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More Shoppers Opt For Irish Produced Grocery Brands During COVID-19 Pandemic

By Donna Ahern
More Shoppers Opt For Irish Produced Grocery Brands During COVID-19 Pandemic

68% of Irish shoppers claim to try to choose products produced in Ireland when grocery shopping, and it is clear that shoppers are opting to ‘shop local’ during the COVID-19 pandemic, new research shows.

The Latest four week research data, conducted by Nielsen on behalf of Checkout, shows that value sales of Irish produced brands are were up 17% versus the same period last year, while non-Irish produced brands increased by 12%.

Lowest Sales Week

€310 million was spent on ROI FMCG sales in week ending 19 April 2020, which is the lowest sales week we have seen since week ending 1 March 2020.

"Large year on year declines in confectionery & bakery sales due to Easter 2019 falling on week 21 April 2019, as well as COVID-19 induced declines in categories including food to go & deli resulted in the total market being showing a 4.9% decline in week 19 April versus the same period last year," noted Nicole Farren, senior account manager, Retailer Service, Nielsen.

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Several Categories Show Increase

While the total market was in decline, several categories showed year on year value growth for week ended 19 April, with ambient grocery up by16% to €25.5 million, frozen food showed a 15% to €8.1 million and household was up by 10% to €10.9 million.

Fresh categories also saw some value growth this week, with chilled foods inclining by 2.3% to €55.7 million and fresh produce increasing by 2.1% to €22.0 million.

Consumer Confidence Report

Nielsen’s first quarter 2020 Consumer Confidence report revealed that 49% of Irish shoppers would switch to cheaper grocery brands as a way to save on household expenses and as several shoppers are under more financial pressure during this time we are seeing strong growth in Private Label items.

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Total unit sales in ROI were up by 2.9% in the latest four weeks but Private Label unit sales outperformed this at with a 15.3% increase, while unit sales of branded goods were down by 0.3%.

"However, we are still seeing shoppers treat themselves by trading up on affordable luxuries, with average price/unit of wine increasing by 7.4% to €8.62, coffee beans by 3.9% to €4.17 and take home ice-cream by 4.6% to €2.74 in the latest four weeks versus the same period in 2019," said Farren.

"Unit sales of table wine, coffee beans & take home ice-cream items are up by 17%, 75% and 39% respectively in the latest four weeks," she added.

© 2020 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.

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