Hi,

I've been thinking about business ideas for spain for a while, so i can move out and make a living, personally whenever i'm visiting, typical english food goods cost a fortune, i haven't been to mainland spain in a while, so i'm unsure to how true this is now. But, i think i'd be able to make a proditable business importing british food goods. To make sure this is viable, i need a little confirmation of the prices of british foods, such as Marmite, Heinz and others brands, and maybe locations of where these prices of been gained from.

I have found sites like www.thefoodhall.es and www.spainsburys.com, and in my opinion, there prices seem extremely high, is this the case for local stores which stock british goods too?

So if its not to much trouble could you list the prices of some british goods (state sizes if neccessary), mainly those which you feel are currently good and bad value, and the location your in. Or simply tell me if the prices on the websites above are similar to the prices you find locally

Any help would be much appreciated

Dave

Hi Dave. All the best in your venture. I notice you're looking at British food products. May I suggest you also look at toiletries - many on this board have claimed the prices are quite high in Spain (although I always found the local Chino shop to be good for this type of thing). You may then be able to sell to other expats (eg Germans) and local Spanish. I fear you'll come up against various problems if you stick to foodstuffs. For example much of it is perishable. Also the area in which you're based may see a decline in numbers of Brits (for whatever reason). Lastly, a large proportion of your target audience may well have found local alternatives to the British product. For example, when I worked in Madrid I loved the coffee and wouldn't have swapped a cortado for all the tea in China.
Anyway, I'm sure the board members here will give you lots of input. Good luck!

There is a company in Spain distributing UK goods from Iceland and Waitrose.

Their prices are very much less than most of the other "Brit" shops, especially on the Iceland branded goods where the mark up over UK prices is only about 10%.

Their site is at http://www.overseas.es/

They don't show prices on the site as they depend on the exchange rate at the time but it will give you an idea of the sort of products that are available in Spain.

In our area (Costa Blanca North - Albir just outside Benidorm) we are well catered for in the Spanish shops at cheaper prices than the English Kiwksaves etc. Certainly I buy Mr Ben´s stirfry sauces in a Spanish shop in La Nucia at over €1 cheaper or more than our local English shop. If you want English I think most people shop around, I do occasionally buy an English Steak pie in our Kwiksave which comes from Sainsburys for €1,95 and that is a family size one. Iceland is also good for some items if we feel the need for English which I have to be honest is not very often!

Expats is pretty good as well (Bookers)
332 near Villajoyosa, English white sliced bread 1.39. but that
lasts us 3 days.

If you want to make an absolute killing, try selling rechargeable batteries.
I was in Carrefour, Cartagena recently and their price for 4 "AA" sized rechargeables was about €19.60. they did have some cheaper ones - €19.50 and the charger was extra.
Price on Amazon: £7.35

O.H. says razor blades, if they get any more expensive he's
threatened to grow a beard Ugh!!

Heinz Beans average at about .82c for a 415gm tin on CBN.

Thanks for the info. Do you have any prices for any other goods?

No, I don't do the shopping but I know that Cadburys Chocolate is far too expensive. I now prefer Mercadonas own brand Chocolate Con Leche two 150 gm bars for €1.10 - lovely stuff!!

Spanish chocolate is much better, try the really dark ones, so strong.

Thanks for the fantastic responses so far, these insights will definitely help if i decide to go ahead with the idea and research further. My only worry with items such as razor blades and some toiletries is import customs - from what i have read products which contain chemicals may be subject to duty.

My other idea for products was unbranded and low-end sport branded goods, similar to what is sold in the SportsSoccer chain here in the UK, for example Reebok, but i have barely researched this at all as of yet.

Overall, my general research on actually importing the goods suggests that i'd be able to supply most products, providing i have a good UK wholesaler, at around UK store price, maybe a little above this to make it profitable business.

I am unsure whether to sell these products as a wholesaler, or set-up some kind store chain. I feel there would be alot more competition as a wholesaler, however, as its larger scale is liekly to be more proditable in the long term.

Does anyone have any information on the best wholesaler/cash and carry's in Spain?

Thanks

big problem with english chocolate as well as the price, is that it melts too easily, Chocolate meant for here has a much higher melting point, so doesn't have to be kept in the fridge, cadburys will soon go all 'orrible and soft if left out for long, same goes for choccie bikkies. Certainly you need to shop around, we have a supermarket that does a lot of english stuff as well as a Quicksave here, and on type of UK bisccuit was €1.10 in Quicksave, but €2.57 in the supermarket, now reduced to €1.57, but still expensive. We just shop around, if it's cheaper in the UK shop, then that's where we buy, cheaper in the Spanish shop, then that's where we go, but the vast majority of our food comes from Spanish supermarkets, and is NOT from the UK in any case.

Have you actually thought to research how many ex pats actually bother to search out UK foods when Spanish eqivalents are often better and cheaper?

I'd bet you'd find that the average shopping basket only contains a small percentage of such foods and that building a business on it when there are already so many doing it over here would be possibly folly

Despite the amount of Brits around Fuengirola and Benalmadena, Iceland are near us and have had to drop their prices quite a bit lately to compete with the Spanish shops etc.