Ø. Horverak: The transition from over-the-counter to self-service sales of alcoholic beverages in Norwegian monopoly outlets: Implications for sales and customer satisfaction AImS

NORDIC STUDIES ON ALCOHOL AND DRUGS VOL . 25 . 2008 . 2 Ø. Horverak: The transition from over-the-counter to self-service sales of alcoholic beverages in Norwegian monopoly outlets: Implications for sales and customer satisfaction AImS To study the impact of the introduction of self-service at the Norwegian alcohol monopoly outlets. DESIGN Sales at outlets where self-service was introduced were compared with sales at outlets that remained over-the-counter. A regression model of the ARImA type was used to estimate the gross effect on sales. Customer interviews were employed to correct for the effect on sales of purchases by new customers who were attracted to the self-service outlets. Changes in public opinion were gauged by means of nationwide interview surveys and by interview surveys of representative samples of the outlets’ customers. RESULTS Sales rose by a net average of about 10 per cent in terms of pure alcohol. The change in method of sale was greatly appreciated by the customers, especially by customers patronizing the self-service shops. Among these, the sentiment in favour of self-service shifted from 61 to 96 per cent during the experiment. For many customers, the sentiment in favour of self-service was strong enough to result in changes in shopping habits. This was evident in towns where customers were allowed Introduction One of the key instruments of Norwegian alcohol policy is the state-run retail monopoly for strong beer, wine and spirits (Vinmonopolet). Through the monopoly system the authorities want to curb the consumption of alcohol by regulating the number of sales outlets and preventing private interests from making a profit on retail trade in strong alcoholic beverages. Apart from Denmark, all the Nordic countries, i.e. Finland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Sweden, maintain a state-owned retail monopoly system for selling strong alcoholic beverages. No other European country has such retail alcohol monopolies (Örnberg & Ólafsdóttir 2007). In the USA for a long period 18 “control-states” maintained wholesale monopolies and retail monopolies on sales of spirits or spirits and wine by the bottle (Room 1987). In 2006, 12 control-states still had a retail monopoly on spirits, of which four had also monopolized retail sales of wine. All these states have maintained their wholesale monopolies (Miller et al. 2006). In Canada, there are governmental monopolies which run retail and wholesale monopolies in all provinces except Alberta, which privatized the alcohol trade in 1993 (Alcohol Policy Network 2006).  Øyvind Horverak