Expat orders for British supermarket food surge on strength of euro

If carrying coals to Newcastle is judged a pointless exercise, then importing croissants, baguettes and bottles of claret into France might seem even more absurd. But, due to the strength of the euro against the pound, hundreds of Britons living in France are now using the internet to order their food, including many French specialities, from British supermarkets.

Simon Goodenough, the director of Sterling Shopping, a delivery firm based in Brackley, Northamptonshire, says his company has 2,500 British customers in France and is running five delivery vans full of food to France each week.

"We deliver food from Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer, but by far the biggest is Asda," said Goodenough. "We deliver into south-west France from Poitiers downwards where it is estimated 25,000 Britons now live. We sit in our depot sometimes looking at the things people have bought and just laugh at the craziness of it all. We have seen croissants and baguettes in people's shopping bags. And we have delivered bottles of Bergerac wine bought from Sainsbury's to a customer in Bergerac. We even have a few French customers who have now heard about what we do. They love things like curries and tacos, which they just can't get in France."



Sterling Shopping is one of four delivery companies in the UK currently taking food bought online from UK-based supermarkets to British customers living in France. Shoppers are advised to place their food orders online with British supermarkets, pay in sterling, then ask for the supermarket to deliver to the delivery firm's address. Depending on where the customer lives in France, the companies charge a fee equal to 15% to 25% of the food's value. Frozen food is forbidden, but due to demand, some delivery companies are exploring whether to lift this restriction.

John Steventon owns La Maison Removals, a delivery company based in Rayleigh, Essex. It takes food from its warehouse to about 1,000 British customers in central France. "We just can't cope with demand at the moment," he said. "There's just so much business. Since January, demand has been phenomenal. Our removals business into France was really slowing down last year, but we found that friends in France were asking us to bring over British food for them so we just thought it made sense to set up a food delivery service. We have three refrigerated vans a week going over, plus two non-refrigerated vans taking things from Argos, B&Q etc. We're now fully booked till Christmas with orders.

"The savings for buying food, in particular, are amazing due to the strength of the euro. Customers tell us that for every £100 they would spend in France buying food, they save £30 buying through us, even with our 15% commission. A lot of people are using us to get things they really miss, such as bacon and sausages."