UK E-Tailers boosted by record sales to Ireland and Eurozone

London, 24th March 2009 – Shoppers from the Republic of Ireland are logging on and cashing in on the weak pound by buying online from UK merchants to get more for their money. That’s according to the traffic patterns being seen on Kelkoo.co.uk, Europe’s leading shopping comparison and cashback site.

With the Euro nearing parity with the pound, at an average 1.09 Euro rate so far this month, Irish shoppers are buying goods from the UK at a 15% reduction compared to March last year. They’ve been putting their purchasing power to good use, with Kelkoo seeing an influx of users from the Republic and other Eurozone countries, as they hunt for bargains from the UK.

Consumer electronics, homeware and fashion items have been some of the biggest-selling products amongst overseas shoppers and with big savings to be made, it’s easy to see why. One of the most searched-for items on Kelkoo, the Samsung 32″ HD Ready LCD Television with Freeview, at £319.99, would this time last year have cost 422 Euro, but now costs only 362 Euro. The Apple iPod nano 16GB would previously have cost 191 Euro, and now only costs 164 Euro.

Puregadgets Ltd is one of the UK-based Kelkoo merchants to be benefiting from a large sales uplift from Ireland. MD Andrew Tse comments, “Since the marked depreciation of the pound, sales to the Euro regions and in particular, Ireland, have gone from strength to strength. They now represent about 15% of our total sales.”

Kelkoo’s MD, Bruce Fair, offers some advice to online retailers looking to make the most of the trend: “Merchants need to do everything they can to attract these shoppers with Euros to spare, and to make them confident enough to complete the sale. Key to this is delivery: retailers need to offer overseas delivery, advertise the fact that they do, and clearly state shipping costs so that customers don’t fear a last-minute sting.”