Dunnes dominates Ireland’s grocery market

A total of five retail chains share out the grocery market in Ireland.

Although Dunnes and SuperValu are the biggest Irish grocery market chains in Ireland, it is non-Irish retailers that have most increased their sales in the last 12 weeks to early November 2019.

The latest data by Kantar also shows that people hit the stores 62 times in the analysed period. In addition, they spent money at four different retailers. This contributed to the rise in sales.

“Overall shopper frequency rose by 2.2 percent in the latest 12 weeks compared with last year, suggesting an increase in people shopping around for the best deals,” Kantar consumer insight director Charlotte Scott said.

Although Dunnes, with its 114 branches across Ireland, continues to hold on to the strongest position in the grocery market, German retailers Aldi and Lidl recorded the fastest growth in the past month, increasing by 9.6 percent and 4.9 percent respectively.

People gear up for Christmas

However, the overall market growth, standing at 2.6 percent in this period, was slower than in the previous month.

“The slight deceleration in the past 12 weeks is largely down to shoppers being wary of spending and holding back slightly ahead of the big Christmas rush,” Scott added.

Consumers are, nevertheless, getting into the festive spirit. For example, 6.5 percent have bought a mince pie, which is as worth as €383,000 to retail chains, so far in 2019.

Biscuit sales up at Tesco

Tesco and SuperValu, the latter of which has over 200 stores in Ireland, performed well during Halloween too. They managed to boost their confectionery sales by €6 million as a whole.

October, which was wet and cold, did not discourage people from shopping. In fact, sales of fresh soup rose by 9.9 percent  and hot drinks up 7.7 percent.

At the same time, Lidl is aiming to attract more customers to its branches by introducing them to vegan food.

People were also buying more biscuits around this time, the sales of which were at 2.9 percent. Tesco, however, sold the highest number of biscuits as their sales grew by 10.8 percent, Scott continued.

Indeed, Tesco remains the third largest supermarket in Ireland with a 21.1 percent share, preceded by SuperValu at 21.1 percent.

Dunnes to be on a roll

Dunnes, an Irish retailer that launched 75 years ago, still dominates the country’s grocery market with its share of 22.8 percent. It got to first place in 2018 and has managed to keep its position.

“Typically, Dunnes performs well during the festive season as shoppers become less frugal and are willing to spend more on premium items,” Scott claimed.

With Christmas approaching fast, Dunnes is therefore expected to boost its sales again during this festive period. It broke its own record from March 2013 last Christmas.