JP Chenet, that was the cheap red wine that Petra Moes usually bought. “I only bought better wine with a discount. Then I thought: I buy a box, then I can go ahead more than a week. But after four days I often already opened the last bottle. Offers made the devil on my shoulders kept seduction to drink more than I intended. ”
Every drinker, says Moes, knows that you should not have a stock at home if you want to control yourself. “OFFERS UNDERMINING that intention, you’re crazy if you let that bonus run.” Moes (1967) has the power of a discount as an ex-Drinker. And supermarkets make use of it.
Take this week’s leaflets: At Albert Heijn there are 29 types of wine and port in the bonus. Kratten Grolsch, Amstel and Warsteiner are piled up with a 25 percent discount. Prefer Hertog Jan, Bavaria or Jupiler? At Jumbo you pay half the price for the second crate. Heineken is on offer at Plus and Lidl.
In four years, the number of offers from alcoholic beverages at supermarkets has doubled, Questionmark brings out today. This agency, which investigates the offer of supermarkets, collected advertising brochures from Albert Heijn, Aldi, Dirk, Jumbo, Lidl and Plus. In 2020 it still had an average of 219 alcohol promotions per week, in 2024 the six chains together had 445 drinks together in the offers. In addition, the researchers took all variants separately. For example, if there is a discount promotion for all white wine, all individual wines are prinkled.
Quantity
Although Questionmark also had advertising without a discount, it almost always turned out to be price promotions. Because supermarkets also know: many customers first look at where their favorite lager is on sale, and at that supermarket they do their shopping. Of the total turnover of supermarkets, 7 percent comes from the sale of alcoholic beverages, according to market research agency Circana. That is more than dairy (6 percent). The front line of the supermarket struggle is topped with alcohol.
There is no supermarket that does not have beer and wine on offer every week. Also compared to other offers, the share of alcohol promotions has risen in four years: from 10 to 15 percent.
Most promotions are for beer, then wine. But there are also more than fifty mixed drinks and spirits on offer every week, such as Bacardi-Cola or Aperol Spritz. Although in number the lowest, this category promotions did grow the fastest in the leaflets.
Quantum discounts were more than a quarter of the offers in 2024. Charlotte Linnebank, director of Questionmark, finds those offers even more than 25 percent discount on one product. “If you go to the store for one bottle and there are four for the price of three, then you spend more money and you get more alcohol at home than you intended. And just as for all unhealthy products, it applies quickly. It’s hard to control yourself when it’s at home for grabbing. “
Albert Heijn, which has ‘healthy’ at the top in his sustainability report, is well in the prize circus
Albert Heijn, which has ‘healthy’ at the top in his sustainability report, is well in the prize circus. The largest chain in the Netherlands was good for half of the offers in 2024, thus also made a huge leap in that year and mainly comes out with wine. Plus advertises by far the most for mixed drinks. Although plus now praises the ‘crazy wine week’.
Temptation
That the number of offers has increased so strongly is striking in itself. “But it is especially remarkable,” says Linnebank, “that this happened in a period when the supermarkets were obliged to give no more than 25 percent discount on alcohol.” And that government measure was intended to smaller the temptation to drink much.
This limit now seem to compensate retailers by stunting with more products. “We have no sales figures, so we don’t know what this does with the buying behavior of consumers,” says Linnebank. “But it is known that buying marketing encourages, and that young people in particular are sensitive to this.”
A thorn in the eyes of the Health Organizations With which Questionmark caught up with this study, it is also that alcohol can be seen everywhere in the supermarket, without the label that alcohol increases the risk of cancer and other diseases. Above the meat or cheese shelf is often wine, at the cash register you quickly pull a cold can out of the fridge. And although young people are not allowed to buy alcohol, is known That alcohol promotions let them drink more.
National Prevention Agreement
This is all at odds with the National Prevention Agreement in which government, companies and health organizations in 2018 agreements to reduce problematic alcohol consumption: no more alcohol for young people under the age of eighteen, and a decrease in the number of problem drinkers among adults from 9 to 5 percent in 2040. Goals that are far from being achieved.
The number of heavy drinkers does not decrease and this causes high social and health costs
“A little less is drunk across the board,” says Ninette van Hasselt of Trimbos, the knowledge institute for alcohol. “But the number of heavy drinkers does not decrease and this causes high social and health costs.” Alcohol costs society an estimated at least 3 billion euros a year.
Price and promotion are two of the most important buttons that you can turn To reduce alcohol consumption. “The two come together in alcohol offers,” says Van Hasselt. “The fact that the number of promotions has doubled does raise questions about the efforts of supermarkets to reduce alcohol consumption.”
According to her, the figures show that legal measures are desirable. “A supermarket that does not participate in promotions is really bothered by that. Excitting your neck costs too much. Legal measures give supermarkets a fair playing field. “
The majority of adults in the Netherlands (65 percent) are also in favor of a ban on alcohol advertising, according to Trimbos research. But if you ask if alcohol should become more expensive, for example by banning price promotions, enthusiasm decreases. Less than half (44 percent) find a ban on discounts a good idea.
The CBL, the dome of supermarkets, is also reluctant for measures. “These are far-reaching interventions in the market and it would not be fair to only impose supermarkets limitations,” says CBL director Marc Jansen. “The question is also whether problematic drinking is decreasing if alcohol becomes more expensive. Most people are not problem drinkers, and they are also confronted with higher prices. ”
Albert Heijn also says that a ban on offers only works if this is arranged for all sellers at European level. Consumers otherwise buy alcohol abroad. And promotions belong to the AH formula, according to a spokesperson. “We have a wide range of offers every week, not only for alcohol, also for fruit and vegetables.”
Although health experts have been advocating more regulations for some time to curb alcohol sales, supermarkets will not agree with this quickly. Earlier they had to give up tobacco sale, also about 7 percent of sales. They fear that every measure can be a step towards a total ban of alcohol in the supermarket.
Petra Moes can walk alcohol -free through a supermarket after twenty years without feeling the temptation. “But it took six or seven years. Oops, port in the offer, one glass must be able to … ”
Now that she controls ‘the art of sober life’ – she wrote a book with that title – she sees more sharper why drinking promotions are such a dangerous stimulus for drinkers. “Offers contribute to the fact that drinking is the norm. If you avoid them, you don’t participate anymore. They give you the feeling that you are an outsider. “