Latest data from Kantar shows that take-home grocery sales in Ireland increased by 7.9% in the four weeks to 3 September, with price inflation still the driving factor behind the healthy uptick.
Average price per pack climbed 8.8% last month, while overall grocery inflation rose by 11.5% over the 12 weeks to 3 September. This was down from 12.8% in the last quarterly period.
Emer Healy, Business Development Director at Kantar, commented: “This is the fourth month in a row that there has been a drop, down 1.3 percentage points compared to last month, which is encouraging for both shoppers and retailers. Although the rate of inflation is still relatively high, it is the lowest level we have seen in the last 12 months, and we expect it to continue to fall over the coming months”.
The percentage of packs sold on promotion in Ireland dropped slightly by 0.6 percentage points compared to the same period last year, while the percentage of sales sold on promotion currently stands at 24.1%.
Sales of own-label products were up 11.9% in the latest 12 weeks, more than double the sales growth of brands at 5%. Value own-label ranges saw the strongest growth, up 17.8%, with shoppers spending an additional €10.3m year-on-year as they look to save money at the tills. Own-label value share hit 47.9%, while brands held a value share of 46.6%.
Meanwhile, online sales were strong, up 18.5% year-on-year. Shoppers spent an additional €27m in the channel and 17.4% of Irish households are now buying their groceries online.
Dunnes, Tesco and Lidl all grew ahead of the total market in terms of value this month.
Dunnes held 23% of the market with growth of 11.1% year-on-year. The chain saw a boost in new shoppers, up 3 percentage points year-on-year, which is the strongest gain out of all the supermarkets.
Tesco held 22.6% of the market with growth of 11.5% year-on-year. It again saw the strongest frequency growth among all retailers, up 16.1% year-on-year, which contributed an additional €96.1m to overall performance.
SuperValu controlled 20.6% of the market with growth of 4%. Shoppers visited its stores most frequently compared to all other retailers, making 21.3 trips on average.
Lidl held a 13.6% share with growth of 11.6% year-on-year. More frequent trips contributed to an additional €37.1m to the discounter’s overall performance. Aldi controlled 12.5% of the market, with growth of 5.6% year-on-year. A strong boost in new shoppers and more frequent trips contributed an additional €25.1m to its overall performance.
