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Odd and Ole Robert Reitan have increasingly withdrawn from the public eye. In a rare interview, Rema owners discuss controversial differences in purchase conditions. – Flagrant examples were presented. It was exaggerated, believes the older.
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Both father and son, Reitan, were in attendance at the opening of a new store in Ranheim on the outskirts of Trondheim this week, the chain’s 1,000th store.
– I’ll be honest and say I said “what did I say?” Ole Robert Reitan tells E24.
Holding a glass half full of Gran with Gran’s cider in one hand, he talks about how he experienced it when the Norwegian Competition Authority last year released figures showing that arch-rival Norgesgruppen received much lower prices from various suppliers. The audit work also led to several raids in the industry.
– It is very good that the authorities are aware of the situation. I’ve said this for many years and been told to relax, says Ole Robert Reitan with a wary smile.
This fall, the Authority will present new purchasing figures and the industry is also awaiting a response on whether partners and competitors have violated the Competition Law.
Now the competitors have woken up, and there will be a bit of ups and downs in the future, but we will eventually regain market share.
Odd reitan
– I won’t be surprised if there’s no verdict. It is not certain that it will, but what I hope is that it is a better practice to comply with the competition law than it does today.
Although Ole Robert has made fixing competition in the grocery industry one of his heart’s wishes, Colonial Major Odd Reitan has a slightly different opinion than his son.
Rema founder Odd Reitan participated in the 1,000th store opening this week. It also shed light on what you think about purchasing differences in Norwegian groceries.
Ole martin wold
– exaggerate
– The reason we are still able to compete is because we are much more efficient. We’ll crush them in the end anyway, it’ll just take a little longer when they get the little edge, Odd Reitan says and continues:
– It must be taken into account that flagrant examples were presented. It was exaggerated. But that’s usually the case when things are presented, then you have to exaggerate a bit, because that was in that presentation.
The Norwegian Competition Authority report indicated that some providers “It has a price difference of more than 15 percent in the products they sell to supermarket chains”.
– You mean it’s not as bad as it was presented?
– No, it’s not that bad. There is no 15-20 percent purchase difference on all goods. But for us it was nice, says the founder of Rema, before Ole Robert shoots from the side:
– When I say that the authorities and the industry should contribute to this with purchasing differences, Odd says that “the most important thing is to do the work yourself.” That is, of course, correct, and what we spend our time on, he says.
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For years, they have been selling beer in this store. But when Arne broke down a wall, the permit expired.
Ole Robert Reitan told those present, who had come to see Rema’s 1,000th store, that neither he nor his father, Odd, had thought they would open as many stores as they have in 41 years of operation.
Ole martin wold
It will be carried out
Over the loudspeakers outside the Ranheim parking lot, Kjærlighetsvisa is played for Halvdan Sivertsen, but with new text and proclaiming “Rema’s wind must not turn.”
Two minutes before the discount chain opened its 1,000th store, self-proclaimed colonial major, board chairman and owner Odd Reitan got into a big black Mercedes.
The son, Rema top Ole Robert Reitan, entered from one side and mingled with those present.
They refer to customers, franchises and employees as “the family.”
Now it starts to seem realistic to see profitable e-commerce solutions in supermarkets too.
Ole Robert Reitan
The two have retired more in recent years, but remain operational owners. Ole Robert has hired Trond Bentestuen as Director of Rema in Norway, and he is now the director of the commercial area of Rema 1000 in the Reitan Group.
– It has been very unusual, but I work very well with Trond and we have many good plans, he says.
The Colonial Major also has no immediate plans to withdraw entirely.
– How long will you lead the Reitan group? Do they have to carry you out?
– Yes, of course it is. I don’t do much anymore so no problem. In my point of view, if nothing happens up here, I’ll hold out for a long time, says Reitan senior and points to his head.
Row top Odd Reitan radiates authority in the parking lot in front of the last portfolio store in Ranheim, surrounded by franchisees who have donned the blue jacket for the occasion.
Ole martin wold
You have gained a new faith in online shopping.
E-commerce has exploded during the crown crisis, as has digital grocery shopping.
Ole Robert Reitan came out early when, with little success, he tried to sell groceries online in 1997. In hindsight, he has been unsure that Rema will sell groceries online, but the virus crisis has changed.
We’ve been sitting in a time machine when it comes to digital grocery shopping and all of a sudden we’re seven years ahead. Now it’s starting to look realistic with profitable eCommerce solutions in groceries too.
– So how long until Rema has online purchases?
– It will be when we have a solution that our clients like. When we are ready.
However, Rema owns just over seven percent of Kolonial.no, which he says has been “a fantastic investment”.
It should take market share, but not right away
In the grocery industry, there is a year-round debate about who gets the majority of the NKr 178.4 billion they spent on food last year.
Rema, which has been flowing for a long time, has stagnated in recent years.
However, Ole Robert is absolutely certain that Rema would have had a larger share of the market if the Competition Law had been applied more strictly.
– But the most important thing is not that we take market shares, but that we manage very efficient stores so that we can be good in price. There are a lot of market shares that we don’t want, he says.
Reitan senior says it will be some time before Rema counterattacks, showing with his hands how he thinks market share will develop.
– Now the competitors have woken up and there will be a bit of ups and downs in the future, but eventually we will take market share again, says Odd.
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Rema’s boss froze negotiations last year, no more relaxed this year
May be the last operating owner
In addition to the Coop cooperative, Norwegian supermarkets are dominated by family businesses in which ownership and responsibility have been inherited.
Odd and his sons Ole Robert and Magnus Reitan own Rema with a 33.33 percent ownership stake each. The latter runs the family investment company Reitan Kapital.
There are several heirs, but none of the third generation Reitan has yet emerged as the obvious next major colonial.
– Does it happen that you fear being the last generation to run the family business?
– No, I’m not afraid of that, but it may well be that you want to execute it in another way. That the Reitan group will look different in the future than it is now, it may well be, says Ole Robert Reitan and adds:
– Being an owner does not mean that you have to be one hundred percent operational, so they have to find out for themselves.
