The latest supermarket share figures released by Kantar Worldpanel have revealed an even tighter gap in grocery market share between SuperValu and Tesco.
SuperValu’s share of the grocery market has now climbed to 24.9%, meaning it is just 0.1% behind the grocery market leader.
David Berry, director of Kantar Worldpanel aligned SuperValu's recent success to the overall move towards convenience in grocery retail, “Their growth is quite in trend with shopping behaviour changes in that there has been a move from the big main trolley to convenience and this would have really helped SuperValu.”
Dunnes sales have also grown by 6.5% this quarter, a trend which Berry, sees as connected to the retailer's ‘Shop & Save’ campaign, “Dunnes has successfully encouraged its customers to buy more, growing the number of trips where €100 or more is spent by an astonishing 25%”.
The discounters Lidl and Aldi both enjoyed growth of 10.7%, with this trend seemingly here to stay according to Berry, “As they get bigger, sustaining higher level of growth will be more difficult. This is a natural trend, however I do not think that their growth will cease completely as they continue opening new stores their growth levels will continue.”
On the other hand, Tesco, the market leader, has suffered a fall in sales of 3.7%. As Berry explains, “Being number one isn’t always the best place to be, as you can become a target for everyone else.”
“Having said that, Tesco's volume performance has been stronger and is showing some signs of turning around,” he added.
Currently, for every €4 spent on groceries in Ireland, €1 goes into Tesco’s tills. However for Berry, its time as the top grocery retailer may be limited, “I wouldn’t say 100% that SuperValu will overtake Tesco but if it was to carry on at this trajectory, it will happen. The gap is closing.”
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Hannah Popham.
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