Grocery Market Share Ireland - Dunnes Pulls Out A Christmas Cracker
The latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, for the 12 weeks ending 23 December 2012, show Dunnes increasing its share from 23.9% to 24.3% and posting sales growth of 1.9% − well ahead of the market growth rate of 0.3%.
David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “The strong performance of Dunnes comes after a prolonged period of under-performance, with market share hitting a low point of 21.4% in September. The boost in share over Christmas has regained some of this lost ground and places the retailer in a more competitive position for 2013.”
Growth across the grocery market remains subdued at just 0.3%; this is despite an increase in price inflation to 5%. David continues: “One of the biggest factors influencing the price of groceries is the poor growing conditions seen during the summer of 2012. Vegetables are an important part of the grocery basket, particularly in the run up to Christmas, and we have seen some sharp price increases. With an extra €17m spent on Christmas ‘must haves’ like sprouts and potatoes, there has been less of the household budget available for ‘treat’ groceries such as soft drinks and confectionery.”
Among the other retailers, Aldi continues to post exceptional sales growth of 30% and its share has overtaken Lidl for the first time, becoming the fourth ranked grocery retailer in the state. Despite this milestone there is evidence that shoppers have again shifted some of their spending back to traditional supermarkets over Christmas. Aldi and Lidl achieved a combined 12.6% market share in October, with this dipping to 11.9% in the latest month.
Elsewhere, Tesco and SuperValu have both performed broadly in line with the market, with Tesco holding market share at 27.8% and SuperValu dipping marginally to 19.5%.
Superquinn has performed behind the overall market, but a reduction of the sales decline has resulted in a better Christmas for the retailer compared with 2009, 2010 and 2011.
An update on inflation
Grocery inflation stands at 5.0%* for the 12 week period ending 23 December 2012, ahead of the 4.2% in the previous period and the highest since the 5.6% seen in May 2011.
*This figure is based on over 30,000 identical products compared year-on-year in the proportions purchased by Irish shoppers and therefore represents the most authoritative figure currently available. It is a ‘pure’ inflation measure in that shopping behaviour is held constant between the two comparison periods – shoppers are likely to achieve a lower personal inflation rate if they trade down or seek out more offers.
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