DESPITE the spectre of inflation and a squeeze on wages, the grocery market in Ireland has grown at the fastest rate since January, according to the latest market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel.
Shoppers adding more items to their baskets have offset the impact of deflation, says the survey, which covers the 12-week period to June 18.
In Northern Ireland, Tesco still leads the way and increased its overall share to 34.9 per cent, which is more than Sainsbury's and Asda combined (they commanded exactly 17.3 per cent of the market each during the survey period).
Lidl's share over the period remains at 5.4 per cent while the symbols (these include the likes of Spar, EuroSpar and Mace) garnered an 8.7 per cent slice of the overall Northern Ireland grocery market while other stores (made up of Boots, greengrocers, butchers etc) had an 8 per cent share.
In the Republic SuperValu remains in the top spot, but its lead over Tesco has narrowed to 0.2 percentage points. SuperValu convinced consumers to spend an extra 60 cents every time they visited the store. Tesco is growing ahead of the market, with sales up by 3.8 per cent.
Cora Campbell, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “The grocery sector grew by €80 million over the past 12 weeks – that’s a 3.5 per cent increase on the year before.
"While average pack prices are down, shoppers are choosing to take advantage of this recent period of deflation by adding more items to their baskets per trip, driving the market’s overall growth.
“In the face of continuing competition the major retailers’ investment in developing and improving their own brand lines is paying off. Overall sales of private label goods are up by 4.2 per cent and they now account for 54 per cent of grocery spend – the highest proportion since March this year.”
She added: “On average SuperValu’s shoppers are spending an extra €0.60 each time they shop with the retailer and while this may not seem like much, it’s been enough to contribute to an increase in overall sales of 2.5 per cent.
“SuperValu can’t remain complacent. Second place retailer Tesco is growing ahead of the market and has closed the gap in share between itself and SuperValu to just 0.2 percentage points.”
Despite a drop in shopper numbers Dunnes Stores remains the strongest growing retailer, increasing value sales by 4.5 per cent. Existing customers are shopping more often and spending an additional 10 per cent on average while they’re at it, increasing their average spend in the retailer by €44.50 in the latest 12 week period.
Ms Campbell says: “Lidl and Aldi have both enjoyed a strong performance over the past 12 weeks, holding market share at 11.7 per cent and 11.2 per cent respectively.”
