With grocery chain Hagkaup having begun online alcohol sales, the CEO of Krónan, Hagkaup’s main competitor in online grocery sales, said that anyone can interpret the legal framework on alcohol sales in their own way. She said that due to the current legal framework and public discourse, it’s not time yet for the Krónan to enter the alcohol market, Viðskiptablaðið reports.
Legal grey area
Hagkaup’s decision to start selling alcohol online for in-store pickup this Thursday has been criticised by many, including Minister of Finance Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson. The Icelandic state has a near-monopoly on alcohol sales, but can’t prohibit online sales by foreign-based stores who operate in a legal grey area. The stores accept “international orders”, while customers receive what they ordered immediately from local stock.
“We suspect that Hagkaup believes that they have a strong legal basis to start their online sale of alcohol,” Krónan CEO Guðrún Aðalsteinsdóttir, told Viðskiptablaðið. “A new bill on alcohol sales is on the docket in October and it will be interesting to see if the Parliament will finally deal with this issue.”
Public or private
Guðrún added that a solid legal framework is necessary to remove uncertainty from the alcohol market. “This has become sort of farcical,” she said. “Today we have no coordinated processes or supervision. It’s also interesting how those who say that online sales by private companies threaten public health ignore how the publicly operated Vínbúðin opens more stores and expands opening hours.”
