Ikea Spanish vs English prices

rubbishrider · 19 March 2015 at 6:51AM

Visiting Ikea in Spain I've been shocked by the huge difference in prices, e.g VÄRDESÄTTA Pressure cooker (English website) £45 (€62) vs Spanish website € 32,99 (£23!), which at nearly 3x the price seems outrageous. I tweeted about this yesterday @IKEA, @MartinSLewis and @moneysavingexp, just to find out why the huge difference but received no reply. Has anyone come across similar or know the reason for this difference.

ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50286745/
ikea.com/es/es/catalog/products/50286745/

daveyjp · 19 March 2015 at 8:02AM

£45 v £23 looks like twice the price to me. The UK has higher wages, property and transportation costs than spain and of course the exchange rate can't be ignored. What is the price of the same product in other Euro countries?

When there were close to 1 euro to the £ it would have been £45 v £33.

rubbishrider · 19 March 2015 at 4:07PM

Wouldn't the exchange rate make it cheaper in England?

[Deleted User] · 19 March 2015 at 4:13PM

Ikea prices to the local market tolerances. That's economics for you. The UK has more tolerance for higher prices

rubbishrider · 19 March 2015 at 4:17PM

VÄRDESÄTTA Schnellkochtopf, Edelstahl €49.99 (Germany)
VARDESATTA χύτρα ταχύτητας € 59,99 (Greece)
VÄRDESÄTTA Pressure cooker, stainless steel € 50.00 (Eire)
VÄRDESÄTTA Pentola a pressione, inox € 44,99 (Italy)
VÄRDESÄTTA Oală presiune, inox 229 lei (Romania)

rubbishrider · 19 March 2015 at 4:20PM

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Ikea prices to the local market tolerances. That's economics for you. The UK has more tolerance for higher prices

Agreed, Ikea seen as more aspirational in UK.

[Deleted User] · 19 March 2015 at 4:31PM

rubbishrider wrote: »

Agreed, Ikea seen as more aspirational in UK.

Aspirational? hahaha. It's mostly cheap furniture for students and first-time home buyers.

I'm not saying it's rubbish - i'm using our ikea desk at the moment.. but it's not substantial 'real' wood furniture.

Retail prices are commonly more in the UK for many things.

rubbishrider · 19 March 2015 at 4:48PM

Plus the Spanish still manufacturer items like pressure cookers but also they seem to (ones that I know) buy Spanish items from Spanish shops, you see Lidl and Ikea but much more likely Spanish owned companies, I mean the police even drive Seats.

jon81uk · 19 March 2015 at 5:41PM

Are the rates of VAT comparable? Does Spain have lower VAT Tax?
Whats the minimum wage in Spain? What are fuel prices like?

There are many factors that mean prices can vary. Also of course the Euro exchange rate has changed a lot recently, a few years ago it was almost 1:1.

rubbishrider · 25 March 2015 at 7:00AM

What a patronising bunch people, clearly you all work for Ikea!

Enterprise_1701C · 25 March 2015 at 9:09AM

Unfortunately minimum wage is lower in Spain which means in general things will be cheaper to buy. If you need to blame anyone blame the unions here that have forced the wages up thereby forcing the prices of everything else up.