Grabbing bargains abroad

How to stock up on cheap toiletries, wine, clothing & more

Laura Foulger
Laura Foulger
12 July 2024

Heading to Europe for a getaway? While you're there, it might be a good time to stock up on items that are cheaper or better value.

We're not suggesting you book a trip to Europe just to buy, but if you're going anyway, keep these tips in mind. Leave a little room in your luggage – be careful not to go over your allowance and get stung by fees. See Easyjet tips, Ryanair tips and Budget flight fee-fighting for more on this. And be aware of how much you can bring back into the UK without having to pay extra at customs.

Some high street shops are cheaper in their base countries

Martin's been highlighting the Zara trick for a decade. If you don't know it already, it's about holding back on your Zara shop if you've got a trip to Spain planned. Since the clothing giant is based in Spain, its prices are lower there.

A Zara store in Alicante, Spain

Forumites have had luck with this trick, as the Buy Zara clothes at a fraction of the price thread shows.

2022 in May, I purchased a 'Ladies Blazer' at full price for £42. My others, bought from the UK and exactly the same cut, but in different colours, were £60.

~hair775

Several posters also mentioned Lefties, a clothing store and one-time Zara outlet in Valencia Airport and other spots around Spain.

It's really worth looking out for 'Lefties' in the shopping malls. There is one in the beautiful 'Zenia Boulevard' in Orihuela Costa. The shop sells Zara left over stock at seriously reduced prices, especially in the winter months.

~ Flossyfloo

Flossyfloo's comment is from 2015 and, although Lefties is still available in Spain and is owned by Zara's parent company Inditex, it now sells its own range rather than any Zara stock. Its own range may be worth a look for Zara fans, though.

What other brands are cheaper abroad?

The Zara trick remains alive 'n' thriving, but what scope is there for savings like this from other popular brands?

We looked at some of YouGov's most popular high street clothing brands in the UK, plus a few others. We used our TravelMoneyMax tool to convert the cost from euros, Swedish krona or Danish krone to pounds. Lots of them appeared to be cheaper in the countries they originate from. Do note, however, that we used the online prices for our comparison, which may differ from in-store prices.

Some items may be even cheaper in other European countries besides the one they originate from. It's worth hunting out your high street faves while you're anywhere in Europe, in case prices are lower.

⚠️ Please note that the examples in this blog are anecdotal, rather than drawn from a large data set. We looked at four items of clothing in each store at one moment in time.

⚠️ Unfortunately, it's not possible to take advantage of these lower prices simply by navigating to, say, Zara's Spanish website and ordering to the UK; you'll be funnelled into the UK site. We've used the European websites to research prices, but you'll need to be in the country in question to actually make a purchase.

High street clothing brands based in Europe

We researched popular clothing brands' prices by visiting their home-country websites, eg, desigual.com/es_ES/, and comparing to their UK site. In many cases we found the prices lower at home, though not in every instance.

Desigual

This halter neck dress from Desigual was the equivalent of £77.80 in Spain, where the store is based, but £109 in the UK. That's about 29% cheaper.

We looked at four items in total (as you can see in the table below) and found that, on average, items were about 28% cheaper on the Spanish website than its UK counterpart.

Item Spanish price (online) UK price (online) Difference (i)
Maxi dress (pictured) €89.95 (approx. £77.80) £109 29% cheaper in Spain
Dress €159 (approx. £136.99) £189 27.5% cheaper in Spain
Trousers €129 (approx. £111.14) £154 28% cheaper in Spain
Child's jumper €49.95 (approx. £43.03) £59 27% cheaper in Spain

Prices and exchange rate correct as of Friday 5 July 2024.
(i) Percentages are approximate.

This is nothing new. Back in 2014, a Forumite told us:

I recently saw a really nice Desigual (Spanish brand) handbag in Paris, but baulked at the €99 price. Two months later I was fortunate enough to travel to Valencia for work and a Spanish colleague told me Desigual was much cheaper there. In the local department store (equivalent of John Lewis) I found the same bag for €39.

~ Millefeuille

Decathlon

On Decathlon's French website, its men's Kiprun waterproof running jacket is the equivalent of £64.49. On its UK site, it's £69.99. We checked out three other items and found they were, on average, 9% cheaper in France.

& Other Stories

A sheer blouse from & Other Stories Sweden costs the equivalent of £85.30, but on the UK site the same item cost £97. Added to three other items we compared, this showed an average 11% saving on the Sweden site.

H&M

H&M is part of the same company that owns & Other Stories. This macramé-belt dress (below) is the equivalent of £24.77 in Sweden but £27.99 in the UK. On average, the items we checked were 7% cheaper on the Swedish website.

Mango

This linen suit is the equivalent of £113.37 on Mango's Spanish website, but £149.99 on the UK site. This, along with three other items we compared, gave an average 28% saving.

