The latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, published today, show strong sales growth for both Aldi and Lidl with respective growth rates of 21.9% and 11.1%.
David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Aldi has maintained a growth rate of over 20% throughout 2014. This has boosted its market share from 6.4% last year to a record 7.9%. Aldi has capitalised by capturing more spend from its shoppers. Each shopping trip has grown by an average €2 per trip with two additional items being added to baskets.
“Lidl has also performed strongly with double digit sales growth for the fourth successive month. It posted a market share of 7.5% – just below its record 7.7% seen last August. This growth is likely to continue in the coming months thanks to a number of recent new store openings.”
Meanwhile, market conditions remain tough for both Tesco and Dunnes which have experienced sales declines of 6.6% and 3.9% respectively. Tesco has continued to attract high numbers of customers through its doors, with the number of shopping trips falling by just 1%. Its main challenge is that these trips are shrinking in size, with customers picking up one item less per shop.
Dunnes’ share of the market dipped below 22% for the first time in six months, as 40,000 fewer shoppers have visited the retailer this year. SuperValu performed slightly behind the market, with sales dipping by 1.6%, leading to a fall in market share of 0.1 percentage points, to 25.2%.