Euro Aspen Award | The doping paper is giving Europris manager a headache: – I found a solution in Drammen

Nettavisen meets Europris CEO Espen Eldal after he presents the company’s financial situation.

The past three months have been a bit up and down.

Expensive toilet paper

Expensive toilet paper is one of the things that gave the Europris boss a headache.

– Costs have increased significantly, especially for toilets and paper towels, but other goods have also increased, says Nettavisen Managing Director Espen Eldal.

Hygiene items are an important product category for Europris.

– The price increase on paper was very high, with some products exceeding 50 percent. Here, to varying degrees, we’ve been able to extract price increases, Eldal says.

Drammen toilet paper

Many companies moved production out of Norway over the course of several years to save money. Now Europrice is doing the exact opposite.

– In order to reduce the prices that have increased as a result of the rise in energy prices and the increase in the prices of raw materials, freight and currency, we have moved some production from abroad and home to Norway, says Eldal.

In the long run, we think it can give us an edge over the competition. As he says, we’ve also got this paper certified and Swan-marked.

Det Norsk dopapieret buys Europris from a factory in Drammen.

Tougher competition

Otherwise, the director of Europris notes a very tough competition.

– We noticed the intensification of price competition, especially for groceries, says Al-Dal.

Up to 60 percent of product categories at Europris are everyday goods such as detergents, shampoos, candles, napkins, coffee, tea, snacks, chocolates and more.

– Until April it was hard, but around May 1 something happened, and then prices started to go up.

Europris revenue increased by 100 million to 2.3 billion in the second quarter, compared to last year. But profitability was weaker. The result before tax fell just over 100 million to 332 million.

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Lose to groceries

– Do you lose a little versus grocery chains?

– It is clear that groceries are something that you cannot do without, you must have food. There, people maintain their consumption now. Then there’s the thing that people do downsize. They pay loans, rent and food, but they put off buying investment items, the reason may be that they put off buying new garden furniture at Europris.

Who are your strongest competitors now?

– It’s really everyone who wants a piece of the Norwegians’ wallets, there are trips to the south, but also groceries.

– How do you see the future?

– I think it will be difficult, but I think Europris is well positioned. What we’re seeing is that price is becoming more and more important to consumers, and then it’s good to work with low prices. And then there are the necessities that are in focus, and we’re also in a good position there as we have several grocery stores.