Almost precisely a week ago I was tweeting away like a mad thing about how I had rambled into Monsoon on Grafton St to try on a coat I had spotted online on their website.
I went in, tried it on, all good & even better again with a giant €60 off tag hanging off it – epic win thinks Steph. Until she looks at the original pricetag which reads €250. €250?! I must have been looking at a different coat as that’s out of my budget.
To the iPhone (eventually) and to Monsoon.co.uk where I find the exact same coat priced at £120. Now I’m no financial whizz but I worked out that £120 couldn’t be close to €250. The kind Twitter followers who are not on a dodgy EDGE connection tell me that Monsoon do deliver to Ireland for a sum of £7.95.
So I purchase said coat at it’s reduced price, popped home and did my sums and to my surprise and delight I discovered that purchasing the same coat online from the same retailer I could have it delivered for €150. That’s €100 less than the original price tag. So I ordered it and it arrived today – a week later – in perfect nick to my door saving me a nice few quid indeed.
Now I’m not one to normally shop in Monsoon as it’s on the top end of my budget but maybe there’s something there – maybe I just can’t afford their exchange rate, not their garments! Seriously, €100 difference in price? Is this an extreme example of high street retailers taking the mickey?
I’m going to do some more investigating while hitting the shops at the weekend for a few winter bits. I’ve never bought any other clothes online aside from Threadless tees but I think I’ll be a lot more thrifty and inclined to check online from now on.
The exact same thing happened to me with a Monsoon dress. It’s scandalous.
What?! That is insane! I know that most UK-based retailers do charge a tiny bit extra on top of the exchange rate- Oasis and New Look spring to mind- but not so much more that it actually work out to be cheaper to order online from their UK website.
I often wander around the shops with the shops’ websites open on my phone to check for online sales or cheaper prices but I haven’t gotten anything quite as ridiculous as your Monsoon coat.
Makeup, however, is the biggest rip-off in Ireland. I only buy the expensive couple of treats from Mac, Benefit and Urban Decay when going through duty-free now. I wouldn’t care if it was a couple of euros but it is so frequently an extra €7-10 more expensive, on top of Irish sales assistants who can’t seem to match a pale foundation to my skin.
Rip-off Ireland!
@Dawn This has to be the exception to the rule but I’m going for a scoot around it this weekend to see.
Hear ya on the makeup too – I’ve broken my ‘duty-free only’ rule on Mac and such but only treat myself the odd time coz it’s so stupidly expensive here, not to mention the annoyingness of the staff in Brown Thomas!
Have you tried buying from any of Beaut.ie’s affiliates – http://beaut.ie/blog/sites-we-like/
Trouble with online shopping is the postage can often absorb a lot of the discount