With a 24.8% market share, Tesco was the No 1 supermarket in the Republic of Ireland for the 12 weeks ending 16 August, according to Kantar Worldpanel figures. However, the gap between Tesco and SuperValu is narrowing, with Tesco down 0.1% on the previous 12 weeks and SuperValu up 0.2%, meaning it is now only 0.3% behind the leader.

Overall, there was a year-on-year growth in sales of 1.4% across the Irish grocery market compared to the same 12 weeks last year. Kantar attributes this to an upswing in the level of price inflation, which now stands at 1.3% compared to 0.7% last month, and says this is the best performance in the market since March this year.

Dunnes Stores posted the strongest sales, growing well ahead of the market with an increase of 8.2% in the past 12 weeks compared with the same period in 2014. It now boasts 22.4% of market share. This was closely followed by Lidl, which grew sales by 7.7% since the same period last year and now holds 9.1% of the market.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains that Dunnes Stores’ success is in large part “thanks to the continuation of its Shop and Save campaign. Although fewer people have shopped with the retailer this period, these customers have been encouraged to spend more, with the average shop now costing €34.50 – an increase of more than €5,” he said.

Lidl’s sales growth of 7.7% has been driven by an increased number of shoppers returning to the store more frequently and spending larger amounts on each occasion. Lidl is the only retailer to drive improvement in all three of these areas in the past quarter.

Commenting on Tesco’s dominance, David Berry said: “We’ve seen Tesco’s performance improve in recent months, and the past 12 weeks are no exception – sales decline now stands at just -1.0%. As its performance continues to improve, Tesco retains the No 1 position in the market with 24.8% share, despite an ongoing tussle with SuperValu for the top spot. An increase in customer numbers, with more than 20,000 new shoppers recruited this year, has played a vital part in the supermarket’s recovery.”

As for the other German discounter, Aldi, it has seen sales grow by 3.8%, lifting its share of the market to 8.7%.