Dunnes Stores has maintained its position as the leading grocery retailer in Ireland, with 23.0% market share, according to Kantar Worldpanel data for the 12 weeks to 24 February.
The family-owned retailer posted 3.8% value sales growth, to sit comfortably ahead of its closest rivals, Tesco, which holds 21.6% share (+1.1% value sales increase), and SuperValu, on 21.3% (+0.8% value sales increase).
“For the seventh consecutive period, Dunnes was Ireland’s largest retailer, posting sales growth of 3.8%,” commented Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel. “While both Tesco and SuperValu saw their overall market shares decline, the pair did enjoy positive sales growth of 1.1% and 0.8%.”
Discounter Aldi ranks fourth, with 11.2% market share (+10.5% value sales increase), while Lid is on 11.0% share for the period (+6.0% value sales increase).
“This marks the second consecutive period in which Aldi achieved double-digit sales growth – a feat it has not achieved since March 2015,” added Faughnan. “Meanwhile, Lidl’s growth of 6.0% is the highest for the retailer since May 2016.”
Inflation Increase
The increase in sales across the major grocers was influenced by a rise in grocery price inflation, by 1.5% – the first time that an increase has been recorded for four consecutive periods since February 2017.
As Faughnan explained, continued inflation may drive Irish consumers to trade down to own-label ranges, which grew by 4% in the latest 12-week period.
“Meanwhile, a stronger euro-to-sterling exchange rate has made British imported goods and ingredients cheaper, allowing retailers to pass some of those savings on to Irish consumers,” he said.
“However, with prices already rising as Britain’s exit from the EU draws near, increases are likely to continue for the rest of the year. More than €3.5 billion of food is imported to Ireland from the UK, which means currency fluctuation can have a substantial impact on grocery prices,” added Faughnan.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
