A person from the north of Europe has recently paid us a visit. Gabriella, our Swedish importer, came to Spain with the aim of defining the commercial strategy to adopt in the Nordic country in 2012. She visited the bodegas (in the photo you can see her in the tasting room of Bodega Classica with Raul Acha) and we got to know her a bit more.
Gabriella's visit gave us the opportunity to talk about the interesting system used in Sweden, as well as in other Nordic countries, for selling wine and other alcoholic beverages.
In Sweden, beverages with an alcohol content higher than 3.5% are sold to the public only through the Systembolaget, a state monopoly for selling alcoholic beverages. These shops are the only ones in Sweden that can sell alcohol over the counter. You must be at least 20 years of age to be able to purchase at these shops, and other rules that govern the over four hundred Systembolaget shops in the country include restricted opening times - opening hours Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 18:00 and Saturdays to 15:00 -, they are not allowed to offer 2 for 1 promotions, and the products have to be treated equally. According to their Webpage, their aim is not maximising profits but promoting healthy consumption.
Systembolaget stands out for its wide offer, which cannot be compared to any other shop in the world. It has over 2,300 references from 40 different countries - including beer, wine and spirits - and they are constantly being renewed. In addition, they have a list of 8,500 products that are provided by their suppliers and can be ordered from the shops or their Webpage. As expected, there are people in Sweden that are in favour and against this system, but the alcoholism rate is very much under control and they are also able to control alcohol consumption in those under age. Neighbouring countries such as Norway or Finland have also adopted this type of monopolies, although the limit for selling at common shops has been set at 4.7%.
Here is a video posted on Daniel Aragay's blog Haciendo el sueco - a Spanish national living in Sweden - that shows us how a purchase is made at one of these Systembolaget shops.
What do you think of this system? Do you believe it is effective when it comes to encouraging healthy consumption?
Systembolaget,or where can you buy wine in Sweden
