Take-home grocery sales have increased by 5.4% in the four weeks to September 1, 2024, as Irish households prepared for the new school year, according to latest data from Kantar.
Shopping frequency rose by 0.7% in September, along with an increase in average prices of 2.4%. Volumes per trip were up slightly by 0.4% after six months of decline.
Business development director at Kantar, Emer Healy said many shoppers prepared for the back-to-school routine with more packed lunches and after-school meals to prepare.
This led to an additional €2.1 million being spent on biscuits, €1.3 million on cheese and €460,000 on bread. Shoppers also spent an extra €2.6 million on chilled convenience foods compared to August.
Despite inflation rising again, and sitting at 2.8% over the last 12 weeks compared to the same period last year, it is still at its lowest level since March 2022 and down 8.5 percentage points from September 2023, Kantar said.
Grocery sales
Shoppers are also being drawn to retailers’ own-label ranges with sales up by 4.5% year-on-year and shoppers spending an additional €66.8 million on these ranges. Own-label ranges hold a value share of 47%.
Premium ranges also continued to do well, with shoppers spending an additional €14.2 million on these lines, which is up by 10.2% compared to this time last year, latest Kantar data show.
However, with major retailers heavily promoting brands in their recent advertising campaigns, branded goods outpaced total market growth, increasing by 8.4%, with shoppers spending an additional €121 million.
Over 60% of branded products were purchased on some form of promotion, which is 9.8% higher than during the same period last year, according to Kantar figures published today (Monday, September 16).
Online grocery sales were also up by 10.7% as shoppers spent an extra €18.2 million year-on-year. A boost in the frequency of online trips contributed a combined additional €17.5 million to the overall platform, Kantar said.
Retailers
Dunnes had the strongest growth in trips amongst all retailers, up by 12% year-on-year and contributing an additional €83.6 million to its overall performance. The retailer holds a market share of 23.6%.
Tesco holds 23.5% of the market, which is up 10.4% year-on-year. Tesco’s growth stems mainly from more frequent trips, which contributed an additional €32.9 million to its overall performance.
SuperValu shoppers make the most trips in-store with 21.8 trips on average, up by 2.5% year-on-year. This contributed an additional €15.5 million to its overall performance year-on-year. The retailer holds 19.9% of the market.
Lidl holds a 13.7% market share. More frequent trips in-store, alongside new shopper recruits, contributed an additional combined €27 million to Lidl’s overall performance.
Aldi holds a market share of 11.8% with growth of 1% year-on-year. More frequent trips contributed an additional €9.4 million to its overall performance, according to Kantar.