Business, Society | Sales figures at Vinmonopolet: still happy with wine, but would also prefer some non-alcoholic drinks

Vinmonopolet sold 97.3 million liters in 2022 – the third largest sale ever in a calendar year. Compared to 2021, there was a decrease of 18 percent, equivalent to 21 million liters.

– Declining as expected in light of the reopening of society, which means that duty-free and cross-border commerce and nightlife will rebound after the pandemic, says Vinmonopolet’s press officer, Jens Nordahl.

As elsewhere in the country

The Egersund wine monopoly has numbers that more or less reflect the situation across the country:

There is declining sales within all product types, except for one: Genever, known as the national spirit of the Netherlands. The increase was not huge, only two liters.

The decline is more or less the same throughout the year: D’Alboin drank 17 percent less red and white wine last year. Rosé wine was also not up to par with 2021 and is down 26 percent.

Spirits are down 17 percent, vodka is down 22, and whiskey is down 19 percent, according to statistics from Venmonopolite. Among the beverages that recorded the largest decline was rum, at 26 percent.

Sales of non-alcoholic products increased by 10 percent in Egersund.

Growth target through 2019

Back to the national numbers: compared to 2019, which was the last normal year, the growth was 18 percent. Population growth, lower income share from January 1, 2021 (from 6 to 4 bottles of wine) and fewer business travelers by plane help explain growth from 2019. In uncertain economic times, it is not unusual for consumers to change their portion of its consumption for the domestic market; This could also help explain the growth towards 2019.

Obviously, red wine remains the largest category and accounts for 43.9 percent of sales, but this category is also the category that saw the biggest drop in liters – down 10.6 million liters from 53.3 million liters to 42.7 million liters.

Low sugar content

The categories that have grown over time are the “light and bright” categories such as white wine, sparkling wine, rose wine, beer, sides, and non-alcoholic.

– This shift in sales towards categories with lower sugar, alcohol and calorie content is due to the trend being more aware of what you eat and drink, but it also reflects climate change. In particular, temperature is crucial to what people choose to buy. Warmer climates favor sales of the light and bright categories, says Nordahl.

Non-alcoholic increase

Sales of non-alcoholic beverages increased by 12 percent to 940,000 liters in 2022. And not only are alcohol-free products sold at all times at Vinmonopolet – non-alcoholic products are also the only category to see growth in 2022 .

Otherwise, bubbles are also a trend – sparkling wines, sides, beers, and non-alcoholic sparkling wines are all increasing in popularity in 2022.

The overview below shows store and product, 2021 sales figures, 2022 sales figures, change in number of liters, change in percentage