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December 27th, 2012

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Uncertain future for the corner market
Some 25 percent of local markets and convenience stores could disappear within the next 15 years, according to a report by the retailer consulting firm Institut for Centerplanlægning. The report says that e-commerce will account for 15 percent of sales of daily consumer goods by 2025 and drive some brick and mortar stores out of business. Although online grocery shopping has yet to catch on in a big way in Denmark, mostly due to customer resistance to pay extra for the service, retail analysts say it is only a matter of time before Danes start loading up virtual shopping carts. Currently, Superbest and Irma lead the Danish market in internet grocery shopping. Less than 12 percent of consumers purchased groceries online in 2012, according to numbers from Danmarks Statistik. – Jyllands-Posten

Public opposed to forced paternity leave
A government proposal to earmark three months of parental leave for fathers is unpopular with voters, according to a Megafon/Politiken/TV 2 poll. Just 28 percent of voters said they thought earmarking leave for men was a good idea, while 55 percent thought the plan was a poor model. According to the proposal, if the leave is not taken by the father it cannot be used by the mother and would be lost. The employment minister, Mette Frederiksen (Socialdemokraterne), said nothing has been decided and a new committee to study potential changes to parental leave rules is expected to make its recommendations by next summer. An opposition spokesperson said the proposed change was another attempt by the government to force gender equality and that it was up to individual families to decide how to split parental leave. –Politiken

Private pensions gone after ten years
One in five Danes has exhausted their private pension plans only 10 years into retirement, according to a study by Arbejdsmarkedets Tillægspension (ATP), a public pension group. The findings are inconsistent with widespread expectations that the Danes will become more dependent on private rather than public plans in the future, according to Ole Beier Sørensen, a lead researcher with ATP. “It is vital for the country that private pensions are able to support people throughout their old age,” he said. Sørensen suggested that pensioners would enjoy a more stable retirement if they contributed to a mandatory public retirement scheme. – Jyllands-Posten

Phoney online stores cheating shoppers
The popular online sports store Løbeshop.dk is hearing from more and more customers that were duped by lookalike scam sites into giving up their credit card information for goods that the customers never receive. The bogus stores copy Løbeshop’s logo, product descriptions and contact information and offer big discounts on popular brands like Nike and Canada Goose. Customers think that they are getting a bargain, but in reality there is no store, and the customer’s payment information is then used by traffickers to make other online purchases. Even if the customer does actually receive a product, it will most likely be a bad knockoff of the brand name that they ordered, according to Henrik Theil, spokes person for Foreningen for Dansk Internet Handel (FDIH), the Danish internet commerce association. Theil said that the biggest risk is that honest businesses end up having their good names linked with crooks. He advised consumers to use common sense. If an online site is offering a popular brand at a dramatically lower price than everyone else, it could well be a fake. He also advised searching the store online and using the contact information to talk to someone directly. – EPN.dk

Weather 
Cloudy with the chance of light rain. Highs around 5 C. Overnight lows falling 0 C. – DMI