Grocery sales growing at their fastest rate for over a year

SuperValu attracting the most additional shoppers across Ireland

The latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, published today for the 12 weeks ending 22 June, show that grocery sales grew by 2% this quarter – the fastest rate since March 2013 – and certainly in stark contrast to sales declines of 4.5% experienced just four years ago. This period’s sales growth comes amid falling inflation, down to 2.3% from 2.6% last period.

Mark Thomson, business unit director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “The fall in grocery inflation is providing welcome relief for households. Among the big grocers, SuperValu is the stand out performer, attracting 87,000 new shoppers this quarter – more than any other retailer over the latest period. Almost three quarters of Irish households shopped in SuperValu over the latest quarter.

“Aldi and Lidl continue to deliver outstanding growth, increasing sales by 19.5 and 12.4 percentage points, and market shares to 8.1% and 8.2% respectively. Meanwhile at the other end of the market, Tesco and Dunnes are both lagging, with their corresponding shares standing at 26.1% and 21.1%.”

Although Aldi and Lidl are continuing to benefit from increasing numbers of sales, both retailers are experiencing growth mainly as a result of their existing customers spending more. The average Aldi shopper in Ireland spent €161 over the latest period; up €15.60 compared with this time last year.

Mark continues: “Footfall is increasing for all the large retailers at a time when customers aren’t wedded to a particular grocer week by week. The opportunity for Tesco and Dunnes lies around encouraging shoppers to spend more per shopping trip, which is something that Aldi and Lidl are already doing successfully.”