The latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel show that although volume sales increased, sales in terms of value decreased by 1.3% at Tesco in the 12 weeks ending 9 October 2016.

This is the lowest-level of decline at Tesco since May, meaning the supermarket chain now has 21.6% market share in Ireland.

Continued sales growth at Dunnes Stores over the period means that it becomes the second largest supermarket chain in Ireland, having jointly held the position with Tesco last month.

Sales at Dunnes Stores have grown by 6.2% over the past quarter, allowing the retailer to capture 22.0% of the grocery market in Ireland.

“The biggest factor driving growth for Dunnes over the past year has been an increase in the size of the average shopping trip, which has grown by €3 to €38.10. The retailer with the next largest trip size is Aldi, where shoppers part with €25.10 on average,” said Kantar Worldpanel director, David Berry.

Top spot

SuperValu continues to hold the number one position in Ireland, with sales growth of 2.9% in the 12-week period. The retailer recruited an additional 38,000 shoppers during the period compared to the same time last year, Kantar Worldpanel figures suggest.

Sales growth of 5.1% at Lidl has allowed its market share to increase to 11.6%.

“The average Lidl shopper visited the retailer 11 times over the past quarter. In what looks like a shift to an increasing reliance on its own brand lines, branded items accounted for just 10% of Lidl’s sales during the past 12 weeks compared to over 20% in 2012,” David Barry said.

Aldi had the strongest growth across the Irish grocery market this quarter, with sales 6.6% higher than last year boosting its share of the market to 11.4%.

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