30-10-2016, 09:02 PM
(This post was last modified: 30-10-2016, 09:02 PM by Mike Watterson.)
It was quite difficult to buy batteries in the early 1970s in the UK that weren't Ever Ready. Even now in Ireland very many "non-bargain" shops have ONLY very overpriced Duracell (Mallory), Energiser (US Eveready) and sometimes Panasonic. Except for Lidl, Aldi and bargain shops the main Irish shops seem to be about x4 the European mainland prices for the two dominant brands. B&Q oddly sometimes has Varta. Lidl often only has AA or sometimes PP3 too, rarely has C, D or AAA. Tesco charges €2.50 EACH for CR2032 coins, which is x8 a reasonable price. Oddly Tesco own brand Alkaline are twice the price of any other decent Alkaline that's not Energiser/Duracell. Musgraves (Centra/Supervalue/Superquinn) are #1 supermarket, #2 & #3 is Dunnes and Tesco. That's a big captive market for Duracell & Energiser (Though Tesco has own brand and Dunnes did have, but very expensive).
The problem I've noticed since moving to Ireland in 1983 is that the wholesale scene is dominated by imports from UK and via UK, even when it's not a UK made product. We are treated as UK region by Wholesale and Manufacturing. It adds currency hedging and a 5% to 10% "middle man" cut.
The problem I've noticed since moving to Ireland in 1983 is that the wholesale scene is dominated by imports from UK and via UK, even when it's not a UK made product. We are treated as UK region by Wholesale and Manufacturing. It adds currency hedging and a 5% to 10% "middle man" cut.