The Irish grocery market has continued to perform well in 2018, with sales up 3.1% on 2017, according to Kantar Worldpanel data for the 12 weeks ending 22 April.
Irish retailer SuperValu posted a 4.5% sales growth and is now the leader in the market with a 22.3% market share. It’s the first time since July of last year that the company has stood solo in the top spot.
Tesco and Dunnes Stores were a close second and third, with market shares of 22.2% and 21.9%.
Discounters Lidl and Aldi ranked second and third in sales growth, with an increase of 4.2% and 3.0%, respectively. Aldi in particular had a ‘strong’ 12 weeks in the provinces of Munster, Connaught, and Ulster.
Robust Performance
British heavyweight Tesco saw its shopper numbers rise by 3.1%, producing an additional €13 million in revenue. Overall sales increased 6.1%, with a strong showing in Dublin and the rest of Leinster.
The growth of Dunnes Stores' in Connaught and Ulster was robust, whereas its market share in Dublin dropped from 26.2% to 24.8%.
Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, commented on the period, "SuperValu has attracted more shoppers through its doors and persuaded its customers to buy more items per trip.
"In addition, while performance remains strong in its Munster heartland, SuperValu’s growth in the capital is particularly noteworthy. The retailer’s sales in Dublin grew 4.5% compared to last year, second only to Tesco which saw growth of 7.4% in the city."
Faughnan added that over the past 12 months, Irish households have started to rely more heavily on their main retailer, meaning fewer shoppers through stores' doors. He said the period also saw a "notable turnaround" in shopper numbers for Tesco, SuperValu, Aldi and Lidl, who all garnered more shoppers than they had a year ago.
Frozen Foods Growth
The frozen food category was particularly successful in the period, surpassing sales of fresh, chilled and ambient food and drink in the three top retailers.
Overall frozen sales jumped by 7.3%, affected by the expansion of frozen food purveyor Iceland in the country. The British chain boasted a 6.3% share of frozen sales, encouraged by more footfall created by new store openings.
During the previous reporting period - the 12 weeks ending 25 March - Kantar found that Irish supermarket sales grew 3.8%, despite the massive snow storm dubbed 'Beast from the East'.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
