Irish supermarkets still benefitting from crisis with €3bn spent on groceries
Irish supermarkets have continued to see a surge in sales during the Covid-19 crisis, with almost €3bn spent on groceries in the 12 weeks up to the middle of April.
The German discounters have been big winners in the crisis. Lidl was the fastest growing of all the Irish-based grocery retailers during the full 12-weeks to April 19; boosting its sales by just over 22% and increasing its market share to 12%, according to figures from market research firm Kantar Worldpanel. Aldi, meanwhile, saw a 15.6% sales increase and a market share of 11.8%.
Kantar said the latest 12-week review period saw a 17.2% rise in take-home grocery sales. However, this growth has slowed slightly due to a fall in the sale of non-grocery items like clothes and food on-the-go.
That said, grocery baskets are continuing to get fuller and online grocery spending is increasing. Shoppers added four extra items to their baskets on each visit in the latest 12 weeks and increased their monthly grocery spend by an average of €118. As much as 10% of Irish households shopped online for groceries, spending an extra €20.6m in the process.
“In the absence of dinners with friends and lunch on the go, many more meals are being eaten in the home and grocery sales have risen accordingly. But social distancing means people are less likely to be buying categories like clothes, food on the go, and general merchandise – which means, for some retailers, the overall picture will be more modest,” said Kantar Worldpanel Ireland managing director David Berry.
SuperValu regained market leader position in the latest period, claiming a 22.2% share of the Irish grocery market. Dunnes and Tesco each hold a 21.7% share of the market. The three companies saw respective sales increases of over 21%, 14% and 16% respectively.
Grocery prices also continued to rise – this time by 1.6% - during the latest 12-week period, Kantar said.
