Tesco has reclaimed its position as Ireland’s number one grocery retailer, according to Kantar Worldpanel’s latest market share figures for the 12 weeks ending 24 May.
The data also shows that sales across the sector have grown 1.2% year on year.
Georgieann Harrington, insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, said, “Tesco has reclaimed the top-spot, capturing 25.2% of the grocery market, but the retailer is still seeing sales decline, as its performance remains behind the market.
“However, Tesco’s value initiatives online and in-store have helped boost the number of visits to its stores by 1.4%. The retailer has also seen a spend increase of 0.5% from families with children. However, it still has some ground to recover to regain the 26.3% share of the market it had a year ago."
SuperValu, which shared top spot with Tesco in the last round of figures, is on 24.8%, and it is expected that battle for dominance will continue throughout summer – a traditionally strong season for the Irish retailer.
Depsite recent industrial action, Dunnes posted 4.1% in sales growth, the strongest growth among the Big Three retailers, bringing its share to 21.9%. Dunnes Stores shoppers have added more to their baskets while increasing their basket spend by €3.40 this period.
As to how Dunnes Stores encouraged growth, Harrington says, “Vouchering is the main thing it has been doing, and that seems to be working well.
“Customers that have been shopping with Dunnes over time are spending much more, and the voucher activity helps them to do that.”
Discounters Aldi and Lidl grew their sales by 8.0% and 7.1% respectively, and now have a combined share of 17%. Even though both have seen their growth slow over the past few months, they remain in a strong position, given the overall market growth of 1.2%.
Aldi has been winning shoppers with its ‘As Irish as’ campaign, which brought 43,000 additional shoppers to its outlets this period, and Lidl has seen its shoppers increase their spend by €8, which is due, much like Dunnes Stores, to its recent voucher activity.
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Jenny Whelan
