Irish grocery sales hit five year high

The Irish grocery sector has enjoyed an inflation-busting performance, recording its best sales for five years.

The latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending October 11 show year-on-year growth of 2.1 per cent across the Irish grocery market.

David Berry, director at Kantar said it was the most positive performance the market had seen in over half a decade.

“The growth in sales this period was ahead of the rate of inflation, indicating that consumers are becoming less restrictive in what they buy and adding extra items to their baskets,” he said.

“With the countdown to Christmas now underway and seasonal items appearing on the shelves, the battle to win during this vital season is on.”

Despite its tribulations in Northern Ireland, where it announced some 50 job losses following another store closure, Dunnes Stores posted its strongest performance this period, with sales growth of 4.7 per cent, increasing their share of the market to 23.2 per cent.

This marks the 11th successive period of growth for Dunnes, as its ongoing ‘Shop and Save’ campaign encourages shoppers to buy more items in each store.

Tesco retained its position as the largest supermarket in Ireland, while SuperValu brought its market share to within just 0.1 per cent of the British chain.

Meanwhile, Lidl and Aldi continue to gain ground, with year-on-year increases in sales of 9.8 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively.

According to Kantar’s analysis, both retailers saw customers leaving with larger baskets, with Lidl customers adding two additional items to their shop compared to last year. Aldi baskets had one additional item.

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Market share in Ireland for 3 months ending October 11

Supervalu             24.4%

Tesco                     24.5%

Dunnes                 23.2%

Aldi                          8.6%

Lidl                          8.8%

Other                     10.5%