Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, comments: “Irish shoppers spent over €1 billion on take-home groceries in October, €161.6 million more than last year.  With dining out officially off the table, and families preparing more meals to eat at home, this was the biggest month for grocery sales since the height of the previous lockdown in June.  It all feels a far cry from August, when restrictions on eating and drinking out were eased, and the average monthly grocery bill was €200 lower.”

Across the board, growth was driven by shoppers adding a couple of extra essentials to their baskets.  Tesco customers picked up an average of three additional items per shop over the past 12 weeks, the biggest increase in trip volume among all the retailers. The grocer grew sales by 14.8% to hold a 21.2% market share.

As the end of the year approaches, consumers are accepting that seasonal traditions and festivities will look a little different this year.  Emer Healy continues: “Halloween was certainly a quieter affair this year and, with trick or treating out of the question, sales of multipack sweets declined by 40% compared with October 2019.  Sales of pumpkins also dropped by 15.5% as households had less need for the usual welcoming jack-o’-lanterns. 

“It’s not all doom and gloom though, and lockdown has led some Irish shoppers to get into the Christmas spirit unseasonably early.  They are getting ahead on preparations for the big day and 50% more shoppers have bought their Christmas turkey than had at this point last year, while sales of mince pies are up 36.8% and boxed chocolate sales by 44%.” 

As people look for ways to treat themselves at home, Lidl customers spent an additional 50% on branded products in the latest 12 weeks.  The grocer once again achieved the strongest growth among the retailers over the past three months, growing by 21.1% to hold a 12.7% share of the market.  Aldi’s sales grew by 11.7% this period, primarily driven by an increase in spend per buyer and shoppers adding more items to their baskets.

Online grocery sales continue to soar, rising by 90% year on year in the latest four weeks.  Emer Healy continues: “Online grocery continues to set new records, with almost 255,000 of us shopping through digital channels in October.  New converts to online grocery contributed an additional €30.8 million to the market in the past month as tighter restrictions were introduced.  Shoppers also increased the size of their digital trolleys by 9.6%.”

Dunnes takes the top spot this period and holds the largest share of the market at 22.2%.  Its sales were particularly strong in Dublin, where shoppers have been living under lockdown since mid-September and spent an additional €38.8 million at the retailer in the latest 12 weeks.  Grocery sales growth in the capital was the fastest across all regions this period.

Chilled-convenience categories like pizza and ready meals proved popular at all the retailers, and this was particularly true at SuperValu which boosted sales of the cosy night in favourites by 15% year-on-year.  Sales at the grocer grew by 18.0% this period and it increased its market share by 0.7 percentage points to 21.9%.

While growth over the past three months has slowed compared with the dizzying heights of lockdown, we still spent over €100 million more on groceries in the past four weeks versus this time last year. We expect to see a further boost in spend as restrictions tighten.

With Dublin under a Level Three lockdown since mid-September, consumer trends in the capital could paint a picture of what’s to come for the rest of the country as more measures to control the virus come into force. Dublin saw the strongest regional growth this period, increasing sales by 19.4% and contributing an additional €48.2 million to the total market year on year. Restrictions on pubs and restaurants meant sales of alcohol soared by over 53% in the past month. Shoppers returned to lockdown pastimes including recreating restaurant and holiday favourites at home, with sales of international ingredients rising by 25%. Unsurprisingly, hygiene was at the forefront of Dubliners’ minds, and antiseptics and disinfectants sales were up by 67%.

Lidl’s strong store footprint in Dublin helped it achieve the fastest growth of all the retailers this period at 19.1%, as shoppers in the capital spent an additional €57.3 million in store. Aldi grew sales by 11.0%, largely driven by customers buying more and spending an average of €36.46 more per shopper in the latest 12 weeks.

Following the record-breaking growth seen last period, online grocery sales remain high, increasing by over 75% in the four weeks to 4 October. Though a climbdown from the record jump of 128% that we witnessed in September, shoppers are continuing to make use of delivery services and online orders were worth an additional €18.7 million this period compared with last year.

Dunnes has significantly expanded its online capabilities in October and now joins SuperValu at the top of the table with both retailers claiming a 21.9% market share. Larger trips contributed an additional €63 million to Dunnes’ overall spend, while shoppers picking up 13.3% more items in store in SuperValu helped it to grow ahead of the market at 15.6%.

