SuperValu once again leads the way as Ireland's top grocery retailer and holds a 22.5% share of the market.
According to the latest figures from Kantar, this was driven by consumers visiting the store 7% more often than they did last year, the highest shopper frequency among all the retailers, which led to a sales boost of €43 million for the grocer.
Dunnes, a favourite of families preparing to send children back to school, experienced the biggest influx of new shoppers of all the retailers, up 5.3%, which contributed €32 million to its sales.
The data shows that Dunnes is tied with Tesco for the title of second-largest grocer, with both holding a 21.4% share of the market, in the 12 weeks ending 5 September 2021.
In terms of market share, Tesco gained 0.4 percentage points and was particularly successful regarding growth for brands, which grew by 2.9% to buck the overall market decline in branded sales over the past four weeks.
Aldi achieved its highest ever market share this period at 12.7%.
It gained a significant number of new shoppers over the past three months, which increased its sales by €1.6 million year on year.
Lidl holds a 12.8% market share for this period.
Irish Grocery Market Sales
Irish grocery market sales dipped by 2.3% in the past four weeks as people edge back to their pre-pandemic routines.
Sales remain 11.1% higher than the same period in 2019.
Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, commented, “While we’re a way off a full return to normality, there are winds of change and people are becoming more comfortable heading out and about."
An extra 189,000 trips were made to the supermarket over the past three months, driven by shoppers running out for one or two items at a time rather than relying on a big weekly shop like they did during the height of lockdowns.
It suggests that the high vaccination levels across the country are helping to boost consumers’ confidence.
“We’re also seeing shoppers choosing to visit bigger stores rather than smaller convenience retailers on their doorstep," she said. "That has been good news for Ireland’s largest grocers as all of the big five gained market share this period for the first time since 2010.”
Bricks And Mortar Stores
Strong performances for bricks and mortar stores meant that online sales dropped by 12.3% in the past four weeks.
“Online grocery shopping has taken a backseat this month as people return to workplaces, education, and eating out," said Healy.
"As a result, digital grocery shops shrunk by an average of four items over the course of the latest four weeks. However, we expect this decline to soften in the coming months as shoppers find their feet in their new routines."
Busy Time For Irish Households
It has been a busy time for Irish households all over the country, so preparing meals from scratch, a popular pandemic pastime, has slipped down the agenda.
"Shoppers switched home cooking staples for more time efficient options, spending €7.5 million more on chilled convenience items like pizzas and ready meals over the past four weeks," said Healy.
According to Kantar, parents were also stocking up on lunch box favourites, such as children’s biscuits, bread and cooked meats, which grew by 11.3%, 7.6% and 14.6% respectively during the period.
2021 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more retail news click here. Click sign up to subscribe to Checkout.
