“Friele Launches Limited Edition Sommerkaffe at Rema 1000: Consumer Council Raises Concerns Over Package Size”

Friele has launched “Sommerkaffe” at Rema 1000. The blue colors on the package are not unlike the blue colors we have gradually become accustomed to in summer beer varieties, writes The online newspaper.

The package says “Limited edition”, but what does that really mean?

And an important detail is indicated in much smaller print, namely the weight of the package.

Limited Edition

– By using the term “Limited Edition”, businesses can create the impression that the product is an innovation or something new, something that there is reason to inform the market about, says professor at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), Tor Wallin Andreassen to Nettavisen.

– The word “Limited” can also be taken to mean that there is a scarcity of the product. There is a limited number here and you have to hurry before it is sold out. As is well known, scarcity creates its own demand, he says.

Subject director of the Consumer Council, Olav Kasland, believes the summer coffee is a variant of something we have seen before.

– The industry has been creative and introduced both Christmas coffee, Easter coffee and now summer coffee. They even call it “limited edition”. But this is just a sales trick, says Kasland.

Shrink package

If you look at the package of summer coffee next to the regular breakfast coffee, they look the same. But when you read the package carefully, it appears that the summer coffee only has 225 grams of coffee in the package, compared to 250 grams in the usual breakfast coffee.

– I think it is special that they choose to have a coffee package of 225 grams. The usual is 250. Here there is a high chance that customers will think it is 250 grams, says Kasland of the Consumer Council.

The price per kilo of summer coffee is admittedly lower than for regular Friele breakfast coffee.

– When the package is smaller, the price looks cheaper than it really is. That is why it is important to always check the price per kilogram or litre, says Kasland.

– It is not good that the chains so often make it difficult for us to be consumers. The fact that they, for example, make a slightly smaller version of the coffee package means that many people may feel a little cheated. It’s not good for the customers and I wouldn’t think it’s good for Rema and Friele either.

Kasland in the Consumer Council is excited about the explanation of the package size.

– I wonder why they have shrunk the package when they have made the “summer coffee”. They should have a good answer to that, he says.

– They don’t lie

Friele Kaffe is owned by the coffee giant Jacobs Douwe Egberts AS (JDE) with headquarters in the Netherlands.

They state that they are making this coffee for the second year in a row.

– Friele Sommerkaffe Limited Edition is a specially developed summer blend that conveys the warm feeling of the sun with a fresh and full taste, an elegant acidity and notes of chocolate, writes Alexandra Iskandar in an e-mail to Nettavisen. She works at the company’s Copenhagen office.

– But what does it mean that the coffee is “Limited Edition”?

– The summer coffee is available in a limited quantity and is sold exclusively with one selected partner, writes Alexandra Iskandar in an e-mail to Nettavisen. She works at the company’s Copenhagen office.

The coffee is therefore made in a limited quantity and is only sold at Rema 1000. But what exactly does it actually mean that the coffee is “Limited Edition”?

– We have produced on the basis of experiences from the past year and with the aim of selling the coffee through the summer, writes Iskandar.

Limited Edition means that the summer coffee is sold throughout the summer at Rema 1000.

– That was a rather strange explanation. They are not lying, but the fact that summer coffee is “limited” to being sold throughout the summer speaks for itself, in the same way that Christmas coffee is not sold in the spring, says NHH professor Tor Wallin Andreassen.

No answer as to why this coffee pack is 225 grams versus 250 which is the usual pack size, we did not get any answer beyond the fact that information is clearly stated on the packaging and the price tag.

– Doubtful

Nettavisen has also asked Rema 1000 about the package size.

– Several products come in different sizes and in different price ranges as our customers are different and have different needs. But we must always offer them goods at a low price, writes category and purchasing director Line Aarnes in an e-mail.

Someone approaches an explanation as to why the package size is 225 grams instead of 250 grams, Rema 1000 does not state.

– Sommerkaffen has a kilo price of 155.00 against 191.60, so it is probably doubtful whether the Consumer Council here believes that we should not offer customers goods at a lower price, writes Aarnes.