Dunnes now Ireland's joint no.2 supermarket

The latest figures show strong growth for Dunnes Stores with sales up by 6.3% to bring them level with Tesco at no.2

The latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, published today for the 12 weeks ending 11 September 2016, show strong growth for Dunnes Stores as the retailer increased sales by 6.3% to draw level with Tesco. The two stores now account for 21.6% each of the Irish grocery market, which continues to grow rapidly overall: sales were up 3.7% year on year during the past 12 weeks.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Larger trips have boosted sales for Dunnes, with the average spend increasing by €2.50 to €37.20 in the latest quarter, compared with the same time last year. Dunnes has successfully tempted shoppers to add more expensive items to their baskets, with the average price per item rising to €2.05 – an increase of 12% on last year.”

SuperValu remains Ireland’s largest grocer with a 22.4% share of the market, increasing sales by 3.1% year on year. This is the third consecutive month where growth for the retailer has been above 3%, helped by shoppers adding more items to their baskets on average every time they shop.

While Tesco has seen value sales fall by 2.3% it continues to sell more items, with volume sales 1.9% higher than the same time last year. The performance gap between value and volume sales is a reflection of a lower average price point at Tesco, in part the result of its ‘Staying Down Prices’ campaign.

David Berry continues: “Lidl’s market share now stands at 11.7% – in line with last year – while sales increased by 4.5%. Three core categories have contributed most significantly to the strong performance, with produce, meat and bakery together accounting for €11 million of extra sales compared with last year. Lidl has also managed to increase the number of repeat visits its shoppers make, with the average customer returning 11 times over the past 12 weeks compared with fewer than 10 times last year.” 

“Meanwhile sales growth for Aldi continues to improve, with market share increasing from 11.2% last year to 11.4% in the latest period.”

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