Denmark's Salling Group has said that tobacco has been removed from visible sale in all of its 500 Netto stores across the country, with the net result that fewer young people are now buying cigarettes.
Earlier this summer, Salling Group said that it planned to ensure all tobacco products were 'hidden away' in its stores by the start of October, a process that has already been completed at its Netto outlets.
The move followed research that indicates the number of youths between 13 and 17 years old that have taken up smoking rose in Denmark in the past five years.
Salling Group said that tobacco sales overall at Netto were down 5% since the measure was implemented.
Youth Response
"Our checkout employees tell us that they encounter fewer young people that want to buy cigarettes," commented Brian Seemann Broe, Netto country director. "Combined with declining sales across the board, we are convinced that we can contribute to pushing a very positive development in this area."
Consumers wishing to buy tobacco products in store are also greeted with clear signage indicating that an ID is required to make purchases.
"We think this measure will prevent more young people from trying to purchase tobacco, as they can see that employees are asking to check their ID," Seemann Broe added.
The measure has been rolled out in Netto for a month now, and will be implemented at føtex and Bilka by October 1, and Seemann Broe called on other Danish retailers to follow the group's lead.
"If we can already see positive developments as we have done at Netto, I can only encourage other retailers to start the process of hiding tobacco from sale as soon as possible," he said.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
