The Wine Monopoly w/ Trond Erling Pettersen, Vinmonopolet

Celebrating its 100th year in 2022, Vinmonopolet, the retail wine monopoly of Norway, is tasked with reducing overconsumption of alcohol while enabling a growing food and beverage culture in Norway. With over 32,000 selections, covering 95% of the population, and educating customers with podcasts and other programs, Trond Erling Pettersen, category manager, describes how the monopoly serves all segments of its customers and operates in a fair, transparent manner.

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Detailed Show Notes:

Vinmonopolet = “wine monopoly”

~95% of the population lives w/in 30 min drive of a retail store
340 shops
>32,000 different products, >20,000 wines
Basic range - ~1,000 wines, always on display in stores
Ordering range - importers can stock anything, can be ordered from monopoly website or app, and have wines delivered or available for pickup
Stores can select ~25% of shelf space from the ordering range
2021 - 118M liters of alcohol sold, 96M liters of wine (10.6M 9L cases) worth KR27B (~$2.7B) - taxes and profits go back to the government

Monopoly’s purpose

Established due to overdrinking at the turn of the 20th century - it was a source of poverty, hunger, and social issues
Founded in 1922 - 100th birthday in Nov 2022
1919 - ban on spirits
1922 - created monopoly to have the responsible sale of alcohol

Restaurants and bars

Buy directly from importers and producers, do not go through monopoly
Some trends start in restaurants, then customers go to the monopoly to buy
Restaurants have higher-end wines and often cellar wines

Wine sourcing

>600 importers supply monopoly, needs to go through a supplier, no direct purchasing allowed
Ordering range - free access to market, suppliers that list whatever they want
Special selection - high-end, allocated wines purchased for monopoly
Basic range:
It starts by looking at sales figures, trends, customer demands, and holes in the range
Conduct research by meeting with producers and importers
Develop a tender plan (tenders 2x/year) to outline what to purchase for the next year with very detailed specifications (e.g., max price, packaging, region, etc.)
Get samples and conduct a blind tasting panel which is scored
Launched in stores with guaranteed placement for one year
Wines then compete based on sales volume
An extensive and fair process

Pricing - uses a standard formula