Irish shoppers continue to hold on to the shopping habits they developed during the pandemic, nearly five years after the first COVID-19 lockdown, according to Kantar.
Data showed that households made fewer visits to supermarkets in February 2025 than in 2020.
Online shopping continued to remain popular, with the channel taking a record market share of 6.9% in February 2025, up from 2.7% in the same period in 2020.
“In 2020, we couldn't have predicted the full extent of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on all of our lives,” commented Emer Healy, business development director at Kantar.
“However, five years later, we can see its lasting effects on consumer behaviour. Our data shows that habits haven’t fully returned to pre-pandemic norms, and shopping trips remain lower than before.”
However, Healy also noted that it is difficult to separate the cost-of-living crisis from post-COVID-19 trends at this point.
“Despite expectations, shoppers aren't visiting more stores for deals, averaging only four stores over the past 12 weeks,” she added.
Loyalty Schemes
Supermarket loyalty schemes, offering exclusive discounts, are playing a key role in attracting shoppers, Kantar noted.
Healy explained, “Retailers continue to roll out discounts, as a way of easing the pressure on household budgets – and Irish consumers are more than happy to take advantage of them.”
Spending on promotion rose by 11.6% year on year with shoppers spending an additional €92 million. Promotions accounted for 23.9% of all sales going through the tills, Kantar added.
Sales of own-label products increased by 3.8% year on year, representing nearly half (45%) of all grocery value sales. Shoppers spent an additional €62.6 million on the category in this period.
Branded goods performed slightly ahead of the total grocery market, registering growth of 5.6% compared to last year.
Overall, Irish take-home grocery sales increased by 4.9% year on year in the four weeks to 23 February 2025, compared to the same period last year, data showed.
Grocery inflation rose by 0.3 percentage points and now stands at 3.7% compared to the same 12-week period last year, following recent periods of stability.
Other Trends
In February, Irish shoppers spent an additional €14.4 million on chocolate and sweets and €4.2 million on wine to mark Valentine’s Day and the bank holiday weekend.
Sales of chocolate boxes jumped by 6.9% in February as it continued to be the present of choice for many.
Shoppers also prepared for pancake day, stocking up on sweet spreads and spending an additional €1.3 million versus January, Kantar added.
Online sales increased by 14.6% year-on-year, with shoppers spending an additional €27.8 million on the channel.
The number of online shopping trips increased by 10.4% in the latest 12 weeks, contributing a combined €22 million to the channel's overall performance.
Top Retailers
Dunnes Stores retained its spot as Ireland's top retailer with a 24.6% market share and sales growth of 6.9% year on year.
New shoppers and existing shoppers picking up more per trip contributed a combined €18.2 million to its overall performance.
Tesco emerged second with 23.9% of the market and value growth of 6.5% year on year.
New shoppers and increased trip frequency contributed a combined €27.1 million to its overall performance, according to Kantar.
With 20.4% of the market, SuperValu saw growth of 4.5% with the highest number of shopping trips, averaging 23.7 over the latest 12 weeks.
The increase in the number of trips contributed an additional €41 million to its performance.
Lidl and Aldi both saw growth in market share to 12.8% and 10.9%, respectively.
