DinSide (SVINESUND/OSLO): Food prices have risen in both Norway and Sweden over the past year, but our price check shows that there's still plenty to save by shopping across the border.
With our shopping basket you save almost NOK 2,500, approximately 23 percent.
You still have to choose wisely, because not everything is cheap in Nordbysenteret.
This applies to, among others, many taco products, pads, tampons and napkins – items that you can get big discounts on through regular promotional items and various customer programs of stores.
Smart Grip gives you half the price
You can save even more if you buy a larger batch. You can get even better prices by taking advantage of one of the 2-for-1 deals or buying larger packages. These have not yet been included here as we have tried to compare similar products and sizes.
Nevertheless, we had to recalculate in several places from slightly larger or smaller sets to comparable sizes.
All the prices in the case can be found further below.
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Married couple Bjarne Strand (79) and Liv Strand (78) live in Kongsberg and say they visit Sweden three times a year. They tend to buy beverages, honey, meat, coffee, flour and cheese.
– These things are cheap here. We are aware of the price, says Björn Strand.
He thinks the prices are high in Norway.
The usual shopping basket: drinks, meat, coffee, flour and cheese – and a few buckets of herring come home with a strand pair from Nordbysenteret. Photo: Anastasia Mayland
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– Prices are too high. Prices have gone up here too, but there is a difference, he says.
His wife Liv says she checks Norwegian prices before they leave and takes a list with her to Sweden.
– I usually write about getting various things at home. Some of the things we buy are also expensive in Sweden – for example coffee. But when we buy a carton of 12 packs, we save ten kroner per pack, he says.
This is completely in line with the advice of Silje Sandmæl, DNB's consumer economist.
– Sandmæl to DinSide says that if you're going to trade cross-border, it pays to plan and stick to a shopping list.
Are they taking my picture now?
– Some products are more expensive, so it's a good idea to write down Norwegian prices before you travel so you can compare in store or compare prices in advance.
He recommends the Kupp app or Oda and Meny's websites for Norwegian prices on groceries, prisjakt.se and prisjakt.no for white goods, clothes and other consumer goods.
Save on fewer shopping trips
Kari Nuland (62), who lives in Laarkollen in the municipality of Moss, has been visiting Sweden to shop for years.
– I come here when the freezer is empty, maybe once every two months.
She usually buys mineral water, non-alcoholic beer, meat and cheese.
Smart move: Kari Nuland is a wholesaler in Sweden, which saves her from expensive short trips to the store. Photo: Anastasia Mayland
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When asked why she travels to Sweden to shop, Nuland replied:
– I live near the border, so I buy a lot so I don't have to shop at home as often.
The 62-year-old doesn't know exactly how cheap it is to shop in Sweden, but says her consumption is low because there are no small purchases at the store at home.
– I think Norway is expensive in general, but the vegetables are probably the worst.
Silje Sandmæl, DNB's consumer economist, singles out the same items when we ask her for tips on cross-border trade, and this is where we see the biggest price differences.
Here's how we checked:
- We have checked the prices of a selection of items at Nordbysenteret and MaxiMat in Norway.
- As all Swedish prices are taken from MaxiMat, all prices have been sent for verification.
- In Norway, we have prices based on Oda.no and fill in prices from discount stores, Meny.no and Europris where we cannot find products.
- In addition, we have taken random samples from Rema 1000, Xtra and Kiwi to check that the condition is correct and adjust for the lowest price.
- Whenever possible, we compared similar devices. Nevertheless, many places had to be recalculated from larger or smaller sets.
- We include the discount price at which a product is offered – but do not take into account the lower price of buying multiple products.
- This is a snapshot, and the price you get today is not necessarily what it was earlier this week.
- We reserve the right to change prices, promotional offers and out-of-stock items.
Shop less
Although the Norwegian krone is now weaker than the Swedish krone, we still trade a lot across the border. In 2023, we did NOK 9.3 billion in cross-border trade, of which NOK 8 billion was used in Sweden, Statistics Norway (SSB) shows statistics.
– Wow, I'm totally shocked
Food and groceries were the most popular, accounting for less than four billion kroner, while we bought wine and spirits for 742 million, and alcoholic beer and cider for 535.
Cross-border trade picked up after a slump during the pandemic, but there is still a short way to go before the peak year in 2019, when we left NOK 10.9 billion in foreign travel.
The trend so far this year is roughly the same as last year, while Easter was exceptionally strong for cross-border trade, DNB's latest figures show: Norwegians' card consumption in Sweden increased by 30 percent at Easter this year. , compared to last year's Easter.
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