The cost of buying American in Italy
The other day I went to a drugstore to buy a hand wash. While I was browsing through the products, I noticed that they were selling a hand wash by Aveeno, our popular American brand.
My surprise quickly turned into shock when I checked the price: € 8.79, which is $13.11! I can understand the quality of the product and (probably) the import fees, but is this enough to justify why this item is 6 times more expensive than other brands?
Obviously, I opted for another product, as you can see from the empty spot on the right.
The learning here is that popular US brands might carry a much higher sticker price in Italy than what we are used to see at home. Coupled with the fact that the Euro is particularly strong these days, don’t assume that the same inexpensive item found at your neighbor’s market might be as convenient when you visit an Italian store.
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Name: Paolo and Francesca Tosolini
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Paolo was born and raised in Italy for his first 30 years. He now lives in Seattle, WA (USA) where he works for Microsoft as a New Media Business Manager.
Francesca worked as a travel agent before choosing the career of full time mom of two beautiful kids.
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Interesting post again. I find the same with Italian products here in Western Canada – they are extremely expensive, much more expensive than Italian products in Eastern Canada. I suspect it's because of transportation costs, taxes, brokerage fees, etc.
Still, sometimes Italian products are simply worth the price simply because there are no substitutes. Lovely post.
As an American planning on retiring in Italy, I find it quite disheartening to see USA products for purchase in Italy at such exhorbitant prices. I am not talking about a small smattering of products, I am talking about products that continuously fly off the shelves and are replenished, and not just in big cities, but even in markets in the rural areas. Coke is a good example. It is made in Europe, yet priced as an import. Are our beloved USA companies raping a friendly foreign market? I have made a list of products and will be writing to the CEO's and letting them know my feelings on this issue. Shame on them. I know of and buy from a SMALL Rome distributor of USA products and all of that firms prices are quite reasonable. If a small company can be reasonable with much smaller volumes of sales, the big boys should be able to be also.