Dunnes Stores has retained its position as Ireland’s most popular retailer, the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel show.

This is the first time that the supermarket has held the top spot for two consecutive periods.

These supermarket share figures relate to the 12-week period ending on February 26, according to Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland.

Sales at Dunnes grew by 4.6% and the retailer increased its market share to 22.9% – up from 22.5% this time last year, figures show.

Supervalu remained in second place with a market share of 22.6%, a drop of 0.6% compared to this time last year.

Shoppers in Dunnes Stores are adding more to their baskets, helping the retailer to maintain the title of Ireland’s largest supermarket this month, Director at Kantar Worldpanel, David Berry, said.

“The grocer’s ‘Shop & Save’ initiative is continuing to influence customers, with the average basket featuring an extra one and a half items – an additional €3/trip and €25m for the retailer in the past 12 weeks.

SuperValu remains hot on the heels of Dunnes, with a 22.6% share of the market. The retailer also managed to convince shoppers to splash a little more cash.

“The average customer spent over €1 more per trip, causing sales to grow by 0.5% amounting to an extra €3 million for the grocer.

“With Supervalu planning to open three new stores and refurbish a host of others, the retailer will be expecting to experience a boost in sales later in the year,” he said.

Kantar

Source: Kantar Worldpanel

Sales at Tesco Drop

Following three months of steady growth, sales at Tesco dropped by 1%, figures show.

Eleven days of staff strikes led to disruption for the retailer, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

Despite the industrial action only affecting eight stores there has been a clear impact on the retailer’s performance, with market share falling by 0.9% points to 21.7%, it added.

Meanwhile, Aldi’s and Lidl’s success is continuing, with sales rising by 5.3% and 4.1% respectively, the latest figures show.

Over the past 12 weeks, Aldi managed to attract an additional 20,000 customers into its stores. The retailer also encouraged these customers to visit more frequently, Kantar Worldpanel said.

Lidl’s uplift in sales enabled the retailer to increase its share of the market to 10.6%, it added.