Irish grocery inflation has fallen to its lowest level so far this year, according to new data published today (Monday, June 26) from Kantar.
Grocery inflation rose by 15.8% in the 12 weeks to June 11, 2023, which is down on last month’s level of 16.5%.
Take-home grocery sales in Ireland increased by almost 11% in the month up to June 11, as the average price per pack increased 14.1%.
Grocery price inflation remains the main driver in increased value sales, Kantar said.
Shoppers returned to stores more often during June (+9.2%) compared to the same month last year, making an average of two additional trips. However, this was down slightly compared to May.
Kantar
“This latest drop in grocery price inflation will be very welcome news for consumers, although it is too soon to say if this is the ceiling as inflation rates are still much higher than we have previously seen,” Emer Healy, senior retail analyst at Kantar, said.
Healy said that consumers were “shopping little and often to help manage household budgets”.
“The percentage of packs sold on promotion also increased to 25.8% compared to 24.7% last year, showing shoppers are carefully choosing promotional items to help them to make ends meet,” she added.
Due to the longer, warmer days, consumers spent an additional €2.9 million on beer and lager, €1.9 million on chilled burgers and grills, and €1.2 million on fresh sausages.
The cost-of-living crisis is also leading to people thinking about what they eat and how they cook at home.
“As shoppers look for easier meals with less waste, sales of total chilled ready meals shot up by 20% with shoppers spending an additional €2.9 million year-on-year,” Healy said.
Consumers
Over the 12 weeks to June 11, the growth in sales of own label (15%) was almost double that of brands (7.8%) as shoppers look for ways to save money.
Value own-label was up 28.9% year-on-year with shoppers spending €15.7 million more on these ranges.
Online sales remained strong over the period, up 2.2% with shoppers spending an additional €3.5 million on the platform year-on-year.
Dunnes, Tesco and Lidl all reported increased sales value this month, with the gap in market share beginning to close between the top two retailers.
Dunnes continues to hold the highest market share amongst all retailers at 22.9%, followed by Tesco with 22.6% and SuperValu on 20.7%.
Lidl hit a record new market share of 13.7%, while Aldi holds 12.3%.