Business

Northern Irish grocery market continues to ease back from peak lockdown frenzy

The north's grocery market declined by 5.5 per cent in the 52 weeks to January 23 2022.
The north's grocery market declined by 5.5 per cent in the 52 weeks to January 23 2022. The north's grocery market declined by 5.5 per cent in the 52 weeks to January 23 2022.

THE north’s grocery market continued its gradual return to normal levels of activity last month, new data from industry monitor Kantar shows.

The Northern Irish grocery market declined by 5.5 per cent over the year to January 23 2022, but it still remains 7.7 per cent larger than it was prior to the pandemic two years ago.

Senior retail analyst at Kantar, Emer Healy, said the data pointed to a 12.9 per cent drop off in the amount of home cooking done by local shoppers in the past year.

“We can really see the impact of this shift reflected in how much people are buying and how often they are going to the shops,” she said.

“Basket sizes have dropped by 7.6 per cent while supermarket visits are down 3.2 per cent..

“Alcohol sales fell by 12.8 per cent over the past 12 months, as shoppers showed a strong commitment to dry January during the first month of the year.”

Kantar’s data showed Lidl was the only retailer to see year-on-year growth as people visited its stores more often. It now holds a 7.1 per cent share of the market.

Tesco retains the biggest share of the grocery market at 35.6 per cent, ahead of Sainsbury’s (17 per cent) and Asda (16 per cent).