With just a few months to go until Christmas, retailers have been introducing deals on products like seasonal chocolates and advent calendars. While the grocers are feeling festive, it is a different story for Irish shoppers. There is a lot of uncertainty around what Christmas will look like this year and as a result people’s behaviour is very different from what we would normally expect. In the latest three months consumers spent €1.8 million less on tubs and tins of chocolate than this time last year.

But that’s not to say we have lost our sweet tooth. The trend of seeking out little luxuries while we’re all spending more time at home has continued. Nine in ten Irish households purchased chocolate almost every week over the past three months.

Tesco holds a 20.9% market share this period. Growth was driven by shoppers adding extra items to their baskets, with volumes up 21%, and the percentage increase in average spend at Tesco was the highest among all the retailers.

Grocery sales over the past 12 weeks remain significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels, but compared with April and May shopping routines are much closer to what we would usually expect. For example, people are visiting grocery stores more frequently than they have since June, at an average of 19 times over the course of the past four weeks, indicating an increased sense of security among shoppers since face coverings were introduced at the start of August.

However, it’s a slightly more nuanced picture when we look at what the latest four weeks of sales might mean for the market going forward. An additional €19 million spent on groceries during the past month coincides with the start of a number of local lockdowns. This suggests that local restrictions are already making their mark – with people in certain parts of the country spending more to stock up on food and drink to consume at home.

Looking ahead, ongoing local restrictions are expected to continue to disrupt shopping patterns across Ireland.  Emer Healy continues: “In the latest 12 weeks, Dublin has seen the strongest growth of all the regions, with shoppers in the capital spending an additional €141 million on groceries compared with last year.  It will be interesting to see what effect the local lockdown could have on grocery sales as shoppers navigate new restrictions.”  

Despite some economic uncertainty, brands have once again proved to be standout performers, growing ahead of the market by 18% and outpacing private label sales year on year as shoppers spent an additional €205 million on branded groceries. Among the retailers, Lidl and Aldi both saw strong growth in branded sales, which grew by 48% and 36% respectively.  Lidl was also top of the table in terms of overall growth rate in the latest 12 weeks, growing by 21.2% year on year to boost its sales by €63.3 million. Aldi holds a 12.6% share of the market this period, with growth driven by an increase in volume per trip and higher average prices.

The popularity of online grocery shopping continues, and online sales grew by 121.7% over the latest four weeks. This represents another month of record-breaking growth for the online channel and digital sales added €72.9 million to the total market in the latest 12 weeks. New shoppers accounted for almost a quarter of the €133.6 million spent on online groceries during that time. Boosted by comprehensive online offers, SuperValu continues to grow ahead of the market and holds the biggest share of spend at 22.1%, while Tesco registered a 21% market share. Higher average prices and larger trip size drove growth for Tesco this period.

All the retailers benefited from the reopening of schools this September, which was a significant step toward normality after an extraordinary summer. Parents preparing for their children’s return to the classroom stocked up on easy breakfast and packed-lunch options, with sales of baked morning goods up 11% and lunch box staples like yoghurt drinks and juices growing by 17%. One marked difference this year is that facial tissues and wipes have become a must-have for children’s backpacks, growing by 2% and 15% respectively.

With many returning to the school run and the office commute, easy and convenient dinners are firmly back on the menu. Shoppers spent an additional €6.8 million on chilled convenience products, €2.7 million on ready meals, and sales of frozen prepared foods soared by €9.7 million year on year.

Dunnes in particular cashed in on the back to school trend as households with children increased their spend in the store by 9% and the grocer performed the best of all the retailers in sales of many typical packed lunch items. Dunnes now holds the second highest market share of all the grocers.

Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, comments: “With restrictions on movement and eating out lifting, grocery spend is climbing down from the record-breaking heights we saw in previous months.  A year-on-year comparison shows that shoppers still visited stores four fewer times over the 12 weeks, but trends are less stark than they were at the peak of lockdown.

“The relaxing of rules across much of Ireland means shoppers are less inclined to favour large, infrequent shops.  People spent approximately €5 less per trip over the past four weeks compared with April, picking up fewer items in store as they start to return to pre-Covid-19 habits.”

However, online sales continued to accelerate.  A staggering growth rate of over 125% drove the channel to a record market share of 4.6% of total sales this period, contributing an additional €75.1 million to the market.

