Tesco has held on to the top spot as Ireland's leading grocer for the sixth consecutive period – capturing 22.1% of grocery spend, up from the 21.9% it achieved in the same period last year.
Share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, published today for the 12 weeks ending 9 September 2018 indicated that shoppers are heading to Tesco more frequently than a year ago, meaning average customer spend has jumped by €10 to €401 in the past 12 weeks.
The report showed an overall growth of 2.6% among Irish supermarkets and just half a percentage point separates the leading three retailers.
“Competition in the grocery market has rarely been fiercer,” said David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel.
This is the seventh consecutive period that all five of Ireland’s major grocers have recorded increased sales, the longest run since December 2017.
“All the major retailers are in growth once again this period, and it’s almost neck-and-neck in the race for market share.
SuperValu sits in second position, recording 21.7% market share. Although this is down slightly compared with last year, sales have grown by 1.7% in that time.
Dunnes Stores registered sales growth of 3.2% in the most recent figures – an improvement on the rate of 1.9% achieved last month.
Berry continues: “More than 20% of sales at Dunnes Stores are at round euro price points and this has encouraged shoppers to add an extra item to their baskets each time they visit – worth a total of €18.5 million over the past 12 weeks.”
Summer Sales Segue
The latest Kantar Worldpanel figures showed that the summer heatwave continued to provide a boost for the market, particularly for branded products which saw sales increase by 3.9% in the most recent period, while own brand products grew by 1.7%.
Branded sales of alcohol, soft drinks and frozen desserts, all summer favourites, combined to produce an extra €29 million of sales compared with last year.
Berry explains: “SuperValu cashed in on summer alcohol sales, overtaking Tesco as the leading alcohol retailer and capturing 26% of shopper spend in the category.”
Back to School
Back to school has been a major theme on the supermarket shelves in recent weeks and the impact of this can be seen in category sales the research showed.
“Staples of the school day like sandwich fillings, yoghurts and cereal have seen an increase in popularity as the academic year kicks off,” Berry continued.
“Cereals, cereal bars, chocolate and cheese have all had double digit uplifts in growth in the past month, to the tune of an additional €7 million being spent in the month to August compared with July.”
Lidl and Aldi recorded comparable performances, with Lidl’s sales growing by 3.0% compared with 2.9% for Aldi.
According to Kantar World panel, each saw an improvement in market share, with Lidl capturing 11.8% and Aldi standing at 11.6% – an increase of 0.1 of a percentage point in both cases.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
