Irish consumers spent an extra €90 million on groceries over the Christmas period, according to the latest grocery market-share figures from Kantar Worldpanel Ireland.
Over the festive period, the average household spent a record €1,532 on groceries, marking an increase of €38, compared to last year.
“Much of this increase has been driven by staple items, with fruit, vegetables, meat and poultry posting a combined sales increase of €28 million,” said David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel Ireland.
“Shoppers were also partial to a Christmas tipple, with sales of alcohol up almost 6% – a boost of €13 million,” Berry continued.
Grocery market inflation stood at -0.1% for the 12-week period ending 31 December 2017.
Supermarket Sales
Kantar Worldpanel’s data also reveals that Dunnes Stores remained the top Irish supermarket over the Christmas season, with sales growth of 4.9%, which was the retailer’s highest increase since May 2017.
The retailer captured market share of 23% in this period, placing it just ahead of Tesco (22.8%) and SuperValu (22.4%).
Looking at the discount retailers, strong Christmas sales at Lidl saw it overtake rival grocer Aldi.
“Historically, shoppers have chosen to trade up over the Christmas period, however, Lidl seems to have broken the trend this year,” added Berry.
“The retailer enjoyed a positive performance over the Christmas period, with market share rising to 10.4%, thanks to sales growth of 4.8%,” he said.
Elsewhere, online grocery shopping is showing no signs of slowing down, with growth of 24% over the festive season.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
