Green, healthy and cheap – it is obviously a KIWI As the latest budget store to enter the Danish market, Norwegian KIWI has had to fight for its place and has successfully done so by applying a bold and attentiongrabbing strategy. During a chat with Scan Magazine, sales director Thomas Nielsen explains how the chain, which currently has 98 stores all over Denmark, plans to continue its expansion with a targeted 20 new stores a year. By Signe Hansen | Photos: KIWI
Founded in Norway in 1979, KIWI today controls more than 20 per cent of the country’s grocery market. KIWI Norway is part of Norway’s sixthbiggest conglomerate, NorgesGruppen. In Denmark, KIWI, a part of Dagrofa, opened the doors to its first stores in 2008. Since then, the chain has been growing continuously with ten to 18 new 68 | Issue 90 | July 2016
stores opening every year for the last three years. One of the main components to KIWI’s success has been its bold move to deduct 20 per cent – the equivalent to the government-added VAT – from the price of all fruit and vegetables. The offer is available to anyone with a KIWI
loyalty card, which is available for free in all stores. “A couple of years ago, we went through a long process to decide where we wanted to position ourselves on the Danish market. What came up as the only thing that made sense was our special VAT-free fruit and vegetables; it was something that hadn’t been seen before and which, at the same time, wouldn’t alienate anyone,” explains Nielsen and adds: “On top of making it easier for our Danish customers to make a healthy choice – everyone should be able to afford a healthy diet – we are also trying to put some pressure on Danish politicians. Denmark is one of only a few countries in the EU that does not have a
