Grocery Market Share Ireland - A Record Share for the Discount Sector

The latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, published today for the 12 weeks ending 14 April, show the discounters continue to set the pace with Aldi and Lidl posting respective growth rates of 28.5% and 7.3% and gaining a record share of the market.

David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Aldi and Lidl hold a combined 13.1% record share of the grocery market. Both retailers have succeeded in recruiting more shoppers while also encouraging existing customers to spend more. The average spend by a discounter shopper has increased from €187 last year to €209 in the same 12 week period this year.

“The winning performance of the discounters has placed significant competitive pressure on the other retailers. SuperValu has posted the strongest response with an extra 80,000 shoppers driving growth of 1.3% and keeping it ahead of the market. Superquinn is another positive performer for the Musgrave Group, recording sales growth for the second successive month.”

Meanwhile, growth for Dunnes Stores continues, albeit at a lower rate of 0.4% leading to a slight dip in market share to 22.5%. Tesco continues to perform behind the market with its share now standing at 27.7%.

David continues: “The rate of food price inflation has dropped from 5.7% last month to 5.3%. This will be a welcome boost for shoppers following the recent high of 5.8% in February. Fruit and vegetables have had the biggest impact on inflation with prices now increasing at a slower rate. Vegetable prices rose by over 13% last month and this has fallen back to 12.7%.”

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation stands at 5.3%* for the 12 week period ending 14 April 2013, down from the 5.7% seen last period.

*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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