IRISH SUPERMARKETS ARE enjoying a bumper summer as the prolonged spell of good weather has seen people spend an additional €27 million on groceries.

The latest figures from market research firm Kantar Worldpanel reveal that soaring temperatures have boosted sales of summer staples by 9%, as people stock up on ice-cream, alcohol, barbeque foods and sun care products.

Sales of ice-cream are 12% higher than the same period last year while sales of barbeque foods are up 10% and sun care products are up 8%.

Alcohol also experienced a surge in demand with cider recording an impressive 14% jump, while sales of beer and lager are up 5%.

“With hot, sunny weather comes barbequing, sunbathing and socialising – and this has had its impact on the grocery market,” David Berry, of Kantar Worldpanel, said.

The influence of the hot weather on sales of summer essentials looks even more impressive when you compare this to overall market growth at 2.1%.

Supermarket wars

The latest figures also show that Tesco accounted for 22.4% of the consumer spend over the course of the 12 weeks to 17 June, meaning it holds onto its position as Ireland’s most popular supermarket.

“Tesco remains the leader of the pack among the retailers, increasing its market share to 22.4% – a jump of 0.3 percentage points,” Berry said.

Although the grocer has not notably increased this shopper base compared to this time last year, Tesco has encouraged customers to add an extra item to their baskets every time they shop – upping their average spend by 80 cent to €25.50.

SuperValu came in second place with 21.8% of the market, marginally ahead of Dunnes on 21.7%.

Discount supermarkets Lidl and Aldi took fourth and fifth place again during the last six weeks with 11.7% and 11.4% of the consumer spend, respectively.

The two grocers again performed particularly well in Munster, where they continue to challenge the other major retailers.