[…] Norway’s competition authority fined Coop, Rema 1000, and NorgesGruppen a combined €420 million […]
[…] the companies had been using “price hunters” to scan and monitor prices in one another’s shops. Instead of competing, they adjusted their prices to match, keeping them high and predictable.
Together, these three chains control 95% of the grocery market in Norway,
One of the few comparable examples is Poland, where Biedronka and Lidl together hold around 73% of the market.
Coop, Rema 1000, and NorgesGruppen have all appealed their respective fines, meaning they remain unpaid. The authorities have asked the companies to cease their use of price hunters, but as stated by the head of NorgesGruppen, they have no plans to do so.
Primary sources are at the bottom of the article.
Can confirm. Also absolutely nothing has changed; they are still coordinating prices.
How was Lidl not able to compete in Norway? I noticed that they were no longer present on my recent trip while there were quite a few of them in the early 2000-2010s. Their one gimmick is price.
The chains dropped prices low; they matchd lidl to outlast them.
But norwegians are surprisingly culturally conservative, most are customers at the worst bank (DNB) - it’s the biggest and they know it.
Lidl also had issues with labour rights; so they got in hot waters well before trying to enter the marked. It’s a little like Wizz air. They also tried establishing in the norwegian marked, but said they would not allow employees to unionize; which lead to boycotts and protests at airports.
Tldr: Lidl stepped in all the buckets and were pushed out by the establishment.
(A pretty good article here: https://www.achieva.no/posts/why-study-failure-the-case-of-lidl)