Responsible enjoyment
Our mission is summed up in our slogan ‘Enjoy responsibly’. For us, responsibility is the cornerstone of our existence. We are creating a responsible food and drink culture, helping our customers make more responsible choices, buying and selling products responsibly, and reducing the harmful effects of alcohol consumption.
Our existence and business are based on responsibility and our specific mission. Alko was established to address the harmful effects of alcohol consumption at the retail level. Alcohol is not an ordinary consumer product, and its sale is therefore also strictly regulated. According to international studies, the total consumption of alcohol and alcohol-related harm go largely hand in hand – the more alcohol is consumed, the greater the harm.
We are a different kind of store. Our store network is extensive. In Finland, 90 per cent of Alko’s services are within ten kilometres. The Alcohol Act sets the maximum opening hours for our stores: our stores are closed on Sundays and holidays – unlike grocery stores, which have wider opening hours and also sell alcohol on Sundays. There are 12 times as many grocery stores as Alko stores. We do not market individual products, sell shelf space to suppliers or reward our staff based on sales.
Political decision-making steers the pricing of alcoholic beverages through taxation. For example, half of the price of a 10-euro bottle of wine is alcohol tax and VAT.
We promote the well-being of Finns and take action with out partners to promote the well-being of children and young people. We communicate openly and comprehensively about the harmful effects of alcohol on health. When selling alcohol, we are uncompromising in our age-limit checks. We are fair to all manufacturers and suppliers when deciding on our product selection and pricing for our special-status products.
Alko Inc. is a limited company owned by the Finnish State. Alko functions as a State instrument for implementing alcohol policy, and its operations are regulated by Parliament through the Alcohol Act. By law, the company has exclusive rights to retail sales of ethyl-based alcoholic beverages containing over 5.5 per cent alcohol by volume and fermented alcoholic beverages containing over 8 per cent alcohol by volume, with the exception of microbrewery beers and Finnish estate wines. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is responsible for Alko’s ownership steering and the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health Valvira for its supervision.
