. I am certainly agree with this from my experience, and the recent increase in the Irish VAT rate has only exasperated the price differences!

The full article is Shoppers spent average €1,700 online in 2008.

The second article, Downturn speeding up revolution in the way we shop, argues that speed, adaptability, and agility, are the key business traits that will enable companies to survive the current economic downturn. The author then proposes that technology will be the key enabler of these business traits. It is interesting reading, and I share the author’s sentiments!

Tags: eShopping, Ireland, Tax

I have a few female family members and friends who have all recently bought cosmetics from Lily Lolo. They were all very happy with the web site, the value, and the goods! The positive comments regarding the web site are especially significant since some of these females are not very technology savvy!

So I thought that I would give Lily Lolo a positive review on their behalves :D

Tags: eShopping, Lily Lolo

I read a very positive article about Asos in an Irish womens’ lifestyle magazeen during the week. The article was brought to my attention by a female family member :o

As I described in Online Christmas Shopping 2008, I bought from Asos for my first time this year. So did my female family members. We were all extremely pleased with the experience, the prices, and the purchases.

The article also states that Asos is beating the current economic downturn. In particular, it experienced a 107% rise in sales, and a 68% rise in profit. I am sure that the week pound must also be helping!

Tags: Asos, eShopping, UK

I hope that everybody has a good Christmas :)

It certainly seems that Amazon did! It has announced that it had record Christmas sales this year! I am sure that there will be many people who are delighted with this ;)

For more details about this see Amazon.com up 4.9% after best-ever holiday sales.

Tags: Amazon, eShopping

I did all my online Christmas shopping this week. It went very well, and I must admit that I love the comfort of shopping in my own time from my own home. I am the sort of person that researches every purchase online, thinks about it some more, and eventually purchases. Visiting real shops with a list of things to buy is an experience that I try to avoid! Now I hope that all my presents arrive soon!

I bought lots of presents on Expansys, PhotoBox, and Play (which has the bonus of being VAT free). I also bought some presents on Asos, which was my first time to buy clothes online! I really like all of these websites because they price in euro even though they are not based in the eurozone.

It really annoys me when online retailers expect Irish customers to use the UK versions of their websites. Yes - we speak the same language, but we use a different currency! I think it is just pure laziness on their behalf!

Amazon is a perfect example of such an online retailer. It has a French website in euro, a German website in euro, and an English wesite in pounds :(

Amazon Ireland

Indeed, Amazon’s approach to the EU market is very limited.

Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try this year since the pound is so weak compared to the euro. I wanted to buy a small electronics device, and the price was really good. It was only when I went to buy the item that I realised that Amazon do not ship it outside of the UK :( I understand that this might be due to the fact that Amazon does not want to be responsible for collecting old electronic devices as required by the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive. So I abandoned shopping with Amazon :(

There seems to be plenty of other people who are unhappy with Amazon also according to Amazon behaving badly and Amazon UK withdraws John Duignan’s Scientology exposé “The Complex” from sale “for legal reasons”.

Finally, it appears that I am not the only person shopping online this week! According to “Busiest day” for online shopping last Monday was the busiest day in the year for online sales in the UK. The busiest hour was predicted to occur between 13:00 and 14:00 when £28 million worth of goods were to be sold. Some online retailers are predicting that this year will be their busiest year ever as more shoppers buy online. There is also an interesting video showing the inside of Amazon’s distribution centre.

Tags: Amazon, Asos, eShopping, Expansys, France, Germany, Ireland, PhotoBox, Play, Tax, UK, WEEE

The EU is now officially in recession, and both the EU and the member states’ governments are trying to develop strategies to ensure that the economic downturn is as short as possible.

One of the main driving forces behind any economy is consumer spending, and it is interesting to see how different governments are trying to encourage consumer spending. For example, the British government has decided to reduce VAT from 17.5% to 15% in the beginning of December. Meanwhile, the Irish government has decided to increase VAT from 21% to 21.5% in the beginning of December also! More details can be found in Darling cuts VAT in pre-Budget measures.

Since VAT is calculated at the point of sale for transactions within the EU, these changes will mean that the difference in cost between buying in Ireland and the UK will become 6.5% based on the VAT alone. This is bad news for Irish businesses (and ultimately the government), but it is great for both British businesses and consumers!

I already do a significant amount of my shopping online in other EU member states, and I will try and do even more this Christmas. I am particularly fond of shopping on Spanish websites where the VAT is 16%, and I also purchase online quite regularly on a Luxembourgian website where the VAT is 15%. Now the websites in the UK will be getting more of my business!

If you are curious about the rates of VAT in the different EU member states then take a look at European Union Value Added Tax.

Tags: eShopping, Ireland, Spain, Tax, UK