New data from Kantar Worldpanel shows that British supermarket giant Tesco is losing ground in Ireland to indigenous retailers SuperValu and Dunnes Stores.
While the retailer still holds the prime position in the Irish grocery market, Tesco saw its dominance for the 12 weeks to 15 September slip a little, with its market share now standing at 26.8%, compared to 28.7% this time last year.
Dunnes Stores and SuperValu now respectively hold a 22.1% share and 19.7% share of the highly competitive Irish grocery market.
Discounters Aldi and Lidl saw their shares rise to 7.4% and 7.5% respectively, with Aldi enjoying a growth rate of 24.3% on the same period last year.
Kantar Worldpanel commercial director David Berry said that Dunnes Stores has placed more emphasis on beating the competition this year, after losing the “Back to School” battle last year.
“Shoppers have been encouraged to spend more through a targeted voucher campaign, leading to a 6 per cent boost in larger, €50 plus shopping trips. This has helped to turn what was a €17 million loss from shoppers switching away from Dunnes last year into a €10 million gain this year,” he said.
Berry said the build up to the Christmas period will show if the rival discounters can sustain their strong growth or if a ceiling is starting to be reached.
© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Ellen Lunney
