GROCERY sales in Northern Ireland increased by 1.4 per cent over the 52 weeks to April 21 as higher prices continued to drive growth, new figures from Kantar show.
And despite the behemoths like Tesco and Sainsbury continuing to lead the way in terms of market share, it is significant that more than 75 per cent of the population shopped at a Lidl in the past year, demonstrating the progress it has made in Northern Ireland as well as in Britain and the Republic.
Tesco, which now accounts for 35.2 per cent of grocery retailing in the north, has enjoyed sales growth of 1.3 per cent over the past year. More than 94 per cent of households shopped at a Tesco store in the past 12 months, demonstrating its firm hold on pole position.
Sainsbury’s has extended the gap between itself and third position with growth of 1.2 per cent, driving the retailer to an overall share of 17.3 per cent – ahead of Asda on 17.0 per cent.
The number of households which visited Sainsbury’s increased by 8.7 per cent over the past year generating additional sales worth £46.7 million.
While Asda has seen a decline in the overall volume of goods sold this has partly been offset by higher prices and shoppers visiting stores more frequently.
Volume sales were down 0.5 per cent overall, and despite value sales growth of 0.7 per cent the retailer’s market share fell by 0.1 percentage point.
But Lidl continues to win share by encouraging shoppers to put more items in their basket each time they shop – with overall volume sales up 6.7 per cent.
