Grocery sales in Ireland increased by 5.4% in the four weeks to 1 September 2024 as households prepared for the new school year, according to the latest data from Kantar.
Shoppers spent an additional €2.1 million on biscuits, €1.3 million on cheese, and €460,000 on bread as households prepared for schools to reopen in late August and early September.
They also turned to quick meal options, shelling out an additional €2.6 million on chilled convenience food items.
Overall shopping frequency increased by 0.7% in the four-week period, while average prices were up 2.4%, data showed.
Elsewhere, volumes per trip saw a slight increase of 0.4% following six months of decline.
Inflation On The Rise
In the latest 12 weeks, inflation increased by 2.8% compared to the same period last year.
However, this is still the lowest inflation level since March 2022 and down 8.5 percentage points compared to September 2023, Kantar noted.
Emer Healy, business development director at Kantar, commented, “As summer comes to an end, many shoppers prepared for the back-to-school routine, with more packed lunches and after-school meals to prepare.
“Shoppers continue to take advantage of promotional offers from retailers, with spending on promotions up 9.6% compared to this time last year.”
Shopping Trends
Sales of private-label products increased 4.5% on a year-on-year basis to hold a value share of 47%.
Shoppers spent an additional €66.8 million on these ranges compared to the same period last year, data showed.
Premium own-label ranges also reported a solid performance, with shoppers spending an additional €14.2 million on these lines, up 10.2% year on year.
Branded goods registered an increase of 8.4%, outpacing total market growth as major retailers heavily promoted brands in their recent advertising campaigns.
Over 60% of branded products were purchased on some form of promotion, a 9.8% rise from the same period last year, Kantar added.
Online sales increased 10.7% as shoppers spent an additional €18.2 million on the channel compared to the year-ago period.
An increase in the frequency of online trips contributed a combined additional €17.5 million to the overall platform.
Top Retailers
Dunnes Stores reclaimed its position as Ireland's top retailer with a 23.6% market share, and sales growth of 9.4% year on year.
The retailer saw the strongest growth in trips amongst all retailers, reporting an increase of 12% year on year and adding €83.6 million to its overall performance.
Tesco emerged second with 23.5% of the market and year-on-year sales growth of 10.4%.
Its growth was driven by more frequent trips, which contributed an additional €32.9 million to its overall performance.
SuperValu secured the third position with a market share of 19.9% and sales growth of 2.5%.
With 21.8 trips on average, the retailer saw the highest number of supermarket visits, contributing an additional €15.5 million to its overall year-on-year performance.
Lidl's market share stood at 13.7%, with year-on-year growth of 6.9%. More frequent trips in-store, alongside new shoppers, contributed an additional combined €27 million to its overall performance, Kantar added.
Aldi reported growth of 1% to hold a market share of 11.8%, with more frequent trips contributing an additional €9.4 million to its overall performance.
