THE new school term - and with it the need for parents to organise packed lunches and snacks - has led to grocery sales in Northern Ireland rising by 3.5 per cent over the last 12 weeks, according to monthly data from retail analysts Kantar.
That's despite the over market, on an annual basis, falling by 3.6 per cent as grocery inflation continues to climb, reaching a new high of 6.3 per cent.
Kantar says increases in average prices over the last year are most noticeable in everyday essential such as milk and pasta, which were up 16.1 per cent and 14.4 per cent respectively over the period.
“But the picture over the last 12 weeks has been very different,” according to Emer Healy, senior retail analyst at Kantar.
She said: “Consumers in Northern Ireland prepared for back-to-school by making an average of 53 trips to stores over the last 12-week period to get their essentials, spending an additional £592,000 on chilled drinks, £2.5m on biscuits and £2.9m more on frozen food for quick and easy meal solutions.”
Tesco maintained its position as the north’s largest grocer with a 35.7 per cent share of the market. It welcomed an influx of new shoppers in store which contributed an additional £42.7m to its overall performance.
Sainsbury’s holds 17.1 per cent share with Asda just slightly behind at 16.3 per cent, as they each saw over 10,000 more shoppers in store.
All retailers declined compared to last year, with Lidl seeing the slowest decline at 0.7 per cent, bringing its share of market to 7 per cent. Among all retailers, it had the biggest boost of new shoppers at 9 per cent, spending an additional £20.9m.
