ValueIreland.com

Apart from my frustration about how the arrival of the iPhone to Ireland caused Vodafone to drop their Nokia N95 prices, I don’t think I can add a whole lot to the discussion that’s been published already:

It is interesting though, that the phone is only available on 18 month contracts - O2 are basically cutting themselves off from a fairly big prospective market. Though, I’m guessing there’ll be many Mums and Dads who’ll be under pressure to cough up.

However, to see how exactly O2 are going to do off the back of screwing Irish consumers, you just have to see this quote from Dermott Jewell of the Consumer Association of Ireland from The Daily Mail (no link unfortunately):

However, Jewell feels that Irish consumers, in their rush to get hold of their shiny new iPhones, will ignore the anti-competitive charges from O2.

“In this market economy, and with healthy waiting lists for the phone, its almost a self-fulfilling prophecy and there won’t be any complaints about the prices.

“Unfortunately, we won’t see the levels of consumer agitation that could deter this,” Jewell added.

Essentially, since the country’s still relatively speaking awash with cash (or easy credit), anyone who’s blinded by the iPhone bling will be splashing the cash on March 14th.

Our esteemed Minister for Trade, Enterprise and (rising un)Employment has promised to get to the bottom of our high prices being suffered by Irish consumers. I thought this was the reason he set up the National Consumer Agency a number of years ago. Are they unsuccessful at what they’re supposed to be doing, or as suggested by our friend Leo, is he stalling for time? But why would he be stalling for time? Waiting for prices to fall on their own?

According to this breakingnews.ie item:

Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin is promising further investigation into why Irish consumers continue to pay higher prices for essential goods and services than their EU counterparts.

Mr Martin was speaking about a new Forfas report on the effects of the EU single market.

The report says that, while the single market has benefited business and trade, Irish consumers have been left with some of the highest prices in the EU.

Maybe he could listen to Dermott Jewell, Chief Executive of the Consumer Association of Ireland. Mr. Jewell was today quoted in an Irish Independent article referring to the cost of roses for Valentines Day - reported doubling in price compared to every other day.

Faced with the issue of retailers increasing their prices, Mr.Jewell responded “The distributors put it back to the growers and there is a bit of truth in that but, let’s be honest, every single person on that chain is trying to make as much money as they can.”

And more crucially, “It’s seen as an opportunity to extract as much money from the Irish consumer as possible,” he added.

And why do retailers do that? Because they can maybe? Because no matter what the price charged, Irish consumers will unquestioningly hand over the cash? The Indo article above is a good example.

Without seeing the direct comparison myself, how many people could really tell the difference between 12 €120 roses from a specialist florist in a vase compared to 12 €30 roses from Dunnes? So why spend the extra €90? Convenience? Snobbery? Or do some people show their love purely through monetary expenditure? Any way you look at it, it’s the consumers choice to pay that extra €90, so they’re not really in a strong position to complain – especially when there are valid and cheaper alternatives available.

If consumers don’t pay the specialist florist €120 for 12 roses, they won’t sell them. If a florist isn’t selling roses, they’ll have to do something - stop selling roses, or drop the prices to attract customers. As the Indo article says, it’s simple supply and demand.

We shouldn’t be only slagging off Irish retailers for the high prices they’re charging. We should also be slagging off all the Irish consumers who are stupid enough to spend such high prices and create demand at these high prices - thereby causing the rest of us to have to pay these prices as well.