Dunnes Stores holds the greatest market share of Irish supermarkets as back-to-school figures are revealed, having been overtaken by Tesco last month, according to Kantar.
The market researcher reported that Dunnes Stores holds 23.6% of market share, with growth of 9.4% year-on-year and the strongest growth in trip frequency across all retailers, up 12% year-on-year contributing an additional €83.6 million to its overall performance.
Tesco falls just below Dunnes, with 23.5% orf the market, up 10.7% year-on-year and frequent trips contributing an additional €32.9 million to its overall performance.
SuperValu holds 19.9% of the market with growth of 2.5%, followed by Lidl with a 13.7% share and 6.9% growth.
Aldi holds 11.8% of the market with 1% year-on-year growth.
Online sales across retailers were up 10.7% as shoppers spent an extra €18.2 million year-on-year, with increased frequency contributing an additional €17.5 million to the overall platform.
Back-To-School
Take-home grocery sales increased by 5.4% in the four weeks to 1 September 2024 as Irish households prepared for the new school year.
Shopping frequency increased by 0.7% in September, along with an increase in average prices of 2.4% as volumes per trip rose slightly by 0.4% after six months of decline.
Despite inflation rising again at sitting at 2.8% over the last 12 weeks compared to the same period last year, it is still the lowest inflation level since March 2022.
Additionally, inflation is down 8.5 percentage points from September 2023.
As late August and early September spelled back-to-school preparations, Kantar noticed increased spending in a number of categories.
These included an additional €2.1 million spent on biscuits, €1.3 million spent on cheese and €460,000 on bread, as shoppers went back to preparing school lunches.
As busy schedules take hold, shoppers also turned to quick meal options, resulting in an extra €2.6 million spend on chilled convenience food compared to August.
Speaking about this month’s trends, business development director at Kantar Emer Healy said, “As summer comes to an end, many shoppers prepared for the back-to-school routine, with more packed lunches and after-school meals to prepare.
“Shoppers continue to take advantage of promotional offers from retailers with spending on promotions up 9.6% compared to this time last year.”
Own Label
Shoppers are still purchasing retailers’ own-label ranges as high levels of inflation last year drove them away from branded products.
Sales of own label products were up 4.5% year-on-year, holding a value share of 47% with shoppers spending an additional €66.8 million year-on-year on these products.
Premium ranges also performed well, with shoppers spending an additional €14.2 million on these lines, up 10.2% compared to this time last year.
However, as major retailers heavily promoted brands in recent marketing campaigns, branded goods outpaced total market growth, increasing by 8.4%.
Shoppers spent an additional €121 million on branded products compared to last year, and over 60% of branded goods were purchased on some form of promotion, up 9.8% on last year.
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