Dunnes is top of the table, with the largest share of the grocery market, at 22.6%, as the latest figures from Kantar show that visitors to the grocer continued to spend the most in store in the 12 weeks to 24 January 2021.
Bolstered by their online presences, Tesco and SuperValu boosted sales by 16.5% and 18.5%, respectively, during this period.
While both retailers achieved sales growth through large shops, it was Tesco that saw the biggest increase in trip size among all the grocers during this period, as shoppers added, on average, 3.5 more items to their trolleys.
Lidl continued to see the strongest growth of all the retailers and grew sales by 25.6%, as shoppers spent an additional €77.9 million in store.
Aldi held an 11.3% share of the market during this period, with its success driven by shoppers adding more items to their baskets.
Both Aldi and Lidl also announced thousands of new jobs in Ireland this month.
Overall Take-Home Grocery Sales
The latest figures from Kantar show that take-home grocery sales in Ireland grew by 16.4% during the period.
Growth edged up over the past month, to 16.8%, as the new year brought a full month of restrictions on eating and drinking out of home.
Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, commented, “January wasn’t quite the fresh start we hoped for, and ongoing lockdowns meant we continued to rely on supermarkets to keep us fed.”
With restaurants and bars closed for the past four weeks, Irish shoppers spent an extra €142.8 million on take-home groceries, compared with last year, the data showed.
“Many of us like to kick off a new year with good intentions, but, this January, shoppers clearly struggled to balance the usual resolutions and health kicks with a need to treat themselves and lift their spirits in lockdown,” she added.
According to Healy, Veganuary took a bit of a back seat, and 15,000 fewer Irish households purchased meat-free alternatives this month, driving a 5.2% decline in sales, compared with last year.
“Some people did have a crack at Dry January, and sales of non-alcoholic beer soared by 84% year on year, but we didn’t deprive ourselves completely, and sales of chocolate and crisps grew by 26% and 40% this month,” she said.
Home-Schooling
With the return of home-schooling in January, households with children spent €172 more on groceries in the latest four weeks, the report showed.
Healy continued, “Parents and children, once again, found themselves working side by side at kitchen tables, and that means more mouths to feed throughout the day.
“Busy families turned to child-friendly breakfast and lunch options, parting with an additional €4.5 million on cereals, €3.9 million extra on yoghurt, and €7.8 million more on cheese,” she said.
© 2021 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign up to subscribe to Checkout.
