Latest Kantar data shows that take-home grocery sales in Ireland increased by 7% in the four weeks to 4 August 2024.
During the weeks of sport leading up to early August, which included the Olympic Games in Paris and the All-Ireland finals, shopping frequency rose by 4.7%, along with an increase in average prices of 2.9%. However, the number of packs per shopping trip fell by 2.4% compared to last year, as shoppers continued to shop little and often.
Over the 12-week period to 4 August, there was another slight rise in grocery inflation to 2.8% after 15 months of consistent decline. However, this is still the lowest inflation level since March 2022 and is down 9.7% compared to August 2023.
“Although grocery inflation is lower now, shoppers are still looking for value in the market and spending on promotions rose by 10.8% compared to the same time last year, with 24.5% of all value sales going through on promotion,” commented Emer Healy, Business Development Director at Kantar.
“Shoppers will always look for the best value and make the most of the wide range of promotions offered by retailers to help manage household costs.”
Own-label ranges are also continuing to prove popular with Irish shoppers. Consumers spent an additional €59.2m year-on-year on own-label products, helping to grow the market by 4%. Premium ranges performed strongly, up 9.4% compared to the same time last year, with shoppers spending an additional €13.5m on these products.
Meanwhile, brands grew ahead of the total market up 7.7%, with shoppers spending an additional €111m on branded products versus last year.
Healy added: “Despite ongoing financial pressures on consumers, this month gave us a reason to celebrate. While we enjoyed some long-awaited good weather, we also cheered on our Olympic athletes. Bringing home four gold medals and with our best games ever, it gave us a reason to raise a glass or two and enjoy the sporting spectacle, with shoppers spending an additional €8m on alcohol and €5m on take-home confectionery and savouries combined.”
Online sales were up 11.5% year-on-year, with shoppers spending an additional €18.9m in the channel. With a boost in frequency and new shoppers, online saw an additional €14.4m in spend.
Looking a retailer performances, Tesco edged ahead of Dunnes and now holds 23.3% of the market, up 8.6% year-on-year. Its growth stemmed mainly from more frequent trips contributing an additional €36.3m to overall performance.
Dunnes controlled 23.2% of the market, with growth of 8.3%. Its performance stemmed mainly from more frequent visits, up 6.2% year-on-year, which contributed an additional €43.2m to its overall performance.
SuperValu held 20.2% of the market with growth of 2.4%. Its shoppers made the most trips in-store when compared to all retailers, with an average of 21.9 a year.
Lidl’s share was unchanged at 13.8% after seeing growth of 5.4%. More frequent trips contributed an additional €35.2m to its overall performance.
It was another disappointing period for Aldi, with its market share slipping to 12% after growing just 0.6%. More frequent trips contributed an additional €6.9m to its overall performance.
NAM Implications:
- Despite encouraging signs…
- …the basic trends remain:
- Consumers ‘shopping around’ for value
- Consumers actively seeking out promotions
- Consumers switching to own label equivalents
- Meanwhile, SuperValu should be able to capitalise on their lead in the number of store visits…
- …while Aldi continues to lose share in explicably.
