Land of the euro bargains

A BARGAINING bonanza has sprung up across the Continent with the arrival of the euro. Discount sleuths in one country are using the internet, friends, business connections and their own common sense to track down euro-zone price cuts far from home.

Consumers long wanted - and manufacturers long feared - this price transparency that the euro threatened to bring. Now it has arrived with a vengeance.

Economists predicted 'price convergence' with the euro - that relative prices would rise in less-expensive countries such as Greece and Spain but rise less rapidly, maybe even fall, in pricier nations including Germany, Finland and France.

All this takes time and, until the economies shake up and settle down, euroland is a bargain zone of unparalleled opportunity. For instance: a VW Golf IV that costs e18,801 (£11,605) in Ireland sells for e13,588 in Belgium. Opium eau de toilette sells for e112.30 in Belgium but only

e50.23 in Portugal.

An indigo iMac computer is e1,731 in Greece but 600 euros less in Germany, while a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red Label whisky costs e28.09 in Finland but only e8.87 in Italy.

Bayer aspirins costing e4.67 in France are just 50 euro cents in Greece while a fitted kitchen purchased in Italy is, on average, 30% cheaper than one bought in Germany. Add on a bit for shipping and you still save 15% to 20%.

'The internet has empowered the average consumer in Europe to actually cross-border shop every day soon you will see a convergence in prices because of it,' said a spokesman for Dreihaus Capital in Germany.

Bargains can also be had in one's homeland simply by implying the threat of purchasing elsewhere.

'Franz in Dusseldorf can print off the price of a car to be had in Madrid and march into a dealer asking him to match it,' said Dreihaus Capital. 'Often you don't have to fly to Madrid - just imply that you might.'

In a 1998 survey, Lehman Bros concluded that European countries had roughly twice the price disparity of the USA. While this will come down eventually, the bargain hunting goes on for now. Jurgen Stoepfer, a Berlin accountant, recently got his Volkswagen dealer to shave e5,000 off the cost of a car by threatening to go to Spain to buy one.

'It's become a game in the office,' he said. 'We have a pool whereby the guy who finds the biggest deal of the week on the net gets free beer on a Friday. This price transparency will be bad for retailers in the long run as profit margins are shaved. At the moment there is something of a Klondike feel about the euro - it's an untamed land out there and there are bargains to be had at prices we in Germany once only dreamed about.'