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192 CHAPTER 8 ■ Establishing a Healthy Drinking Culture

Drink auctions are held twice a year when valuable collectors’ items are of-
fered for sale. All this has likely increased customer satisfaction, in addition to
the wide assortment and high-quality products. In addition, Systembolaget
has a customer magazine that describes different products more in-depth, as
well as offering food recipes. However, these positive aspects of alcohol con-
sumption are mitigated by discussing the downside of alcohol consumption in
the magazine (Systembolaget, 2009e). This is in line with Systembolaget’s mis-
sion to educate people about the downside of alcohol, including information
on its home page, in the stores, and in different campaigns about bootlegging.
Difficulties to communicate disadvantages with alcohol should, however, be
recognized. In particular, excessive drinkers may be difficult to reach due to
selective perception.

Price: A Noncompetitive Factor

An alcohol monopoly by definition eliminates competition, although
Systembolaget faces competition from travelers’ imports, online purchases, and
the black market for alcohol. Still, Systembolaget does not use price as a com-
petitive factor. High taxes make this impossible. The advantages promoted are
instead the wide assortment and high-quality products.

CONSU M P TION A N D M A RKE T SH A RE

Alcohol consumption has increased since Sweden joined the EU in 1995 but
shows a decrease during more recent years. Still, consumption is considerably
higher than before Sweden joined the EU. Systembolaget’s sales have increased
over time, from 33.6 million liters in 2001 to 40.5 million liters in 2007
(Systembolaget, 2007a). Also, the number of customer visits in the stores has in-
creased during the past few years (Systembolaget, 2007b). The question is
whether this increase is due to an increased number of new customers or an in-
crease in consumption among existing customers. One possible explanation
could be the increase in disposable income among Swedes during the recent
years. It is noticeable that Systembolaget has increased its market share of the
total alcohol consumption since 2004 (SoRAD, 2008). Because private imports
of alcohol have decreased (Systembolaget, 2006, 2007a), it is likely that
Systembolaget has taken shares from this market. The campaigns, a stronger fo-
cus on customer orientation, and an integrated marketing mix may have con-
tributed to a decrease in private imports. Rather than importing alcohol, Swedes
may rather choose to support Systembolaget.