After a record-breaking festive trading, Irish grocery sales registered growth of 6.5% in the latest four weeks to 26 January 2025, according to the latest data from Kantar.
In this period, shoppers continued to spend despite grocery price inflation increasing by 3.4%, which was slightly lower than last month.
As 'Dry January' replaced New Year celebrations, shoppers returned to store more often with 23 trips on average, However, volume per trip was down 1.6% versus last year.
“Supermarkets were rolling out discounts in the New Year, as a way of easing the pressure on household budgets – and Irish consumers were more than happy to take advantage of them,” according to Emer Healy, business development director at Kantar.
“Spending on promotion rose by 8.4% with shoppers spending an additional €72 million versus last year. This is the highest level of sales on promotion we’ve seen since February 2021.”
Consumer Trends
Sales of own-brand products grew 6.9% compared to last year as shoppers spend an additional €103.9 million spent on these ranges to keep costs down in January.
The overall market share of own-label products stood at 44%, while branded goods also saw growth in this period.
Shoppers spent an additional €8.9 million on fresh fruit and vegetables combined, indicating equal focus on health and wellness as well as household budgets.
January also saw a boost in healthcare, up 8.6%, compared the same period to last year, Kantar noted.
Healy commented, “Dry January was in full swing this year with 6.2% of all Irish households purchasing non-alcoholic drinks in January. Sales of low and no-alcohol soared by over 47% with shoppers spending an additional €620,000 during the month versus last year.
“However, not everyone took part in 'Dry January' this year as shoppers also spend an additional €7 million on beer and cider.”
Online sales in this period rose by 14.5% year on year as shoppers spending an additional €27.4 million on this channel.
The number of online shopping trips increased by 11.7% over the latest 12-week period. More than 19% of Irish households purchased online in this period with new shoppers joining the channel.
Storm Éowyn
Shopping patterns in the latest four weeks was also impacted by Storm Éowyn, the most powerful storm in Ireland in years.
As consumers stocked up on necessities, Tesco (up 8.9%), Dunnes Stores (up 8.1%), and SuperValu (up 8.5%) outperformed the total market throughout January (up 6.5%).
Kantar added that this impact will also be evident in grocers' performance within its 12-week data up to January 2025.
Top Retailers
Dunnes Stores emerged as Ireland's top retailer with a quarter of the market share (25%) - a new record for the grocery chain.
Sales in this period increased 7% year-on-year as shoppers increased the number of trips while picking up more packs per trip, which contributed a combined €39.2 million to its overall performance.
Tesco emerged second with 24.1% of the market, with a value growth of 6.5% year on year.
The retailer saw an increase in the number of shopping trips as well as new shoppers, which contributed a combined €21 million to its overall performance.
SuperValu retained its third position with 20.3% of the market and growth of 4.2%.
The retailer saw the highest number of shopping trips compared to its peers, averaging 23.8 trips over the latest 12 weeks.
This increase in the number of shopping trips contributed an additional €40 million to its performance and strengthened results at the start of 2025.
Lidl held a 12.4% share of total market as increased trip frequency and new shoppers added an additional €8.7 million in sales.
Aldi's market share stood at 10.7%, up 4.5% versus last year with an increase in trips contributing an additional €13.3 million to its performance.
