Irish grocery sales increased by 9.6% in the four weeks to 9 July 2023, with the average price per pack up by 11.1%, according to the latest data from Kantar.
Grocery price inflation continued to drive this growth, despite an increase in value sales.
Shoppers visited stores more often, making one additional trip, on average, compared to the same period last year, Kantar noted.
In the 12 weeks to 9 July, grocery inflation reached 14.7% , Kantar said – its lowest rate this year, down from 15.8% last month.
'Drop In Inflation'
Emer Healy, business development director at Kantar, commented, "This is the second month in a row there has been a drop in inflation, which is welcome news for shoppers.
"Although the rate is still high, with just a 1% drop since January, we expect to see further gradual decline over the coming months."
Over the past 12 months, the average annual increase in household spending in Ireland amounted to €427.
Healy added, "While shoppers are returning to store more often, they are picking up less volume per trip, while there has also been more out of home dining during summer."
The Irish market continued to see strong growth for own-label products (+13.3%) compared to brands (+7.6%) as shoppers seek to save money.
With growth of 26.3%, value own-label brands achieved strongest year-on-year increase, with shoppers spending €14.2 million more on these ranges.
Preference For Irish Brands
According to Kantar’s latest Brand Footprint report, Irish shoppers value home-grown brands, with four out of the top five most chosen brands chosen being Irish.
The study also unveiled that the average Irish household purchases 81 different food and drink brands in a year, showing just how important brands are for Irish consumers.
Summer Spending
Elsewhere, consumers spent an additional €3.6 million on burgers, grills and ice cream in the most recent four-week period, despite the recent wet weather, Kantar said.
Sales of cooked meats, yoghurts, chilled prepared salads, and hot beverages increased €6.1 million year-on-year as schools closed and people took time off for the summer. Alcohol sales increased 11.2% year-on-year.
Online sales increased 6% year-on-year, with shoppers spending an additional €9 million on the channel during the period.
Top Retailers
Dunnes Stores, Tesco and Lidl continued to grow ahead of the total market in terms of value for the second month in a row.
Dunnes Stores emerged as Ireland's top retailer with a market share of 22.7%, which is just 10 basis points higher than Tesco, on 22.6%.
Dunnes Stores reported growth of 14.5% year-on-year due to shoppers returning to stores more often (up 2.9% year-on-year) as well as a 2.6 percentage point increase in new shoppers in-store.
Tesco reported growth of 13.6% year-on-year, registering the strongest growth rate among all retailers, up 18.4% year-on-year.
SuperValu's market share stood at 20.7% and the retailer saw growth of 6.7%.
SuperValu shoppers made the most trips in store compared to all retailers – an average of 23.5 trips, representing a 12% increase compared to the same period last year.
Lidl's market share for the period stood at 13.9%, with more frequent trips contributing an additional €47.2 million to its overall performance.
The discounter holds the potential to hit 14% market share by the end of the summer, Kantar added.
