Dunnes Stores has retained its top supermarket position for the 18th month in a row.
The Irish retailer had another formidable period with sales rising by 3.3% the latest grocery market share figures from Kantar in Ireland for the 12 weeks ending 26 January 2020 shows.
The group now holds 23.1% of the Irish grocery market.
However, that was a slower increase than in recent months, as falling basket sizes and lower prices impacted growth at Ireland’s largest retailer, the research indicated.
Overall Performances
The latest Kantar report showed that overall growth across the industry slowed to 1.3%, the slowest rate recorded since March 2017, as shoppers tightened their purse strings ahead of the General Election.
Lidl was the strongest performing retailer this period, increasing its market share by 0.4 percentage points to 11.0%.
“Lidl’s growth was driven by increased basket sizes as shoppers added three more items to their shop than the market average," Matthew Botham, strategic insight director at Kantar, said.
"More and more people are picking up their groceries at the retailer and 71.4% of households chose to shop at Lidl at least once over the latest period.”
The report showed that SuperValu was the only other retailer to accelerate growth over the period as its market share grew by 0.1 percentage points to 21.7%.
Aldi also posted strong growth this period – increasing sales by 5.4%.
Sales Unchanged
At the other end of the market, Tesco’s sales were unchanged from last year as the grocer conceded 0.3 percentage points of market share.
“As the General Election loomed, falling consumer confidence meant a decline in shopper frequency for the market as a whole. While Tesco bucked this trend and shoppers visited the retailer more often, it wasn’t enough to boost sales and growth fell to 0.0%," said Botham.
“Part of Tesco’s response was to take action by addressing consumer demand for sustainable packaging. The retailer made headlines with the announcement that it’s removing plastic wrap from its multipack tinned items while still offering the multi-buy deal to customers."
Retailers Embraced Veganuary
According to Botham retailers embraced Veganuary, which brought plant-based foods to the fore.
Sales of alternative milks grew by 20%, while meat, fish and poultry dropped by 3%.
“Though shoppers reduced their consumption of meat and dairy, households didn’t turn their backs on animal products completely," Botham added.
"This points to an increase in flexitarian lifestyles as people look to cut back rather than go cold turkey.”
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
