Latest figures from Kantar show the Northern Irish grocery market grew by 8.0% during the 52 weeks to 6 September. That figure accelerated over the latest 12 weeks, with sales up by 10.4% as people continued to spend more time at home.
Commenting on individual retailer performances, Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, said: “Sales at Asda were up by 3.1% and at Sainsbury’s by 7.6%. Sainsbury’s was the only retailer to see an increase in shopper frequency over the latest 52 weeks, which grew by 4.8%. Asda customers meanwhile made the biggest additions to their weekly food shop and volume sales were up by 19.2%.
“Tesco, which holds the biggest share of the market, increased its sales by 9.2% year on year, adding 0.4 percentage points to its market share. It was also the only retailer to recruit new shoppers in the past year, which contributed an additional £12.7m to its overall growth. People buying more in store, up 12.2%, and average prices growing by 2.8% both contributed to its success.
“Lidl took the prize for the strongest performing retailer once again and its growth accelerated from last period. The retailer grew its sales by 11.1% over the 52 weeks and gained 0.2 percentage points in share. Like Tesco, this was driven by significantly larger trips, with volumes up 15.4%, and higher average prices, up 0.6%.”
NAM Implications:
- These retail results indicate why all stakeholders are wary re the Brexit end-game…
- Anyone close to the situation is conscious of the delicacy of balance and volatility of key elements…
- …and its potential for disruption.
