Two young people from Valdres load energy drinks, soft drinks and barbecue food into a small Golf. They drove it for five hours to get to Nordby shopping centre, not far from the border at Svinesund. The goods are to be enjoyed during rush hour. But Frank Bring believes it is not as cheap as before. – Beef and bacon in particular have become much more expensive than they were, he says. But believes there is still money to be saved, for example on soft drinks. DNB: Clear decline in cross-border trade There are recent figures from DNB that document the trend. DNB has 1.5 million card customers. The analysis captures both the number of day trips and actual card use. DECREASE: The number of shopping trips to Sweden decreased by 23 per cent in April compared to April 2019, which was the last normal year before the pandemic, according to DNB. Photo: William Jobling / news The April figures show a decrease of 23 per cent from April this year compared to April 2019, which was the last normal year before the pandemic. Easter this year was 35 per cent weaker this year than Easter in 2019. Fewer day trips Director for data transformation at DNB, Ine Oftedahl, points to several reasons why the “harry trade” is returning: Weak Norwegian krone (Swedish krone is now three per cent stronger than the Norwegian) Strong price increase for food in Sweden. Food inflation in Sweden is over 20 per cent, twice as high as the Norwegian rate Change in the alcohol and tobacco quota Higher fuel prices that make the trip to Sweden more expensive Oftedahl says the average amount people spend on Swedish shopping has not changed much, but the number of day trips has decreased. WEAK KRONE: DNB director Ine Oftedahl believes the weak krone and strong Swedish food inflation are the main reasons why cross-border trade has declined. Photo: William Jobling / news The Maximat manager: – We are doing well Ole Jørgen Lind, store manager at Maximat Nordby, believes that the DnB figures are not correct for them. – Our turnover is not as good as last year, but significantly better than DNB’s figures, says Lind. – The cross-border trade area is large, and here at Nordby we have a good position and are very well known, he says. NOT CORRECT: The DnB figures do not match the sales figures for our shop, says shop manager Ole Jørgen Lind at Maximat, who believes 2023 will be a record year. Photo: Stein Ove Korneliussen / news Nordby shopping center is one of the largest in the Nordic region. The store manager says the turnover could pass the billion mark this year, which is a record. He explains the decline at Easter by the fact that people in the public sector were paid their salaries after Easter this year, and that has a great impact on the desire to buy. Strong increase at Vinmonopolet But other figures also confirm the trend. The Norwegian Vinmonopolet has 22 percent higher sales in the first quarter of this year than in the first quarter than before the pandemic levels in 2019. Kristin Welle-Strand in the Vinmonopolet believes several factors explain this: The entry quota was reduced from six to four bottles of wine. A weak Norwegian krone helps to slow down cross-border trade. – It could be that during the pandemic Norwegians gained increased loyalty to Norwegian companies, says Welle-Strand. NHO: The pandemic changed shopping habits NHO also believes that people changed their shopping habits during the pandemic. – People discovered that it is perfectly fine to shop in Norway, says director Petter Brubakk at NHO food and drink. CHANGED HABITS: – The pandemic has changed our shopping habits, says NHO. But cross-border trade in Sweden is worth many billions and is still a social problem, believes NHO Photo: William Jobling / news At the same time, NHO maintains that cross-border trade is a major social problem. Quite a few millirads are used on the Swedish side of the border every year. It costs us jobs and value creation, says Brubakk.
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The Harry trade plummets: – Many things have become more expensive in Sweden
