The Irish grocery market hit a new milestone over the Christmas period, as December sales eclipsed €1bn for the first time. The figures from Kantar show that although growth slowed in the 12 weeks to 29 December, the sector weathered difficult trading conditions to increase overall sales by 1.5% year-on-year.
All of the major retailers achieved growth over the festive season, albeit not necessarily as a result of typical Christmas favourites. The data showed that demand for festive classics such as turkey, mince pies, and Christmas puddings declined, whilst sales of alcohol dropped by €10.5m after shoppers spent 5.3% less on beer and 2.2% less on wine. However, soft drinks sales rose by 2.7% as shoppers turned to alternative, alcohol-free options.
Dunnes retained its position as Ireland’s largest retailer and was the only grocer which didn’t experience a slowdown in growth compared to last month. Christmas is typically Dunnes’ strongest season as shoppers trade up to more premium products. It achieved a market share of 23.6% in the latest 12 weeks, 1.2 percentage points higher than its average over the rest of the year.
Meanwhile, SuperValu, which typically performs best over the summer, had a welcome Christmas boost and increased sales by 1.4% – slightly higher than it achieved in the same period last year.
Tesco’s growth was the slowest in the market at 0.1%, leading to it losing 0.3 percentage points of market share. However, Kantar noted that Tesco remained the nation’s second largest grocer as shoppers embraced its well-known brands. Tesco customers made an average of 16.2 trips to store in the latest period, compared with 15.7 the previous year.
Aldi was the strongest performing retailer over Christmas, with its sales up 6.3%, while Lidl’s market share of 10.9% was its highest ever over the festive period.
Charlotte Scott, consumer insight director at Kantar, commented: “Aldi and Lidl have increased their appeal among shoppers at Christmas and both reached their highest ever festive market shares. While in previous years customers have chosen to do their seasonal shopping elsewhere, Aldi and Lidl found success in 2019 by expanding their ranges and encouraging big shops.”
Both Aldi and Lidl also bucked the trend of falling prices across the sector and saw prices per pack increase during the period. Kantar stated that this was down to the two chain’s concerted push on brands and premium products, evidenced by the popularity of their premium own label ranges, which outperformed competitors and grew by 9% at Aldi and 6% at Lidl.
