The Northern Irish grocery market is continuing to grow with overall sales up 1% during the 52 weeks to 8 September 2019. The data from Kantar shows consumers are buying less each time they shop but this is offset by the fact that they’re visiting the supermarkets more often, on average heading to the grocers nearly 12 extra times over the course of the year.
However, volumes have declined by 0.4%, a slight softening, with a 1.5% increase in prices driving growth in the overall market.
Commenting on individual retailer performances, Charlotte Scott, consumer insight director at Kantar, said: “Tesco’s market share dropped by 0.3 percentage points to 35.0% and while it was once again the only big three retailer to achieve growth, this was a modest 0.1%. Tesco is following a similar trend to the overall market, with the average number of items bought per trip down by 14.4%, although shoppers made an additional nine trips to the retailer over these 52 weeks.
“Sales at Sainsbury’s and Asda declined by 0.2% and 0.7% respectively. Sainsbury’s has attracted an additional 30,000 customers over the past 12 months, with 71% of Northern Irish households visiting the retailer over the year, but smaller baskets and less frequent trips have contributed to an overall decline in sales. At Asda, an increase in shopper frequency has failed to offset a smaller average basket size, though overall customer numbers have returned to growth of 0.6%.
“Lidl is the only retailer to buck the trend and increase its market share this period, growing by 0.4 percentage points. Sales were up 7.6%, helped by an additional 8,000 customers and an increase in the average basket size to 15 items per trip compared to 14 last year.”
See here for latest Republic of Ireland data.
NAM Implications:
- At a unique 7.6% growth rate…
- Can you afford not to be in Lidl?
