Back-to-school shopping and Halloween preparation buoyed supermarket growth in September, as inflation fell slightly, according to Kantar.
The market researcher reported that take-home grocery sales in the four weeks to 29 September 2024 were up by 6.1%, compared to the same period last year.
As children returned to school and families prepared, sales volumes increased by 3.6%, due to frequent store visits, and shopping trips increased by 1.5%.
Grocery inflation stood at 2.76% in the 12 weeks to 29 September 2024 – a slight decrease of 0.09 percentage points, compared to the previous period.
Back To School
As consumers moved to school lunches and family dinners in the back-to-school season, Irish households spent an additional €2.6 million on fresh vegetables and €1.9 million on fresh fruit.
September sales also saw an additional €1.4 million spent on ambient bakery breads, nearly €1 million on frozen goods, and €1.5 million on carbonated soft drinks.
Sales also indicated that families began preparations for Halloween well ahead of time, with an additional €3 million spent on confectionery in the four-week period.
Speaking about the results, Kantar Worldpanel’s head of retail, Eimear Faughnan, said, “As shoppers returned to their back-to-school routines, they continued to purchase family favourite brands.
“Brand sales grew by 8%, compared to last year, outperforming own-label products once again this period, increasing their value share of total spending to 48.2%.”
Even as branded sales grow each month, own-label ranges similarly saw value sales increase by 3.6% in September, when compared to last year.
Most of this growth came from standard private-label products, which added an extra €50 million in value to own-label ranges.
Although premium own-label represents a smaller proportion of products, it contributed an additional €9.2 million in the four weeks to 29 September 2024, compared to the previous year.
Irish Market Share
Online sales increased by 9.6%, year on year, with shoppers spending an additional €17 million through this channel.
The latest 12-week data has shown that an increase in platform visits was the main driver for growth, rising by 12.3% in the measured period.
Online retailers encouraged customers through initiatives such as money-off vouchers and free delivery, which drove the increase in frequency.
In terms of market share, Dunnes Stores, once again, holds the top spot, with 24% of the market, experiencing 9.5% value growth, year on year, and the highest frequency growth among Irish retailers, at 9.3%, year on year.
This frequency growth contributed an additional €67 million to the retailer.
Tesco Ireland was, once again, number two, at 23.4%, with 10% value growth, year on year.
Tesco’s growth stemmed mainly from recruiting new shoppers, and from existing shoppers making more frequent and larger trips, altogether contributing an additional €47.5 million to its overall performance.
SuperValu holds 19.6% of the market. It saw 1.7% growth, year on year, while its shoppers made more trips in store than they did with any of its competitors, with an average of 24 trips per shopper.
This added €12 million to the retailer’s overall performance.
Lidl and Aldi took fourth and fifth places, with 13.7% and 11.7% growth, respectively.
Lidl Ireland saw 8% growth, year on year, with new shoppers adding €12 million to its overall performance, while Aldi Ireland saw 0.6% growth, with more frequent trips adding €18 million to its overall performance.
Read More: UK Grocery Inflation Edges Higher – Kantar
