German retailer Lidl has reached a record high market share in Ireland of 11.9%, while Supervalu still holds the majority share of the Irish market, the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel show.

Lidl’s new market share is a new record high for the retailer, beating its previous best of 11.8% from August 2015, David Berry, Director at Kantar Worldpanel, has said.

“Lidl is reaping the rewards of recruiting 34,000 new shoppers during the past 12 weeks.”

Supervalu continues to post positive results with sales growth of 3.2%, maintaining its position as the number one grocery retailer for the 11th consecutive month, the figures show.

Further welcome news for Ireland’s biggest supermarket comes in the form of boosted footfall: an additional 15,000 households shopped with the retailer in the past 12 weeks. Meanwhile Tesco remains in second place, although its market share has dipped to 21.8%.

The latest figures in Ireland, show that Dunnes Stores has posted the strongest growth this quarter, with sales 5.8% ahead of last year.

The retailer now holds  21.2% of the market, up from 20.7% this time last year.

Despite the increase in sales for Dunnes, growth has slipped back recently. In May sales grew by 8%, and the retailer will be seeking a return to this strong performance for the rest of 2016, Kantar says.

“Aldi’s share of the market has increased by 0.1 percentage points to 11.3%, alongside a significant improvement in sales growth.

“The retailer has recovered well since March this year when it saw sales growth dip below 1.0%: a healthy 4.4% increase in the past 12 weeks shows its performance is firmly back on track,” Berry said.

Meanwhile, sales in the grocery market increased by 3.5% for the 12 weeks ending August 14, compared to the same period last year, Kantar figures show.

However, the price of groceries has also increased compared to this time last year, Berry said.

“Over recent months the price of groceries has increased slightly, with an average basket now costing 2.7% more than this time last year.

“Areas where we have seen the most significant increases include vegetables, fruit and beer – all major categories for the retailers

Source: Kantar Worldpanel

Source: Kantar Worldpanel