Consumer confidence among Irish shoppers continues to improve, with the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel showing that the average household in Ireland is now spending an additional €50 on groceries so far this year. According to Kantar, this adds an extra €89m to the €9bn-valued Irish grocery market.

Kantar director David Berry said Irish shoppers are now making more frequent trips to supermarkets compared with last year, which is driving volume growth across the grocery market.

Perform strongly

In terms of the retailers, Dunnes continues to perform strongly after it recorded an 8% year-on-year increase in sales for the 12 weeks to the end of May. The average spend with the family owned retailer is now €37.20 – well ahead of the national average of €21.80 – and gives Dunnes a 21.3% share of the Irish grocery market.

Supervalu retains the largest share of the grocery market with 22.7%, but its year-on-year sales growth for the period is below average at 2.9%. Sales for the British retailer Tesco remained flat over the period, but it retains its position as the second-largest retailer in Ireland with a 22.4% share of the market – just behind Supervalu.

Tesco’s investment in lowering prices across the business appears to be paying dividends with Irish consumers, as 10,000 extra shoppers have now visited its stores compared with this time last year.

Of the German discounters, Lidl continues to perform very strongly. Sales growth of 7.2% for the 12-week period is well ahead of the market average and gives Lidl an 11% share of the Irish grocery market.

Sales growth for Aldi over the same period is more muted at just 2.9%, but the discounter holds an 11% share of the grocery market now. Between them, the two German stores now account for more than 22% of the Irish grocery market and have put a big dent in the business of the traditional big three.

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Grocery spend continues to increase as Supervalu remains on top