Mango is the same as Zara. Just purchased a leather jacket in Tenerife for £60 less than it would have cost me in the UK.

~Hoppy12

Birkenstock

Birkenstock's Arizona sandals were the equivalent of £75.26 on the German site, but £80 on the UK site. Comparing four items across the two sites showed us an average 5.5% saving on the German version.

Dr. Martens and Adidas are both based in Germany too, but when we checked, we didn't find items cheaper than in the UK.

Other high-street brands based in Europe

It's not just clothes we found cheaper in brands' home countries. Playmobil appears to be cheaper in Germany.

On the other hand, Lego and Pandora seem to be more expensive in their home Denmark and Ikea seems a little dearer in Sweden.

Playmobil

Playmobil's 'Small pirate ship' is the equivalent of £42.98 on the German site, but £49.99 on the UK site. Looking at four items in total, we found the German website 15% cheaper on average.

In the past, Playmobil was literally around 33% to 40% cheaper in Germany than here, helped by the exchange rate. I do still compare prices in their online stores, with €1 being translated into £1 on Playmobil.co.uk.

They tend to have regular and bigger Playmobil sales on Amazon.de (the German version of Amazon) – it's sometimes possible to get a 40-50% discount, so certainly worth checking prices there.

~ MoneySaver Nick

Which supermarket items are worth buying abroad?

In April 2024, Martin asked his X (formerly Twitter) followers: What have you found substantially cheaper to buy abroad in recent years? We also asked the MSE Forumites what they stock up on abroad. The examples below include things that are cheaper or of a higher quality than the equivalents here.

Bonne Maman marmalade – half the price it is in the UK.

~ Goonerannie

Wine was a common answer. Mrs S tweeted: "Wine and fizz – Freixenet is €5 in France yet it's £12 here!" Carolyn said: "€3.49 local supermarket (Italy) same one available in Tesco for at least £8. I also found another at €1.49!" And Peter Wharrier tweeted: "The exact wine we buy at our local Co-op for £8.50 was €4 at Schiphol Airport... outside of duty free area!"

Edi&patsy extolled the virtues of Spanish wine: "We buy (and bring loads home in our motorhome) when we winter in Spain. As an example, there is a superb red wine called The Guv'ner which is just the equivalent of £2.50 a bottle!" Dame Maureen alcorn tweeted: "Albariño wine in Mercadona, Spain called Arribeno – €1.85".

Moving on from wine, Forumite Pollycat reckons olive oil and honey from Greece have a superior taste, while MSE Scarlet brings back particularly tasty canned tuna from Spain. Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona (also found in Portugal) sells packs of six cans of tuna for just over €5.

Knorr sauces in Germany are much nicer than the ones here. Likewise any things that Benedicta make and sell in France – bernaise, salad dressing – very nice and cheaper than Waitrose.

~ Brie

Comté cheese from France

Cool Hand Mike tweeted that saffron is "dirt cheap in Spain"; Rich Harle added that saffron is about half the price in Sweden as it is in the UK.

Christine Anne tweeted that M&Ms are cheaper in France. David Heathcote spotted Pepsi Max 500ml for €0.89 in a Portuguese supermarket, compared to £1.55 in a UK Lidl.

Forumite josie says: "If you're anywhere near the Belgium border driving back from France, as we are from the Alps, then the supermarket Colruyt is worth seeking out. There are a few and the petrol is a lot cheaper plus they sell Freixenet for around €4 a bottle compared to £11 or £8 if on offer at home."

As for me, it's all about a visit to Carrefour when in France (it serves lots of other countries too, including Italy, Spain and Turkey). You can buy the cute bath range Le Petit Marseillais over there for a few euros per item. It's available here via Amazon, but is usually more expensive.

Do you have a favourite supermarket you look forward to visiting when you're abroad? Let us know via X (Twitter).

Two bottles of rose wine

Your rights when bringing purchases back to the UK

When it comes to certain items, such as alcohol and tobacco, there's a limit on how much you can bring back home to the UK with you. This is your personal allowance, and you may end up paying if you go over it.

Returning to England, Scotland or Wales

You can bring in up to:

  • 42 litres of beer
  • 18 litres of wine (non-sparkling)
  • either nine litres of other alcoholic drinks up to 22% (for example, cider, sparkling wine) or four litres of spirits/liquors over 22%.

You can also bring in up to £390 worth of other goods you bought.

Returning to Northern Ireland

There's no limit on alcohol or most other goods when you're coming from an EU country, so long as it's for your own use and carried in your own luggage.

If returning from a non-EU country, you can bring in up to:
 

  • 16 litres of beer
  • four litres of wine
  • either two litres of other alcoholic drinks up to 22% (for example, cider, sparkling wine) or one litre of spirits/liquors over 22%.

Add your overseas stock-up items to the MSE Forum thread or the X/Twitter conversation.

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