Latest data from Kantar shows the grocery market in Northern Ireland declined by 5.5% over the year to 23 January 2022, but it remains 7.7% larger than it was prior to the pandemic two years ago.
Looking at the latest 12 weeks, take-home grocery sales fell by 6.4% as people made the most of more relaxed Covid restrictions and started eating at pubs, bars and restaurants again.
Emer Healy, Senior Retail Analyst at Kantar, commented: “There has been a 12.9% drop off in the amount of home cooking done by Northern Irish shoppers in the past year. We can really see the impact of this shift reflected in how much people are buying and how often they are going to the shops. Basket sizes have dropped by 7.6% while supermarket visits are down 3.2%.”
Looking at the leading grocery retailers, Tesco maintained its position as Northern Ireland’s largest grocer and managed to grow its market share to 35.6%. Lidl put in another strong performance and was the only retailer to see year-on-year growth as people visited its stores more often, boosting its share to 7.1%.
Sainsbury’s held its market share steady at 17% while Asda edged up to 16%.
