Since the early days of the pandemic, shoppers have stayed closer to home for their supermarket trips and made a greater effort to support Irish brands, according to Kantar.

There has been "a real desire among shoppers to buy local", with Irish brands going from "strength to strength".

According to Kantar's retail analyst Emer Healy, SuperValu and Aldi have both announced that they will be increasing the number of Irish products stocked in store, and "the likes of Tayto, Brennans, Avonmore, Denny and also Cadbury, which is manufactured in Dublin, have performed especially well in the past year".

Kantar has released its latest Irish grocery market share figures for the period ending May 16.

Irish grocery sales have declined by 5.2% year-on-year in the 12 weeks of data and, in the latest four weeks, sales fell by 6.9% compared with the same period last year which saw "record-breaking growth" at the height of Ireland's first Covid-19 lockdown.

“While grocery sales may have dipped this month, that does reflect a tough comparison against the unprecedented spend we saw this time last year," Healy said.

"People are still filling their baskets more than they were before the pandemic and, if we compare the past 12 weeks to the same time two years ago, sales are actually up 18.8%.”

With the ongoing vaccine rollout and restrictions starting to ease, there are positive signs that consumer confidence is on the rise with Irish shoppers beginning to head back out and visit the shops more often.

"Consumers made an additional 2.1 million trips to the supermarket in the latest four weeks when compared with last year," Healy continued.

“The data suggests that once more restrictions are lifted, shoppers will be keen to get back to their town centres."

However, with lockdown rules still in place for much of the retail and hospitality sectors, shoppers have not shaken off all their lockdown habits just yet and many of the major themes of the past year prevailed again this month, Kantar said. 

"Empty nest families led the growth, boosting sales by 113% and spending an additional €11.2 million on online shops versus last year.”    

An unseasonably wet and cold May impacted shopper behaviour and changed what people were putting in their baskets this period.

“Last year, the beginning of barbecue season was a relief and an opportunity to do something different for many people during the first lockdown, but so far poor weather has meant that we haven’t been rushing to cook outdoors this time around," according to Healy.

"People also spent €59 million less on alcohol in supermarkets this period, the first year-on-year fall since the extraordinarily high alcohol sales during the lockdowns in 2020.

"As pubs and hospitality start to reopen, we expect sales through the grocers will continue to fluctuate as people can enjoy a drink out of their homes again.”

SuperValu continued to hold the largest share of the grocery market at 22.2%. Its growth was primarily driven by shoppers returning to store more often, contributing an additional €41 million.

Lidl was the only retailer to grow in the past 12 weeks, increasing sales by 0.7% to account for 12.8% of the grocery market. This was largely due to shoppers spending an extra €9.1 million on branded items in store.  

The Northern Irish grocery market grew by 7.9% in the 52 weeks to May 16, according to Kantar.

"A shorter-term view paints a slightly different picture, however, as in the latest 12 weeks sales declined by 6.9%," Healy added.

“As hospitality begins to open again, people no longer have to rely on the supermarkets for all of their meals and we have seen trips to the grocers fall by 1.7%."

Over the 52-week period, Tesco remained Northern Ireland’s biggest grocer. It held 35.5% of the market, grew by 8.6% and boosted its sales by an extra £102.6 million.