Online isn’t the only stand-out performer.  Emer Healy continues: “Economic uncertainty and predictions of recession have failed to dampen consumer appetite for branded groceries.  Brands have managed to capture an impressive proportion of consumer spend over the latest period, amounting to an additional €245 million and outpacing private label to grow by 23.4%.  It suggests that people are choosing to treat themselves in store with little luxuries while we’re all spending more time at home.”

Aldi and Lidl have both seen branded sales soar, but the retailers’ reputation for value means they also stand to benefit should shoppers look to tighten their belts.  Aldi recorded strong growth of 18.4% this month.  Meanwhile it has been a busy few weeks for Lidl, which launched its rewards scheme Lidl Plus and achieved the strongest growth rate of all the major retailers this period, helping it to its highest ever market share of 12.8%. 

Despite a wet and rainy summer, the Irish government made a strong case for holidaying within Ireland’s borders when it introduced its Stay and Spend tax incentive in July.  Emer Healy says: “The bad weather didn’t dampen spirits and sales of firelighters and logs were boosted by people’s new summer plans, growing by 77% over the latest four weeks as we enjoyed barbecues and camp fires.  Hotel breakfasts were swapped for homemade alternatives and eggs, bacon and sausages all grew ahead of the market in the same period.”

After months of exceptionally strong growth, take-home alcohol sales have begun to taper.  Emer Healy continues: “Alcohol sales are up by 56% over the past 12 weeks, but this represents a significant slowdown from the 76% growth rate we saw last month, as people get used to new rules and are more inclined to socialise out of home.”

All of Ireland’s traditional retailers registered growth over the latest 12 weeks.  Buoyed by their online offers, SuperValu continues to hold the highest market share at 22.3% and Tesco took second place at 21.1%.  SuperValu remains the only retailer to attract new shoppers this period, contributing an additional €624,000 to its growth.  Bigger baskets, with volumes up 25%, and higher average prices drove growth for Tesco this month. 

It was a similar story for Dunnes – the retailer again recorded the highest average spend per trip while also experiencing an increase in volumes and higher average prices to hold a 20.5% market share. 

However, there are signs that shoppers are tentatively beginning to return to pre-lockdown behaviour as restrictions were eased and non-essential retail was reopened in the latest four weeks.  Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, says: “We are beginning to see some people cautiously return to pre-Covid habits.  Grocery sales growth over the latest four weeks slowed to 17.8% as shoppers started to spend less on food for their fridge and more on eating and drinking out.  But while some trends are reversing, it appears that others are here to stay.

“Shoppers are continuing to treat themselves at home, with sales of savoury snacks and confectionery up 45% and 35% respectively in the most recent 12 weeks.  In an uncertain time, people looked to tried and trusted favourites to provide their stay-at-home comforts.  Brands outpaced own-label alternatives and an additional €345 million was spent on household names in the latest three months.  Homegrown Irish brands like Barry’s Tea, Keelings, Kelkin and Keogh’s all experienced a sales boost as shoppers turned to much loved classics.”

Aldi was the major beneficiary of the run on branded goods.  Its branded sales increased by more than half which helped the retailer to grow by 20.9% year on year.  It was also a record breaking few months for Lidl, which celebrated its 20^th anniversary in Ireland over the latest period and marked the occasion by recording its highest ever market share of 12.7%.

Elsewhere there was further evidence to suggest that lockdown habits will stand the test of time.  Grocery sales through digital platforms soared by 123% year on year as the pandemic continued to encourage demand for online shopping.  Emer Healy continues: “It goes without saying that lockdown had a major role to play in driving more shoppers to try online grocery shopping, and it looks like the boom is set to continue.  An additional 75,000 shoppers purchased groceries online over the past 12 weeks, contributing €38.9 million to the channel.”

August may nearly be upon us, but for many international travel is off the table and the nation is preparing for a summer of Irish staycations and housebound holidays.  Emer Healy comments: “Irish people are being advised to holiday in Ireland this summer, and while the latest four weeks would normally be prime time for holidaying abroad, staying put means that sales of sun cream declined by 66%.” 

People continuing to spend more time at home also meant sales of alcohol in supermarkets grew by 76% in the latest twelve-week period.  Emer Healy continues: “Although people are free to visit pubs and restaurants with the easing of restrictions in recent weeks, limitations on group size and time allowed at the table are potentially contributing to the continued boost in take home alcohol sales.  And with many of us attending fewer social gatherings, as well as continuing to work from home, deodorant sales are also down 15% compared with the same time last year.”

