She used to buy both wine and whiskey from the USA. But that was before Donald Trump took office as president at the end of January. Now she avoids American products to the extent she can.
It's easy when it comes to wine. There are so many other good wines. For "whisky sour" you might be able to buy something from Scotland instead.
Clearly marked in the store
According to Systembolaget's purchasing manager Ulf Sjödin, more customers have started asking for alternatives to American wine.
The most common is that you ask for a recommendation. Store employees suggest an American wine and get the response: Ah, but maybe not something from the USA. Then we've had a few questions about whether we should boycott American wines, but we certainly don't do that, says Sjödin.
He believes that wine is relatively easy to choose because there are similar alternatives. At the same time, the origin of the wine is clearly marked both in Systembolaget's stores and on the label. He draws the same conclusion regarding American beer, which has decreased by almost 13 percent during the first quarter compared to the same period last year.
But when it comes to American spirits, sales have only decreased by 1.2 percent.
There are plenty of alternatives to American wine, but American whiskey is American whiskey. Those who buy it don't have much to choose from. Then maybe you choose to buy it even if you don't sympathize with everything that happens in the USA.
Not a coincidence
Systembolaget has not deeply analyzed why sales have decreased. According to Sjödin, they need to count in another quarter to be able to draw exact conclusions.
At the same time, he emphasizes that larger changes in consumption patterns are never a coincidence.
There are several reasons why sales can fall. The most common are price increases and changes in exchange rates, but here it coincides quite clearly with the entire discussion about boycotting American products. Sales of wine have not decreased, it's specifically American wines.
We're also looking at how the market share for American wine looks day by day. It's a bit difficult to say exactly how big the change is. It depends, among other things, on which wines are temporarily sold out, but 15 percent is a fairly stable figure and a decrease that we can say we see.
