According to the latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel Ireland for the 12 weeks ending 17 July 2016, sales in the grocery market rose by 3.3% when compared with the same period in 2015.
David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, says this sales growth can be linked with Ireland's success in the European Championships in France in June; "Ireland’s involvement in the Euro 2016 certainly looks to have had a positive impact for the major supermarkets.
"Alcohol sales over the past 12 weeks are 11% higher than the same time last year, as consumers stocked up more often and bought more each time they shopped. Soft drinks, confectionery, crisps and snacks all also saw positive sales growth as football fans made the most of the opportunity to treat themselves."
Elsewhere, the figures also revealed that SuperValu has held on to top spot in terms of market share with a 22.5% share. Tesco once again takes second place with a 21.9% share, with Dunnes hot on its heels with 21.3%.
The discounters continue to grow and now hold a combined share of the market of 23.1%, well ahead of SuperValu. Individually, Lidl holds the advantage over its German counterparts with a market share of 11.9% compared to Aldi's 11.2%.
"The strongest growth we’ve seen this period has actually been from the smaller retailers, which together increased sales by 6.8%. This has been boosted in particular by bargain stores such as Dealz, a strong period for Iceland and an increase in cross-border shopping," explains Berry.
"Iceland and bargain stores have both felt the benefit of expanding their store estates, while the drop in the value of sterling has made cross-border shopping more appealing. While all three of these phenomena remain small, they have contributed to an impressive combined €14 million sales increase," he concluded.
© 2016 - Checkout Magazine by Niall Swan