Among the traditional big three Irish retailers, fast grower SuperValu claimed the biggest market share for the fourth month in a row and saw sales rise by 30.9% as it remained the only major grocer not to experience reduced footfall in the latest 12 weeks.  Tesco’s typically larger stores allowed it to capitalise on bigger trolley shops and it grew by 20.7% to hold a 21.1% share of the market.

Building on its traditional strengths, Dunnes recorded the highest spend per buyer of all the grocers as shoppers parted with an additional €12.24 per trip on average and continued to increase their trip sizes.  The retailer recorded growth of 14.6% this period.     

Growth accelerated slightly in the most recent four weeks to 25%, just behind last month’s record level, as Ireland moves into the next stage of its lockdown.

Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, comments: “We haven’t quite shaken off the habits of lockdown life just yet  – people are still making fewer, larger trips to the supermarket.  But there are signs that Irish shoppers are taking their first tentative steps back to normality. 

“As restrictions start to ease, including the lifting of limits on travel today, people are growing more confident and the number of shopping trips inched up slightly in the most recent four weeks, by 2.3%. When in store, shoppers are continuing to buy more than in normal times and the average person has spent €204 extra this June than last year, on average €30.77 each trip.

“There are indications of cautious optimism in Ireland.  Despite the months of lockdown, 40% of Irish consumers say they feel financially comfortable and that’s reflected in how they are shopping.  With some of the usual ways to treat themselves off limits, they’re trading up to  branded goods in store, spending an additional €381m on these products compared with last year.”

Online demand continues to soar with an additional 99,000 households receiving a delivery in the latest 12 weeks.  Emer Healy comments: “An extra €70.9 million was spent online during the past 12 weeks, which is a year-on-year increase of 114.3%.  Retailers will now be looking ahead and thinking how they can retain new online shoppers when things return to normal.  The answer to that is likely to be in different demographics – retired households for example, where their share of online grocery sales now sits at 14.1%.   

“Younger consumers appear to be holding back from online orders so that more vulnerable groups can benefit from them – taking heed of advice from the grocers. Nearly 40% of shoppers said this is the main reason they haven’t ordered groceries online during the lockdown*.  Despite the growth, it certainly isn’t the beginning of the end for bricks and mortar outlets – 63.6% of people still haven’t shopped online and don’t intend on doing so in the future.”

People are continuing to find ways to mark special occasions during lockdown and socialise at home or in open public spaces.  Emer Healy comments: “Staying in is the new going out and take-home alcohol sales continue to boom as a result – up 93% in the most recent four weeks.  In the week leading up to the June Bank Holiday shoppers spent an additional €60m on take-home grocery categories, and a third of that was on alcohol. 

“We’re all missing our favourite restaurants and people trying to recreate those experiences at home meant sales of ethnic ingredients such as curry pastes, coconut milk and Mexican meal kits were collectively 34% higher this month.  While brunch lovers pushed bacon sales up 25%, eggs up 36% and sausages up 35% year on year.  People are also starting to enjoy the freedom of meeting friends and family outside of their home and picnic favourites were in high demand.  Compared with last year, sales of dips were up 25%, soft drinks 42% and crisps 52%.”

An update on the grocers

Over 40% of Irish shoppers are now shopping closer to home and independent outlets are benefiting from this – growing sales by 44.8% during the 12-week period.  People are depending on local suppliers more and they spent an additional €2.4m at greengrocers and €11m at butchers compared with the same period last year.

SuperValu continues to feel the advantage of its large store estate combined with this change in shopper behaviour, holding the highest share of the market at 22.9% and achieving the fastest year-on-year growth of 35.2% during the latest 12 weeks.  SuperValu also remains the only retailer not to experience reduced footfall in the last 12 weeks and welcomed an additional 53,000 shoppers into its stores. 

Elsewhere, Tesco’s sales grew by 22.2% to hold an 21.5% share.  This was driven by consumers significantly increasing the amount they buy each trip – picking up five additional items each visit and spending more as a result. 

Dunnes customers also added more to their baskets during this period – an additional 5 items per trip and spent an extra €14.23 per trip compared with last year, generating strong overall growth for the retailer of 15.4%.

Lidl boosted its sales by 29.7% while Aldi’s were 20.4% higher than last year, generated by customers doing larger shops at both retailers.  Lidl continues to experience its strongest growth in Dublin and Aldi from Munster.

