The latest supermarket share results from Kantar Worldpanel shows that Dunnes Stores is increasing footfall through its branded promotional offers.
The results, published for the 12 weeks ending July 20, show a strong performance for Dunnes as it posts a sales increase of 2.6% year-on-year to hold a 21.2% share of the market.
David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explained that despite declining numbers of shoppers coming through its doors over the past year, Dunnes has managed to increase footfall levels within the past two months, largely by drawing in customers with branded promotions. He said, “Branded sales have grown in value terms by 5% this period thanks to well publicised ‘round euro’ promotional offers. Traditionally branded products have been a core strength for Dunnes, and it has used their appeal to draw back customers.”
Contrary to Dunnes' success with branded promotions, SuperValu's strong performance (the retailer stands on 24.7% market share) is due to its own-brand range. Berry explains, “While the shift to cheaper own label goods has led to a slight drop in value sales, SuperValu has posted a record number of shoppers this period. Some 73.6% of Irish households shopped in SuperValu over the past 12 weeks – up an impressive 94,000 customers compared with last year.”
Tesco Ireland, however, continues to see declines (a -6.2% decline year-on-year leaves it with a market share of 25.6%), mainly as a result of decreased customer spend in store – the average shopping trip fell in value by €1.60. Berry says there are two areas impacting Tesco in the latest data. “The first is an underlying challenge around our changing shopping habits as shoppers are visiting more stores in search of value and convenience. The second factor is the positive growth for Dunnes Stores, as it has historically been Tesco’s number one competitor. Whenever Dunnes sees a boost in sales, we see a contrasting dip for Tesco.” Meanwhile the discounters Lidl and Aldi continue to grow as in previous results. This period, both retailers achieved record market shares, with Lidl’s share now standing at 8.4%, while Aldi boasts an 8.3% share. Combined, the discounters now account for a total of 16.7%.
While the overall grocery market growth has remained subdued, with growth of 0.9%, there are signs of a boost in Dublin – the driving region of the Irish economic recovery – where the value of grocery sales has increased by 5.4%. Berry says that the positive boost for Dublin is linked to a broader positive economic sentiment.
“As shoppers become more positive, whether it be due to stronger house prices or reduced unemployment levels, they are less focused on restricting day-to-day spending. These positive factors seem to be driven through Dublin at the moment, hence the stronger performance in the region,” he said.
Click here to see Kantar Worldpanel's David Berry discuss the current market share results.
© 2014 - Checkout Magazine by Genna Patterson
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