68% of Irish shoppers claim to try to choose products produced in Ireland when grocery shopping, and it is clear that shoppers are opting to ‘shop local’ during the COVID-19 pandemic, new research shows.
The Latest four week research data, conducted by Nielsen on behalf of Checkout, shows that value sales of Irish produced brands are were up 17% versus the same period last year, while non-Irish produced brands increased by 12%.
Lowest Sales Week
€310 million was spent on ROI FMCG sales in week ending 19 April 2020, which is the lowest sales week we have seen since week ending 1 March 2020.
"Large year on year declines in confectionery & bakery sales due to Easter 2019 falling on week 21 April 2019, as well as COVID-19 induced declines in categories including food to go & deli resulted in the total market being showing a 4.9% decline in week 19 April versus the same period last year," noted Nicole Farren, senior account manager, Retailer Service, Nielsen.
Several Categories Show Increase
While the total market was in decline, several categories showed year on year value growth for week ended 19 April, with ambient grocery up by16% to €25.5 million, frozen food showed a 15% to €8.1 million and household was up by 10% to €10.9 million.
Fresh categories also saw some value growth this week, with chilled foods inclining by 2.3% to €55.7 million and fresh produce increasing by 2.1% to €22.0 million.
Consumer Confidence Report
Nielsen’s first quarter 2020 Consumer Confidence report revealed that 49% of Irish shoppers would switch to cheaper grocery brands as a way to save on household expenses and as several shoppers are under more financial pressure during this time we are seeing strong growth in Private Label items.
Total unit sales in ROI were up by 2.9% in the latest four weeks but Private Label unit sales outperformed this at with a 15.3% increase, while unit sales of branded goods were down by 0.3%.
"However, we are still seeing shoppers treat themselves by trading up on affordable luxuries, with average price/unit of wine increasing by 7.4% to €8.62, coffee beans by 3.9% to €4.17 and take home ice-cream by 4.6% to €2.74 in the latest four weeks versus the same period in 2019," said Farren.
"Unit sales of table wine, coffee beans & take home ice-cream items are up by 17%, 75% and 39% respectively in the latest four weeks," she added.
© 2020 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
