Latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Wordpanel show that Supervalu remains the top Irish supermarket with a market share of 22.4%, while Dunnes Stores reported sales growth of 6.3%.
The latest figures represent the 12-week period ending on September 11, 2016, when Dunnes Stores sales growth saw them draw level with Tesco, leaving them both joint second in the rankings.
The two stores now account for 21.6% each of the Irish market, the figures show.
According to Kantar, the Irish grocery market continues to grow rapidly, with sales up 3.7% year-on-year during the past 12 months.
The Director of the Kantar Worldpanel, David Berry, said that consumers adding more items to their basket and supermarkets encouraging shoppers to buy more expensive items has led to Dunnes Stores sales growth.
Larger trips have boosted sales for Dunnes, with the average spend increasing by €2.50 to €37.20 in the latest quarter, compared with the same time last year.
“Dunnes has successfully tempted shoppers to add more expensive items to their baskets, with the average price per item rising to €2.05 – an increase of 12% on last year,” Berry said.
Meanwhile, Supervalu recorded a sales increase of 3.1% year-on-year, but their market share did slip by 0.1% compared to 2015.
The top Irish supermarket currently has a lead of 2.8% of the market share over both Tesco and Dunnes Stores, the figures show.
This is the third consecutive month where growth for the retailer has been above 3%.
Kantar Worldpanel Supermarket Market Share Source: Kantar
Berry also said that persuading shoppers to return on a weekly basis has seen Lidl retain a market share of 11.7%.
“Three core categories have contributed most significantly to the strong performance, with produce, meat and bakery together accounting for €11m of extra sales compared with last year,” he added.
Lidl has also managed to increase the number of repeat visits its shoppers make, with the average customer returning 11 times over the past 12 weeks compared with fewer than 10 times last year.
German retailer Aldi increased its market share by 11.4% in the 12 week-period ending September 11, while also reporting sales increases of 5.4%, figures show.
Other outlets made up the remaining 11.3% of the Irish supermarket share, an increase of 0.7% compared to the same period in 2015.