Stephen Gadd
October 24th, 2017

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Yet another player enters the mobile payment market (photo: flickr/iphonedigital)

If you are a customer with Nordea or Jyske Bank and have an iPhone 6 or newer model, from today you will be able to use Apple’s mobile payment solution Apple Pay.

The new system is another option in the growing number of electronic payment methods that have sprung up over the last few years, reports DR Nyheder.

Apple’s payment method uses the same NFC technology utilised in shops where contactless card payment is available. In addition to Denmark, Apple is launching simultaneously in Norway, Sweden, Finland and the UAE and can now be used in 23 countries worldwide.

As well as being an alternative payment method in shops, the system can also be used on a number of websites, and when the next update of the iOS 11.1 is completed, it will also be possible to make person-to-person payments in the same way as it can be done using MobilePay.

However, these will be restricted to transactions between Apple users, as they are channelled through the company’s own message app iMessage.

Organic food too expensive, argues Netto boss
Brian Seemann Broe, a senior vice president of the supermarket chain Netto, would like to see organic food available to all and not just the wealthy few. In an opinion piece in Politiken he argues that in order for this to happen, retail chains ought to reduce the profit margins they currently make on organic food to the same level as those made on conventional foodstuffs.

Denmark is already at the forefront when it comes to organic food and Broe wants to take it further: “Our efforts have made organic food mainstream – not just something for city-dwellers. The wide assortment has been a strong incentive to make Danes think about how goods are produced and what is good for themselves and the health of their families.” This has also had a spin-off effect on conventional farming, highlighting things such as the use of medicine, animal welfare, pesticides etc.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Netto only stocked a handful of organic lines. Now, almost 20 percent of their lines fall under that category. However, price is still the major barrier when it comes to eating organic. If more Danes are to jump on the organic bandwaggon, Broe thinks that prices – and profit margins – will have to come down. “The more organic food we can sell, the more farmers can increase production, and that way we can all reach our goal,” he said.

Ikea on expansion course in Denmark
If everything goes according to plan, the good burghers of Copenhagen will soon be able to buy Ikea flat-pack furniture and home goods at a brand-new 37,000 square metre outlet opened by the Swedish chain near Vesterbro’s Fisketorvet, reports TV Nyheder.

The outlet is set to open in 2019, and the chain is not stopping there: a 20,000 square metre outlet is already planned to open in Esbjerg in 2021. Ikea sees Esbjerg as a town that is going through a period of economic expansion, and the new shop there could potentially draw in around 400,000 customers from southern and western Jutland who would all be within one hour’s drive. The mayor of Esbjerg, Johnny Søtrup, is enthusiastic about the project. It is expected to boost employment locally as well as providing “a unique shopping Mecca that will please both our young students and Mr and Mrs Esbjerg”.

Danish restaurant wins top gastronomy award
Lovers of Italian food in Denmark need look no further than Amager or, more precisely, Christianshavn. Era Ora, the Italian restaurant founded by Elvio Milleri in 1983 and still run by him and his wife, has been picked as the best Italian restaurant in the world outside Italy, as well as being named ‘Restaurant of the Year’ by the prestigious Italian gourmet magazine Gamero Rosso, reports BT. In its evaluation, the magazine said: “To sum up, this was the most complete culinary experience we’ve enjoyed in 2017.” The reviewer went on to praise both the wine and the complex detail of the food. Era Ora – which translates as ‘it’s about time’ – is no stranger to top awards, having been the proud owners of a Michelin star since 1997.