Kantar’s data for the Northern Irish grocery market shows sales accelerated over the latest 12 weeks, up by 13.6% as the country eased out of lockdown. This compares to growth of 7.4% during the 52 weeks to 9 August 2020
Commenting on individual retailer performances, Emer Healy, analyst at Kantar, said: “Lidl was once again the best performing retailer this period – growing its sales by 10.5% over the 52 weeks and gaining 0.1 percentage points in share. It welcomed new shoppers through its doors and average spend per trip also increased by 12.5%. Higher average prices, growing by 1.3%, also contributed to its success.
“It was a similar story for Tesco, Northern Ireland’s largest retailer, which increased its sales by 8.4% year on year and added 0.3 percentage points to its market share. Like Lidl, growth was driven by people buying more in store, with trip size up 10.3%, and a 1.8% rise in average prices.
“Meanwhile, sales at Asda were up by 2.3% and at Sainsbury’s by 7.6%. While Sainsbury’s shoppers have been making larger trips, it was Asda customers who made the biggest additions to their weekly food shop as volumes grew by 17%.”
She added: “As the country moves away from the extremes of lockdown, it’s evident that cleanliness remains front of mind for consumers and sales of household and cleaning products were up 13.6% over the latest 12 weeks. Take home confectionery as well as crisps and snacks have also grown ahead of the market at 19% and 21.4% respectively over the same period as shoppers continue to look for ways to treat themselves at home.”
