THE SUMMER HAS arrived for Irish supermarkets, with the overall consumer spend for the 12 weeks to 14 July up 2.7% on last year, according to the latest figures from Kantar.

Dunnes Stores is in first place in the latest consumer spending figures, on 21.8% of the overall market. It comes after an increase of 6.3% in the value of sales.

It comes just ahead of Tesco on 21.6% and Supervalu on 21.1%. Aldi’s share was 12.5% and Lidl’s was 12.2%. 

The latest figures come as good news overall for many retailers after the previous figures showed a drop in consumer spending in supermarkets in June 2019 compared to June 2018, when shoppers spent during the heatwave and men’s football World Cup.

Kantar said that Dunnes and Lidl had capitalised on a growing trend among shoppers who prepare their meals from scratch. Meal ingredients such as herbs are up 26%, spaghetti is up 10%, passata up 15% and mince by 11%. 

Kantar Kantar

Consumers are also paying a bit more for products than they were last year, with grocery inflation up 2.8%. This figure is compiled by comparing 30,000 identical products and their year-on-year price.

For the first time since March 2017, two Irish retailers had a year-on-year decline. Tesco’s sales were down 0.8% while Supervalu’s was down 0.5%. 

Kantar’s Douglas Faughnan said: “Shoppers swayed towards shorter and more frequent grocery trips during last year’s good weather to the benefit of Tesco and SuperValu, which typically boast higher levels of shopper frequency.  But every silver lining has a cloud, and both grocers were always going to face an uphill battle to replicate that performance this year.  

Twelve months ago, Dunnes was the third largest supermarket in Ireland.  Thanks to an additional 65,000 customers in the latest 12 weeks the retailer has retained top spot for the eleventh consecutive period.  The retailer typically performs strongest in the second half of the year and the run up to Christmas so has a solid base as we move towards its core trading season