DUNNES STORES HAS leapfrogged SuperValu to claim the position of Ireland’s most popular supermarket.

According to the Irish arm of Kantar Worldpanel, an international agency that provides information on consumer brands, Dunnes now has a 22.6% share of the Irish grocery market.

Sales at the retailer grew by 6.7% during the 12 weeks to the end of 6 October compared to the same period in 2015, helping the grocer rise to second position overall.

SuperValu, which had occupied the number one spot, also saw the value of its sales grow during the 12 week period, recording an increase of 2.3%.

However, as this was below the overall market average of 4.3% for value sales, its market share dropped from 22.8% to 22.4%.

Kantar Worldpanel director David Berry said that Dunnes’ performance “is largely down to its continued success in encouraging larger shopping trips via its ‘Shop & Save’ promotional campaign”.

Sales up

“Persuading shoppers to add one extra item to every basket, worth €3.20 on average, may not sound like much, but across the country this adds up to an additional €2.8 million each week,” he said.

“Growth across a wide range of categories has contributed to the retailer’s overall sales increase of 6.7% year on year, with toiletries, alcohol, frozen food and confectionery performing particularly well.”

Despite its fall from the top spot, Kantar said that SuperValu “continues to enjoy a positive performance with an increase in sales of 2.3% year-on-year”.

“More shoppers have chosen to visit the retailer this year but they have also spent more, parting with an additional 80c per trip on average,” the agency said.

Kantar Worldpanel Kantar Worldpanel

Tesco was the only major retailer to record a decline, as the value of its sales were 0.6% less than during the same 12 week period in 2015.

The company had an overall market share of 21.4%, down from 22.4% last year. However, Kantar did note that the company was on an “upward trajectory” as the fall in its sales has slowed. Tesco’s sales had fallen by 1.3% year-on-year during the 12 weeks ending 9 October.

Lidl and Aldi

German discount stores Lidl and Aldi continued to perform strongly and now have a combined 22.7% share of the grocery market, up from 22.4% this time last year.

Berry said: “Lidl’s share of the market has increased slightly to 11.4%, with sales growth of 5.3%.

“Aldi’s strong performance continues with sales growing by 6.6% year on year – leading to a healthy increase in market share from 11.1% last year to 11.3% in the past 12 weeks.

“Aldi has seen the biggest boost to its shopper numbers during the latest quarter with an extra 40,000 households visiting the retailer and also returning more often.”

Kantar Woldpanel said its data comes from surveying the household grocery purchasing habits of 5,000 “demographically representative households” in the Republic of Ireland.

Written by Paul O’Donoghue and posted on Fora.ie