Systembolaget is the name of Sweden’s monopoly for the distribution of alcoholic beverages. In the off-trade channel wine, beer and spirits can only be bought in the stores of Systembolaget. As an importer it is therefore one of our biggest clients. Our job is to help producers and suppliers offer their products to Systembolaget. Below you can read more about the Swedish monopoly and its tender process.
On this page you will find:
One of the Greatest Retailers
Systembolaget is the monopoly for the distribution of wine, beer and spirits to 8 million Swedish end-consumers. Today Systembolaget is one of the world’s biggest retailers with over 400 stores and approximately another 500 distribution locations via partner stores covering all of Sweden. The more than 6000 workers also make it one of the biggest employers in the country.
Systembolaget’s range of selections consists of approximately 3000 different products all carefully selected via a strict purchasing process. Every product on the shelves has been tasted and selected by Systembolaget and matches exactly the consumers need.
The monopoly’s goal is to keep the alcohol consumption in Sweden as low as possible. This is done by informing about the risks and limiting opening hours and the buyers age. No one should be harmed by the effects of alcohol like addiction, violence and accidents. Because the monopoly does not want to make profit, there are no price actions like discounts or “two-for-one” offers and no advertisements will be found in the stores.
Therefore, the alcohol consumption in countries with an alcohol monopoly like Sweden, Norway and Finland is significantly lower than the European average. At the same time the employees in the stores of Systembolaget provide service and advise to help every buyer to find what they are looking for. The focus during consumption of alcohol should be purely to enjoy it, not abuse it.
Please feel free to contact if you have any question or concerns about how the Swedish market and Systembolaget is structured.
Great opportunities and great responsibility
It is a very great opportunity to be a licensed supplier as an import agent which also means big opportunities for our producer partners, but also big responsibilities. To work with Systembolaget, our producers and us have to follow Systembolaget’s rules and do our best to match their tenders to succeed to get into their ordinary ranges. To succeed we believe it is very important to work in close relationships with our international partners to do our best to meet Systembolagets requirements.
Insightful information about Systembolaget
To make it as convenient as possible for you as a producer to get insight into Systembolaget, Concealed Wines has put together some relevant information about Systembolagets purchasing process as well as other relevant information.
Tender process step-by-step
Concealed Wines business is to import and distribute wines and alcohol beverage products in the Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian market. Therefore we present you the tender process in detail to have a deep understanding of tender process and what we offer. Below you will find the description of how the tender process goes for submission of offers to Systembolaget, Vinmonopolet and ALKO.
Step 1
The Offer
You send us the tender form filled out correctly.
Step 2
Revision and Complement
Once we receive your tender form we will review it and if there is any required information.
Step 3
Submission of the Offer
Once we have all information needed we submit a written offer of your tender to the monopoly.
Step 4
Sample Request
We will send out a first mail regarding a sample request where we ask you to send a specific amount of bottles to our office.
Step 5
Preparing samples
Ater following our request, the next step would be that you send in samples of the wine you have offered. It is important that the wine corresponds to the tender form you sent in at the first step.
Step 6
Wine submission to the Monopoly
When we receive your samples we deliver them to the specific monopoly.
Step 7
Tasting and Results
Once the monopoly receives your samples they will taste the wine and make an analysis of it. Following this tasting they will get back to us with a result, whether your wine has been selected or not.