The euro changeover will be "a major upheaval" for consumers, according to IBEC, with any difficulties coming into sharpest focus in the retail sector. Corner shops, local convenience stores and garage forecourts may bear the initial brunt of changeover confusion on New Year's Day, but supermarket chains and mid-sale department stores join the front line from January 2nd.

"People are taking it very seriously. It's a huge event," says Ms Diane Charles, a spokeswoman for Tesco Ireland, where an estimated 70 per cent of customers pay in cash. Practical preparation has reached its final stage. Most major retailers have invoiced suppliers in the new currency since the beginning of the year, with euro compliant point-of-sale systems installed as early as 1998, during the rush to make retail technology Y2K-safe.

Tesco Ireland, Superquinn, Marks & Spencer (Ireland) and Arnotts are all members of the IBEC/EAN Ireland EMU Retail Working Group that drew up the code of practice on the euro. Now each company is engaged in a marketing strategy designed to retain customer loyalty and reduce fears of opportunistic price inflation.

"Any retailer, any business will all say the same thing: prices will not increase during the changeover period," says Ms Charles. "Staff will be on hand to reassure Tesco customers of this. We have required our suppliers to strive to hold prices steady and that is all we can do."

Tesco's publicity campaign includes in-store posters, leaflets, and information on conversion rates in its Clubcard magazine, distributed to more than half a million homes. Dual pricing will continue until the end of March.

At Superquinn stores, euro information desks have been set up and the company has produced an information video on the changeover, featuring executive chairman Mr Feargal Quinn. Digital screens located at checkout points, which broadcast a mix of news and advertising material known as the "i-Channel", currently display the slogan "the currency is changing, but our prices stay the same".

In some stores, checkout staff are preparing shoppers for the currency change by circling the euro total on customers' till receipts in red.

Superquinn is implementing a price freeze from €-day until February 9th, when the dual-circulation period ends. Its charter of nine pledges to customers includes the promise that if a customer finds that a product is only priced in one currency during this period, they will get that item free.

Ms Celine Newman, marketing manager for Superquinn, describes the changeover as a "confidence-building exercise" for the company. "Customers don't want to be codded by anyone. It's important to maintain the trust we have with our customers and live up to that trust," she says.

Ms Newman admits there is a possibility consumers will buy fewer items per transaction while they become familiar with the value of the new currency. "People whose shopping is normally £50 might still expect to pay €50," says Ms Newman.

Members of the Super Club loyalty scheme in its stores in Limerick, Swords, Blackrock and Lucan may take further advantage of the Superscan service, where customers use handheld scanners as they place products in their trolleys, then "pay and go" at the checkout. Shoppers using the service are said to find themselves more aware of the prices of products as they scan.

The conversion rate of £1 equals €1.27 means that consumers may feel they are paying more, even without any price inflation in real terms. This could pose difficulties for retailers depending on revenue from January sales.

"Certainly, we would be very conscious of the fact that because of the conversion rate prices appear to go up," agrees Mr Ian Huxtable, sales and services manager at Arnotts. Sales goods will require four prices to be displayed - the original and the sale price in both pounds and euros, making it harder to convince browsers that there are seasonal bargains on offer.

"It makes the message more difficult to read. We will do our best to make sure that our signage is understandable but there may be a reluctance to buy," Mr Huxtable says.

"In a way, it is unfortunate that the changeover is happening when the sales are on," he adds. "The last few months have been tough for retailers. Since September 11th, things have not been so buoyant. But I suspect that when all of this is analysed, the end result will be that prices will come down. Sale prices will be keener than ever this year, as a lot of retailers are sitting on a lot of stock."

To help stock disappear off shelves and keep checkout queues moving, retailers are hiring extra staff or deploying existing staff in key areas to assist consumers with the change in currency.

Superquinn says, although there will be more people on the shop floor, these would not necessarily be extra staff but workers who might normally be office bound.

Tesco stores are examining how many additional staff will be needed to answer questions and act as packers at checkouts, reducing queues. "Luckily, January can be a reasonably quiet time," Ms Charles notes.

Marks & Spencer will also have increased staffing in till areas to "minimise any worries" customers may have, according to Ms SinΘad Cox, head of the company's euro implementation programme.

"January is the time when people bring back the talcum powders that they got from their granny for Christmas and don't want, so we would be hiring extra staff for customer services desks anyway," says Ms Cox.

At Arnotts, Mr Huxtable foresees "a lot more people running up and down stairs getting cash" as pounds and pence are "sucked out of the system". Usually, only notes would be removed from the till during the day but, during the first few days of 2002, the Irish coins being taken out of circulation will need to be transferred to special holding areas to make room in tills for the euro currency.

Organising till floats and keeping them replenished will be "the biggest practical consideration" for retailers during the changeover, he says. Switching from dual pricing where the Irish price is highlighted to where the euro amount is emphasised is also a labour-intensive task, and some retailers have opted to phase in euro-prominent price labels now.

Recruiting additional staff adds to already significant training, security and marketing costs for retailers. Mr Pat Delaney, director of the Small Firms Association, has said the sector is carrying "a tremendous burden" in ensuring the changeover runs smoothly, but long-term planning means most major retail companies are unlikely to suffer unduly.

"There is a cost involved in making these changes, but it is minimised in terms of the benefits," says Ms Cox at Marks & Spencer. "As we are an international company it suits us to have the euro, and, as with the millennium bug, we would have budgeted for the changes that had to be made."

Apart from scanning systems and accountancy packages, these changes include equipment like weighing scales and price guns. There is even such a thing as the euro-compliant shopping trolley - a trolley where the lock has been fitted with a small piece of plastic so it can accept euro coins.

Retailers will be hoping that guiding shoppers through the dual-circulation period will prove easier than pushing one of these trolleys in a straight line down the supermarket aisle. As Arnotts' sales and services manager notes, "the crunch will be first day".