Grocery inflation in Ireland has hit a new record high of 13.4% in the 12 weeks to 30 October, according to the latest data from Kantar, as households look to manage budgets through a ‘little and often’ approach to shopping.
Senior retail analyst at Kantar, Emer Healy, stated, "On average, families are adding one extra trip per month, [and] we’re seeing a 9% increase in these smaller trips where less than €30 is spent. In comparison, the extra-large shopping trips where households spend more than €150 have declined by 4%."
Grocery sales increased by 4.7% in the latest 12 weeks, following a 4.3% rise in shoppers returning to stores and an 8.7% increase in price per pack, contributing an additional €115 million to the overall market performance.
Take-home grocery sales in the country increased by 5% in the four weeks to 30 October 2022, driven by an 8.5% increase in the average prices paid by shoppers, data showed.
Online sales increased by 13.1% in October, driven by a rise in the number of new shoppers and an increase in the average number of online shopping trips by young families.
"As food and drink prices continue to climb alongside a rise in household bills, the impact on shoppers’ budgets is unavoidable for many Irish consumers," Healy added. "With inflation standing at 13.4% for October, the average annual grocery bill will go from €7,019 to €7,960 – an increase of €941 a year if consumers don’t make changes to what they buy and where they shop. At a basket level, that’s an extra €3.80 on top of the cost of the average shopping trip, which currently stands at €28.20."
Other Trends
Sales of own-label goods grew by 9.4% over the latest 12 weeks, accounting for nearly half (46%) of grocery sales.
Shoppers spent an additional €115 million year-on-year on private-label products, with value own-label ranges witnessing the strongest growth, up 27% with consumers spending €13.3 million more on a year-on-year basis.
Dairy products have the biggest market share (42.2%) within these value ranges, Kantar noted.
Healy added, "It’s interesting that shoppers are also beginning to seek out premium own-label offerings as they move their out-of-home spend in-home as a means of controlling their discretionary spending. As a result, shoppers are spending an additional €5.3 million on premium offerings, including spending an additional €902,000 on toiletries, €800,000 on fruit and €676,000 on chilled ready meals.”
For Halloween, only 18% of shoppers bought a pumpkin this year, compared to 24% in 2021. However, they spent an additional €2.2 million on chocolate confectionery and crisps and €1.8 million on sugar confectionery.
Kantar also noted that fewer people stocked up for Christmas in October compared to last year.
“This time last year 30% of Irish households had already purchased seasonal biscuits, whereas only 23% have this year," added Healy. "This also rings true with chocolate as shoppers are spending €2.1 million less on gifting chocolate and €1.2 million less on seasonal chocolate. The exception to this is mince pies, as consumers have already spent an additional €220,000 on these festive treats compared to this time last year.”
Top Retailers
Dunnes Stores emerged as the top retailer in Ireland with the biggest share of the market at 23.1%, growing 7.8% year-on-year.
The retailer saw a 3.5 percentage point increase in new shoppers to stores, which contributed an additional €35.1 million to its performance.
With a market share of 21.9%, Tesco secured second position. It saw sales growth of 6.6%, boosted by more frequent return trips by customers.
SuperValu saw its first period of growth since April 2021, with sales up by 0.5% compared to last year.
Lidl's market share stood at 13.1%, growing 7.3% year-on-year as new shoppers in-store and existing shoppers returning more often contributed an additional €17.7 million to its overall performance.
Aldi's market share stood at 12.7%, up 3.5% year-on-year, as existing shoppers returned to the store more often, contributing to its overall performance, Kantar added.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
