The latest share data from Kantar Worldpanel Ireland has found that while the economic climate continues to improve, consumers appear to be remaining careful about spending. The results cover grocery spend for the 12 weeks ending December 8, 2013.
David Berry, commercial director at Kantar says that value continues to be an attractive proposition for shoppers.
“Despite the Central Statistics Office recently announcing that the economy grew by 1.5% between July and September, the average household spend on grocery items has fallen by 0.2% compared with last year.
"This is considerably below the 3.4% price inflation as shoppers look to control their spend by reducing the amount of goods they buy.”
Again, the discounters were the star performers: Aldi saw growth of 18.7% in the period, to stand at 7.1% market share, while Lidl boosted its sales by 8.4%, to stand at 6.7% market share. According to Berry, “Over the past 12 weeks, the discounters have continued to recruit new shoppers with 61% of households shopping in Lidl and 60% visiting Aldi.”
Market leader Tesco, however, saw sales fall by 6.4%, to currently stand at 26.1% market share. Dunnes achieved a marginal rise of 1.7% in sales to stand at 24.2% market share.
SuperValu has also been performing ahead of the market, with a market share of 19.5%, consistent with the data from the previous 12 week period.
Kantar noted that Dunnes has grown its sales, despite attracting fewer shoppers as its existing customers have spent slightly more. In contrast, SuperValu has boosted shopper footfall significantly, although consumers are spending slightly less in store.
The next set of 12-week data, however, will show whether or not the Christmas period was as successful as the retailers hoped, including the impact of the controversial 5 cent veg promotion in the run up to Christmas.
© 2013 - Checkout Magazine by Genna Patterson
