Swedes buy more alcohol during the corona crisis

During Friday, Systembolaget released its quarterly report showing that revenues increased by nine percent during the first quarter of the year. Charlotte Hansson, CFO at Systembolaget, believes it is due to the corona virus.

- Increased sales in March can reasonably be explained by closed limits and sharply reduced restaurant sales.

Customers' behavior has also changed. The company's CEO, Magdalena Gerger, says that Swedes trade more - and less frequently.

- You arrive earlier in the day, and earlier in the week.

Beer and spirits sell best, something Magdalena Gerger explains with the boundaries closed to Denmark and Germany. These beverages are typically those bought on trips, a channel that has thus been stopped.

It is not only alcohol revenues that are increasing. The alcohol line has received more calls from relatives to people with alcohol problems. The talks have, among other things, been about how domestic work leads to drinking both for lunch and dinner.

However, Magdalena Gerger believes that increased sales do not mean increased alcohol consumption. A self-ordered Sifound survey shows that 83 percent do not feel that they have changed their drinking habits, six percent have increased their intake, while nine say they drink less.

- There are no figures to indicate that there is more drinking in Sweden, she says.