Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
40 countries - one in five in the world - will from this week either have the euro as the official currency or have their own currency locked to its value...The empire of the euro - which even at its start has slightly more people using it as their official currency than use the US dollar - is set to grow rapidly
Source [guardian.co.uk]
Opportunities like this do not come along everyday, for the independent European webmaster/ecom retailer the next few years could set the foundations for international success. Whilst the 800lb Gorillas stand startled like rabbits caught in headlights, the small/micro web operators could leverage a huge early advantage in this new market place.
Problems still exist in servicing this market, shipping being one of them, but it is not to be ignored. If you have a "to do list" then add these items; Contact your local chamber of commerce/Govt department get as much information as you can, ask your current shipping company if they ship "Euro Wide", contact your credit card service provider, make sure you have the font, become very good friends with the European members of WebmasterWorld :) and most of all don't delay!
Indeed they don't... we already trade europewide, but the savings we'll make on Euro transactions have made an all-out European 'push' a realistic proposition.
> leverage a huge early advantage
Not to mention that the UK will almost inevitably end up joining in. If you're already dealing with the Euro you can hit the ground running...
It will be so easy to compare price!
I think that Italian SEO could be suffering competition because their prices are the higher in Europe.
It is almost certain the whole UK will join eventually - but in this part of the UK - many tills are already beginning to ring up Euro sales.
"Become very good friends with the European members of WebmasterWorld"
Hmmmm - when is the next Euro pub conference planned?
On a more serious side, I think this will really benefit the European online business. Now it will become easier to compare prices and the competition should increase (maybe) forcing the manufactures and merchants to sell better products and services.
I am already running US$ and UK£ accounts and to add a Euro account would incur just too many bank charges.
Any comments from our Euro members as to how this is working out, any benefits for ecommerce?
for example we could buy bread for FL. 1,50. Very nice bread indeed
The same bread cost now 1 euro (Fl. 2,20). This is only bread! Think of all the other things that are now more expensive like: a comuter, a internet connection, the rent, the water, food, weed(i'ts legal here).
The only price that seems not to be affected is the air that we breath, but we mentally prepared for this to be a paid service one day in the future.
i have i thing to say: i want my old currency, cause the people have become money dogs, i'm for real, give my my currecy back!
-- note there is 1 benfit. dialer programms are now accessible for entire europe, this adds about 8 million potential customers to my list.
Apart from that:
I guess the greatest advantage is for those of you from outside Euroland.
Dealing between the Euro-countries is not much easier, not yet at least. German banks have declared early on they would not lower fees for transactions with other Euro countries.
I guess the greatest advantage is for those of you from outside Euroland
Guess the best is being just in the middle of it, but not part of it. Like, for example, Switzerland :). We profit because our currency is worth more, so when we go to the country next door on vacation, everything is cheap. Of course, it is not that good for the industries that rely heavily on exports to Euroland, but honestly, how much export do we have in Switzerland? Oh, and more financial capital (not always declard;)) comes to our banks.
And the tourism industry doesn't have to many problems, as Switzerland always has been more a vacation place for higher incomes.
I love the Euro (as long as we don't have it ;)).
I guess the greatest advantage is for those of you from outside Euroland.
I am afraid not. We're selling to 65 foreign markets using card payments via the web. But we can charge these cards in our local currency only (SEK) and the krona is fluctuating against all other currencies. So customers have a hard time understanding what it is that ended up on their card statements. Usually not what they thought they'd be paying and we have endless explaining to do.
The Euro is likely to be a lot weaker than originally planned, because of lack of fiscal responsibility in you-know-where and more recently also because of the floods in Germany, which will trigger a budget deficit.
A weak Euro means that Euro-land can export more easily to the rest of the world and Euro-land will be less expensive to visit for outsiders. But for people on the outside, such as the UK, Sweden and Denmark, it is likely that our currencies will grow stronger in relation to the Euro hampering exports and inbound tourism.
So: I am looking forward to the day when my country goes Euro. Perhaps in 2005 or 2006.
I would prefer to be in a weak Euro zone than have a strong pound. Just the currency stability would be beneficial without looking at the additional customers who understand how much they are paying.
give it a time, it is less than y year old :)
also priyes went little up because many shops jsut rounded price to round number! it is not allowed but many do this.
slovenia doesnt use euro sicne it is euro candidate but we will be in euro-land i na year or so and then we will use euro. :)
Jon
Thats about right... Some shops in London (including Argos) are now accepting Euros. Perhaps London should adopt the Euro, and the rest of the UK can use £...
we are probably looking at 2010 - 2020 in the UK
Maybe not. Swedish PM Göran Persson is in and out of No 10 all the time, after which he and Tony Blair issue statements to the press that they are definitely not coordinating their countries' respective public referendums and that they certainly have not been discussing party tactics. Problem is that no one believes them. Something is cooking, that's for sure. Wouldn't be surprised to see referendums in both countries sometime next year, resulting in YES votes. After that, two years of fixed exchange rates will be needed to qualify, so 2005 or 2006 might be in the cards for the UK as well. Keep your fingers crossed.
The marketplace has just expanded by around a quarter of a billion for those countries inside the Euroland :)
Its good to see that the likes of London just outside the Euro zone don't wave the red tape around and say they don't "do" Euro's in "our" country.
I suppose much of the Euro IS politics-and the "real" benefits of the Euro will be some time to come as you say. Hopefully some of the less affluent countries of the zone (when/if they are online) will soon make the Eurozone a much more "uniform" place.
We have both suppliers and customers across Europe. We've now got a Euro bank account, and can pay a supplier in France with revenue from a customer in Germany, avoiding currency exchange charges and removing the problems we had with rate fluctuations.
Having bank accounts in Euros, Sterling and US$ has eliminated the bulk of currency charges we used to pay.
(Disclaimer: I'm no accountant, this is just my interpretation of what our financial guy has told me ;) )
Despite the still-existing criminal bank transfer charges in various countries, and the expected initial profiteering on price in various sectors, a big plus for the Euro.
