The matter in summary The price of certain goods in the shops has reached a new low, with, among other things, a kilo of gingerbread dough for NOK 2.70 at Rema 1000. Anja Bakken Riise in Framtiden i våre händel criticizes this price competition, as it gives consumers a distorted picture of the value to the food and contributes to food waste. The grocery industry uses low prices to lure customers in, according to lecturer in marketing at Kristiania University Trond Blindheim. Rema 1000 works continuously to reduce food waste in its stores and was one of the initiators behind the establishment of the Food Centre, says the chain itself. A new food waste law has been sent out for consultation, which will require the food industry to donate surplus food and order shops to reduce prices or give discounts on date products. Bakken Riise believes that political regulation is necessary to prevent food waste and preserve the value of food. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. The price of some goods in the shops has reached a new low. Among other things, you can get a kilo of gingerbread dough for NOK 2.70 at Rema 1000. Note! After news published this case, the price for gingerbread dough at Rema has dropped by 50 øre. In most shops, the Nonstop chocolate costs NOK 4.90 for a bag, while you can get porridge, gräddost, seigmenn and Christmas sausage for a fraction of the usual price. Boiled Christmas sausage has fallen to around NOK 10 in the vast majority of grocery stores. Photo: Kai Jæger Kristoffersen / news Not everyone is equally happy with that, including Anja Bakken Riise in Framtiden i våre hands. Although she has a small concession. – To be completely honest, I bought four marzipan pigs the other day. They only cost nine kroner each. What do you think about price dumping on Christmas goods? Tip top! Unnecessary, I think… No comment. Show result – And it’s cheap, but NOK 2.90 for one kilo of gingerbread dough, what do you think of that? – So, I think this way of only competing to have the lowest possible price for the food, rather than competing to have the best quality or to be produced in the most sustainable way, gives us as consumers a distorted picture of the value of the food. – This type of competition gives us as consumers a distorted picture of the value of food, and it contributes to food waste. READ ALSO: This Christmas beer is now cheaper than a bottle of soda. It makes more people react. Norwegians throw away enough food to feed one million people a year, says Anja Bakken Riise, head of Framtiden i våre hands. Photo: Zofia Paszkiewicz / news – Battle for the customers The grocery industry uses every trick in the book to lure customers in for a big pre-Christmas shopping with them. That’s what associate professor in marketing at Kristiania University Trond Blindheim says. – They say that half price is the next best thing you can say in marketing language. The best is free, this is almost free. Trond Blindheim believes that the stores are good at strategic product placement. – You are welcome to walk past many items that you also need when you are first in the store, he says. – Don’t the shops lose an extremely large amount of money on this? – No, they don’t. Even if they lose a little on the gingerbread dough, it’s a good shop, he says and elaborates: – You buy a lot more goods with you when you’re first in a shop, so it’s a battle for customers. You don’t go to the store just to buy Nonstop and gingerbread dough. Nonstop for NOK 4.90 at Rema 1000. Photo: Kai Jæger Kristoffersen / news The stores are aware of our shopping patterns and use the information for all it’s worth, according to Blindheim. The Christmas goods are placed far into the store, so you are welcome to pass by many goods that you also need, says Blindheim. – For all I know, they have raised the price a bit on them, so that compensates. Particularly strong competition According to category and purchasing director at Rema 1000 Line Aarnes, there is particularly strong competition in the grocery industry around holidays. In an e-mail to news, Aarnes writes the following: – We have cut the price of a large number of goods and there are several goods that we are now selling at below purchase price. We cannot say anything about future prices, but we will work hard to ensure that it is with us that you get the lowest final sum for the Christmas dinner. – Several of the items that have received the biggest reduction have a long shelf life, and we have also cut the price of a number of fruits and vegetables, which we see that our customers appreciate, writes Line Aarnes. According to Aarnes, Rema 1000 works continuously to reduce food waste in its stores and was one of the initiators behind the establishment of the Food Centre. – We support all measures that contribute to combating food waste, and here we are already at the forefront of the government’s legislative proposal. In 2023, we donated around 2 million meals through the Matsentralen. – In addition, we saved approximately 30 million items by reducing their price before they reached their expiry date. Furthermore, Aarnes says that several of the items that have received the greatest reduction have a long shelf life. Made the gingerbread dough himself Bakken Riise made his own gingerbread dough yesterday, and knows what kind of ingredients are used. – In my dough there is cream from the cow and sugar and spices that come from far away. All the raw materials come with an environmental impact. My fear is that we compete so much on price that we forget what value the food actually has. She continues: – The grocery chains know an awful lot about what makes me and you buy goods from them. They almost know more about us than we do ourselves. They are going to continue to use every trick in the book to get us to trade as much as possible. Unless there is some form of political regulation, she says. On Tuesday, the news came that the government has sent a new food waste law out for consultation. Among other things, the law will: Order the food industry to donate surplus food that would otherwise have been thrown away. Order stores to reduce prices or give discounts on date goods. Provides opportunities to issue fines for breaches of the Food Waste Act. – A bit fitting, perhaps, that this one is coming now. Do you think it will help? – We sat on the committee that helped investigate it, and there are many good things about the law. We believe that it will affect Norwegian food waste, not least because we oblige businesses to carry out so-called due diligence assessments and measures. This means that the shops must map, assess and prevent the risk of possible food waste. – If the law is passed with all these proposals, I am hopeful that we will be able to reduce food waste – and put an end to sales campaigns that make us buy more than we need, says Anja Bakken Riise. Photo: Jorunn Hatling / news – In other words, if they see that their sales campaigns can lead to food waste either for themselves or the consumer, then they are obliged to do something about it. Now this is only a proposal that will go out for consultation, but is certainly interesting. Published 11.12.2024, at 09.34 Updated 11.12.2024, at 09.59
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Now the gingerbread dough costs 2.70 on Rema 1000 – news Nordland
