Irish shoppers spent a combined €12 million on savoury snacks, chocolate, wine, and cider in July, as they hosted friends and family for sporting events, according to the latest data from Kantar.
Take-home grocery sales in Ireland increased by 6.6% in the four weeks to 7 July 2024, driven by inflation, while shopping frequency increased by 3.2%, data showed.
For the 12 weeks to 7 July, grocery inflation stood at 2.6%, representing an increase of 0.14 percentage points on the previous month. It was also the first increase following a 15-month decline.
Emer Healy, business development director at Kantar, explained, “Although there has been a slight increase in inflation, it’s still the lowest level we’ve seen since March 2022, and down 11.8 ppts compared to July 2023. It means that shoppers in Ireland remain on the lookout for value deals in the market with over 25% of value sales on promotion.”
Premium Private Label
Shoppers spent an additional €15.5 million on premium own-label products, helping the category to grow by 10.8% compared to the same period last year.
Healy added, “With retailers keen to push their own-label products, we’ve seen strong sales this period with shoppers spending an additional €67.8 million year-on-year and total market growth of 4.5% on these ranges.”
Branded products grew ahead of the market, seeing a 6% increase in sales as shoppers spent an additional €86.3 million year on year.
Sales of barbecue and other summer items lagged due to colder weather and shoppers spent a combined €800,000 less on chilled salads, burgers, grills and steaks.
Shoppers also turned to soups and hot beverages, with spending on these products increasing by €1.8 million compared to the year-ago period.
Online sales increased by 12.1% year-on-year, with shoppers spending an additional €19.2 million on the channel.
An increase in volume per trip alongside new shoppers contributed a combined 12.5 million to the platform's overall growth, Kantar noted.
Top Retailers
Dunnes Stores reported growth of 7.2% year on year to hold a market share of 23.2%, ensuring its place as Ireland's top retailer.
Its performance was mainly driven by more frequent and larger trips, which contributed a combined €42.7 million to its overall performance.
Tesco emerged a close second with 23.1% of the market, registering an increase of 7.5%.
The retailer registered the strongest year-on-year trip frequency growth, of 6.7%, for another consecutive month, which contributed an additional €46.4 million to its overall performance.
SuperValu placed third, with 20.4% of the market and growth of 3.2%. With an average of 21.6 trips, SuperValu shoppers made the most trips in-store when compared to other retailers.
It saw a 5.1% increase in volume per trip and attracted new shoppers, adding a combined €50.2 million to its overall performance.
Lidl's market share stood at 13.9%, with growth of 4.9% year on year, while Aldi's market share stood at 12%, with an increase of 0.6% year on year.
