The Swedish krona is now a record low: one euro is already close to 12 kroner.
The crown has been weakened for a long time. In ten years, a third of its value compared to the euro has melted.
The collapse of the Swedish currency encourages shopping in the western neighbor. Especially in larger purchases, you can get huge savings, even hundreds of euros.
compared the prices of Finnish and Swedish products in euros.
Clothing and footwear
In clothes and footwear, the price difference is accentuated in branded products.
When you compare prices in Adidas online stores in Finland and Sweden, you can find sneakers 15 percent cheaper in the western neighbor. You can also get the same sneaker models in the online stores of, for example, Nike or Vans in Sweden at about ten percent cheaper than in Finland.
In more expensive clothes, even a ten percent saving is noticeable. Marimekko’s novelty from Sweden is also 45 euros cheaper when you compare the prices in the company’s online stores in both countries.
From Marimekko’s communication, it is stated via e-mail that exchange rates are among other factors, along with taxation and logistics, that affect the company’s pricing in different market areas.
Marimekko’s country-specific online stores cannot place orders to other countries, i.e. products from the Swedish online store are not delivered to Finland. The practice is also common with other companies that have country-specific online stores.
During the holiday seasons, however, sales to tourists are important in certain Marimekko stores in Sweden, the company communicates.
Furniture
Many pieces of furniture in the western neighbor are clearly more affordable than in Finland.
For example, some sofa models are up to a third cheaper in Sweden when you compare the prices in Ikea’s online stores. On the other hand, the prices of other products are almost identical on Ikea’s Finnish and Swedish websites.
Each country is responsible for its own prices, Ikea’s communication is told by email to .
According to Ikea, the Swedish krona has no direct effect on the prices of its products, as the company’s supply chains are global and the purchase prices of the products are defined in euros. The price differences between the countries are explained by differences in shipping costs, logistics and taxation systems.
For example, by comparing the online stores of the furniture store chain Jyski, you can see that sofas are sold in Sweden at significantly lower prices than in Finland.
Computers and game consoles
The Apple Macbook pro compared in this article is equipped with a 14-inch screen, an M2 max chip, 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage space. The prices of the products have been considered popular from a Finn and from Sweden from price tracking websites.
It is not necessarily worth buying computers and game consoles from Sweden.
Apple’s new laptop computer intended for professional use can be found clearly cheaper in Sweden. In the lighter models of Apple’s Macbook, the prices are not much cheaper in the western neighbor – on the contrary, they can be more expensive in Finland.
In terms of game consoles, the latest Xbox is practically the same price in Sweden and Finland even at its cheapest. Sony’s Playstation 5, on the other hand, can be easily obtained at a lower price in Finland.
In consumer electronics, there is a tight price competition with discount products. For example, the home electronics chain Gigantti automatically monitors its other competitors and makes changes to its prices even on a daily basis.
– If a competitor lowers the price of a product, it doesn’t necessarily take many minutes when the rest of the market has reacted, CEO of Giganti Niko Sandström opens the competitive situation within Finland.
Sandström estimates that, basically, there are not huge differences in the price level of electronic products in Finland and Sweden, as the manufacturers’ recommended prices are at the same level in both countries.
Promotional campaigns may still make big price differences between some products.
Used cars
This article compares Tesla Model 3 electric cars from the year 2020 or 2021 with less than 40,000 kilometers driven and running on Long range dual engines. The prices have been compared by calculating the average price of the five cheapest cars offered by popular in Finnish and in Swedish on used car brokerage websites.
The long-lasting devaluation of the crown has encouraged Finns to buy a car from their western neighbor for years. However, the now increased demand has resulted in a price advantage, as Sweden has become an increasingly important used car procurement market not only in Finland but also in other parts of Europe.
– Those looking for something newer, more valuable and more special benefit the most, sums up the CEO of Kamux, a company that sells used cars in Finland and Sweden Tapio Pajuharju.
Sweden is the place to look if you’re looking for well-equipped sedans and top-of-the-range cars. In addition to Tesla electric cars, Finns are interested in hybrid models such as Volvo XC SUVs.
Used Teslas sold in Finland are often imported from Sweden, and they are sold here at a higher price. Kamux also acquires some of the Teslas it sells in Finland from its western neighbor.
When comparing the prices of used cars, it is good to take into account that their equipment level, mileage and maintenance history have a significant effect on the value.
The car tax increases the price of cars imported to Finland. Fully electric cars imported as used are exempt from car tax if they have been put into use in a country for the first time on or after 1 October 2021.
The prices stated in the article have been viewed from the mentioned websites last week. The Swedish prices have been translated at an exchange rate where one kroner is 0.084 euros.
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Correction August 29, 2023 at 1:07 p.m.: Corrected the information about tax-free fully electric cars.
Correction 8/29/2023 at 3:34 p.m.: The word “Finnish” was removed from the story in the section where it is told about the importance of tourists in Swedish stores.