Tesco is now Ireland's third-biggest supermarket chain, according to the latest market-share data from Kantar Worldpanel, with rival Dunnes Stores overtaking the retailer for the first time.
The data, which covers the 12-week period to 9 October, shows Tesco on a 21.6% market share, with Dunnes marginally ahead, on a 22.0% share. SuperValu, part of the Musgrave Group, remains Ireland's biggest supermarket group, with a 22.4% market share.
“The biggest factor driving growth for Dunnes over the past year has been an increase in the size of the average shopping trip, which has grown by €3, to €38.10," said Kantar Worldpanel's David Berry. "The retailer with the next largest trip size is Aldi, where shoppers part with €25.10 on average – €13 less than at Dunnes."
The data also found that Lidl and Aldi have a combined market share of 23.0%, with Lidl on 11.6% and Aldi on 11.4%.
"The average Lidl shopper visited the retailer 11 times over the past quarter," said Berry. "In what looks like a shift to an increasing reliance on its own-brand lines, branded items accounted for just 10% of Lidl’s sales during the past 12 weeks, compared to over 20% in 2012.”
In response to the figures, a spokesperson for Tesco Ireland said, "Due to ongoing investment in Staying Down prices, our average selling price per item is down [3.7%] since this time last year – more than any other retailer – and, as expected ,this impacts our share of the overall spend in the market.
"Our customer strategy is focused on reducing the prices of everyday items that matter most to customers and growing our business though volume growth. With positive 2.5% volume growth year on year, we continue to be number one in the market in volume terms, with a 21.3% market share."
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
