Grocery, Price War | The price war on mulled wine leads to empty shelves: – Can’t ask for more

(The newspaper online🙂 The Christmas season is upon us, and warm wine is a self-described companion during the advent of Christ and Christmas. But now many grocery chains are struggling with out-of-stock wine products.

This happens after a fierce price war between the lower price chains where a liter of Tomteggløg costs as little as NOK 9.6.

Oda: – Customers were stocking up on wine

A quick check on oda.com, the low-priced internet chain, shows they are sold out of one liter of original Stabburet and Tomtegløgg seasoning. They state that the product has been sold out by the supplier.

– Oda has enough of the sugar-free version of Tomtegløgg left in stock, but like most other stores, we’re now empty of the original, spicy version, says Tor Erik Aag, commercial director at Oda to Nettavisen.

The reason they sold out more than expected was because the price war on Christmas goods had brought the price down to less than NOK 10 a litre. Aag says the customers were piling on.

– Even the restrictions we placed on the number of bottles customers could buy in the same transaction didn’t stop us from running out. We’re not sure if we’ll get any more before Christmas Eve, he says.

can not order

Coop’s director of communications, Harald Kristiansen, says it varies from store to store whether you’re out for Christmas wine. Coop is behind, among others, the discount chain Extra and the Coop Mega supermarket.

– This is a product that stores order long before Christmas, and cannot be re-ordered. When Christmas is over, it’s a product that’s not easy to sell, and so we try to fulfill orders as best we can to avoid waste, he says.

On the Meny website, one liter of Tomtegløgg is also on sale. But Nina Horn-Hin, Meny’s director of communications, says they have so many wines in their stores that they might consider leaving out the wine.

– We were not informed by the supplier that we had run out of Tomtegløgg from Orkla Foods. In general, there is a good stock of Tomtegløgg in all our stores, not many left. She says the amount left varies from store to store.

Rema 1000 Communications Director Hege Rognlien said on Tuesday morning that 13 of the 73 products in the Oslo region have been sold.

– We have Tomtegløgg stock, so there’s little indication of a sold-out status, or that this product will run out before Christmas, says Rognlien, but he notes:

– In a few of our stores you can experience a sold-out situation, but this is now, and that picture can change quickly because our cars deliver goods to stores all the time.

She says Tomtegløgg is a popular Christmas product for which there is strong competition.

– It’s common to run out

Norway’s largest trading company Norgesgruppen, which is behind Meny supermarket and discount chain Kiwi, states that it may be out of the popular Christmas drink in some of its stores.

– There are likely to be significant local differences in who has and who is blank, says Norgesgruppen Communications Manager Kine Søyland and explains:

– This is a product that pre-orders are being taken and should last until Christmas. It is not uncommon for it to be empty as Christmas approaches. If you can’t find Tomtegløgg in one store, check another. It also mentioned that Norgesgruppen shops sell mulled wines from other brands such as Eldorado and Lerum.

Søyland says there’s no point in itself leaving a lot of wine behind after Christmas.

– That they are sold out in some places is not exceptional this year, notes Søyland.

Anne Gjemdal is the Director of Communications at Orkla, which produces Tomtegløgg, among others.

– We are not aware of any Tomtegløgg items that have been sold in stores. We also see that there are still stocks left at some wholesalers, as well as the fact that Orkla Foods also has stock left of several varieties, it says, and states that no more Tomtegløgg will be produced this year.

– We found that sales of studied wines are fairly stable from year to year, and we’re not aware that there have been instances of a major sell-out in stores in some of the past years, but don’t rule it out in individual stores, she says.