Dunnes has reclaimed its position as Ireland’s top supermarket, with the highest share of the Irish grocery market, at 22.3%, according to the latest figures from Kantar.
The Irish retailer saw growth of 7.2%, year on year, helped by an influx of new shoppers (up by 4.7%) and an increase in shopping trips (up by 1.7%).
Dunnes traditionally performs well at back-to-school times and experienced strong own-label growth of 13%, year on year.
Tesco sits on a 21.9% share, with sales up by 3.9% when compared to last year, as shoppers return to the store more often (6.6%).
SuperValu, which holds a 21.4% share, continues to attract more trips than any other retailer, with an average of 21.5 trips made in the last 12 weeks.
Lidl holds a 13.2% share, growing by 3.5% year on year, while rival low-cost retailer Aldi sits on a 12.7% share – an increase of 1.4% – as a result of existing shoppers returning to the store more often than they did before.
Overall Take-Home Sales
Take-home grocery sales in Ireland increased by 1.8% in the 12 weeks ending 4 September 2022, thanks mostly to a 7.8% increase in average prices, as grocery price inflation hit 11%.
According to the research, the price of back-to-school essentials (bread, ham, cheese, yoghurt, cereal and milk) rose by 19.5%, making a basket of these staples €2 more expensive.
The most basic items saw some of the biggest jumps, with bread up by 20%, ham up by 12%, milk up by 26%, and yoghurt up by 17%.
Collectively, shoppers spent an additional €17 million on these products when compared to the same period last year, driven entirely by price, as volumes were down by 6%.
Emer Healy, senior analyst, Kantar, commented, “Grocery price inflation is at its highest level since Kantar began tracking grocery price inflation, in May 2008. As food and drink prices continue to climb alongside increasing pressure on other household bills, the impact is unavoidable for many Irish consumers.
“The average annual grocery bill could go from €6,985 to €7,753 – that’s an additional €768 a year that Irish consumers will have to spend if they do not make any changes to what they currently buy or where they shop.”
Own Label
As consumers search for better value, the biggest winners were retailers’ own-label lines.
In the latest 12 weeks, sales of own-label products went up by 5.8%, representing an additional €72 million, year on year.
In particular, value own-label ranges – the very cheapest products in the range – saw even stronger growth – up by 21.4% when compared to the same period last year, as shoppers spent an additional €10.2 million.
In the last four weeks alone, volumes have gone up, as shoppers increased their packs per trip by 2.9%, contributing an additional €6.8 million to the overall market performance.
More than one in ten Irish shoppers (12%) now purchase their groceries online.
© 2022 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