* Kantar LinkQ survey of 3259 people in Ireland between 15 and 25 May 2020

Impact on sentiment

Lockdown in Ireland was implemented just one day later than in Britain, on 24 March, but this came at a much earlier stage in the pandemic for Ireland. And the cautious approach of the Irish government seems to have had an impact on sentiment; 21% of Irish consumers state they are ‘very worried about the future’ compared with 18% of British consumers (Kantar Barometer, Wave 4, carried out 24-27 April 2020). A focus on keeping the economy going may have delayed implementation of lockdown measures in Britain, but also may have played a role in protecting some incomes. While 47% of Irish consumers stated that coronavirus has already impacted household income, this is true for just 30% of British consumers.

Market and shopper differences

Despite these differences in sentiment and finances - April 2020 saw growth in take home grocery spend for both markets, boosted by spend moving from out of home options. However, growth of 22.5% in the Republic of Ireland far outstrips the 8.6% seen in Great Britain. Volume sales are the key driver of growth in both markets, but Irish shoppers are picking up more when they head in store (up 18.5% year on year) than their British counterparts (up 6.8% year on year).

While the pace of market growth differs, shopper behaviour is well aligned. Shoppers in both countries adapted their behaviours in April to ensure they were making less trips to stores, to limit their risks and to stock up while they were there. The switch to bigger baskets and fewer trips is expected to continue as restrictions remain.

Free on weekdays? You are not alone. Shoppers in both Ireland and Great Britain have changed their shopping routines. Both countries see a definite observable change with shoppers now more likely to visit stores on a Tuesday or Wednesday rather than weekends.

In terms of demographics, retired shoppers in both countries are most likely to be cocooning and spending less on groceries than usual. This is having a more significant impact in Britain where 66% of households are made up of one or two people, in comparision to Ireland where these account for 53% of households. This difference in the make-up of our populations is a significant factor in the differing levels of growth in the markets.

However, the behaviour of this group is similar during this time of uncertainty. They have significantly reduced the amount of times they have been to stores (five fewer trips in Britain and seven fewer in Ireland). When they are in-store these shoppers are making the risks worthwhile, spending more per trip. Unsurprisingly, there has been a significant shift towards online shopping within this demographic with trips up 114% Britain and 157% in Ireland.

Location, Location, Location

Fewer shopping trips also means both Irish and British shoppers are reducing their store repertoire, and there is a clear change in shoppers’ preferences, with many favouring local stores. Although both countries saw strong growth for many retailers there were two big differences:

• British shoppers continued to favour convenience stores, which fundamentally helps social distancing as shoppers adhere to government guidelines. Convenience stores are generally smaller and have fewer people in at once while also allowing shoppers to stay closer to home.
• Convenience stores, which are visted for smaller trips, make up a larger section of the British grocery market. These retailers grew 45.4%, with half of their growth being driven by £20 to £40 trips, when in 2019 by contrast, three quarters of trips were £20 or under.
• Online grocery shopping saw strong growth in both markets. In Ireland, online saw accelerated growth from a low base at 97.3% year on year. However, as online shopping reached capacity quickly, this positive performance was restricted and unable to meet demand. Across the Irish sea, the picture was different as more established online players rose to the occasion. Online sales in Britain saw growth of 43.4% year on year with one in four online shoppers being completely new to the channel. An acceleration in growth through increased shopper demand, and retailers finding the extra capacity to facilitate it – resulted in £1.8m in additional deliveries.

All categories see growth in Ireland

Alcohol may have been the big lockdown winner in Ireland, growing 70% year on year. However, all major categories saw growth; 24 out of 25 store areas were in growth compared with the same period a year ago. This picture is not mirrored in Britain, as both household and toiletries see declines of 0.6% and 10.7% respectively. One element remains constant and that is at a category level the primary growth driver in both regions is shoppers expanding their category repertoire. Irish and British shoppers felt the pain of no more brunches, lunches or dinners out and as a result, shoppers bought into new categories that wouldn’t be their typical repertoires (fakeaway anyone?) which led to more packs in the basket.

Understanding the differences between Irish and British shoppers during this pandemic is key to ensuring you are approaching them right. If you would like to find out more, please get in touch.

Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, says: “The jump in grocery sales over the most recent three-months in large part reflects the fact that it includes both the pre-lockdown surge in shopper spend and the eight weeks of stay-at-home advice from Government, bringing almost all meals into the home.  While the growth of take-home grocery sales is strong, the overall picture for some supermarkets will be less positive as these gains are offset by falling spend on on-the-go meals, drinks and snacks. 

“As lockdown continues, households with more mouths to feed at home have made their way through supplies and are now starting to top up depleted store cupboards.  In accordance with government guidelines, we’ve seen shoppers limiting their time spent out of home by making fewer, larger trips at local stores, visiting grocers two times less than this time last year over the 12 weeks.  Families with children under 16 pushed up their spend by 30% on average.”  

Fastest-growing retailer SuperValu claimed the largest market share for the second month in a row and saw sales rise by 32.7%.  SuperValu’s locally-focused store estate helped it to benefit from people shopping closer to home and it welcomed 64,000 additional shoppers through its doors this period. 

Tesco also recorded formidable sales growth this month.  Its typically larger stores allowed it to capitalise on the increase in trolley shops and the grocer grew by 23.7% to hold 21.8% of the market.

Dunnes also gained from shoppers spending more in store, spending an extra €10.39 per trip compared with last year, and it recorded healthy growth of 18.0%.  This was slightly behind the market, linked partly to Dunne’s not having a direct online grocery offer. 

Lidl benefited from its Dublin stronghold to boost sales by 30.5% and held its market share at 12.0%, while Aldi performed strongest in the south of the country, growing overall sales by 20.8% to hold an 11.7% share.  

Lockdown has continued to drive up online grocery shopping – and sales through digital platforms increased by 76% year on year.  Emer Healy continues: “Demand for online groceries has soared over the past few months and 15% of Irish households received at least one online delivery over the latest 12 weeks – a significant increase from 9% last year.  This sudden surge in demand meant that the retailers had to act quickly to increase their online capacity, and have been rightly praised for extending their services to those who need them most.  That includes reaching groups who are more vulnerable in the current crisis, with an additional 26,000 retired households ordering an online delivery over the 12 weeks to 17 May and over 65s spending an extra €8.9 million online.” 

Shoppers aren’t limiting themselves to food and drink essentials and it seems that some are preparing to look their best as lockdown eases.  Emer Healy continues: “With hair salons closed, shoppers took matters into their own hands and sales of haircare products and hair colourants were up 25% and 73% as they prepared to see friends and family in phase two of the lockdown following the loosening of restrictions on 18 May.”

Despite the circumstances, people have sought to buoy spirits and enjoy themselves in the sunny spring weather.  “Friday 1 May, the day before the early May bank holiday weekend, was worth €52.8 million as consumers prepared for a weekend of sunshine.  The holiday, coupled with a month of warm temperatures, meant that alcohol sales grew by a staggering 93% over the latest four weeks.  It seems many of us enjoyed the barbecue weather as shoppers spent an additional €3.8 million on sausages and burgers.  Ice cream sales were worth an extra €5.9 million.”

The annual ranking, which focuses on the long term performance of brands, includes a special analysis on how the biggest brands are faring during the current pandemic, with early signs showing that they are winning in relative terms.

Key findings include:

A shift in favour to the top 25 global FMCG brands

• 424 billion brand choices were made throughout the year, representing a 2.6% increase in CRPs (Consumer Reach Points) compared to 2018.
• Global brands grew CRPs by 2% in 2019 compared to zero% growth in 2018, but this wasn’t enough to beat out local brands which grew CRPs by 3.1% around the world.
• Global brands now account for one in three (34.1%) brand choices around the world, while local/regional brands account for two in three (65.9%) of the brands placed in shopping baskets.
• The biggest global brands responded best to the challenge posed by local brands in the past few years, showing their most successful growth rate than in any previous Brand Footprint. 20 of the top 25 (80%) ranked brands achieved growth in 2019, compared to 48% in 2018.
• The top 50 Global brands accounted for 15.5% of all brand choices made in 2019 and accounted for 24% of the growth in items purchased.
• Three top 50 brands (Pond’s, Vim and Brooke Bond) achieved a global penetration gain of 1% or more – meaning an additional 14 million new customers each. Every 0.1% penetration gain globally is an extra 1.4m shoppers.

Top 10 most chosen brands globally 

Source: Kantar’s Brand Footprint report 

More brands than ever chosen over 1 billion times

• There are now 40 brands around the world that are placed in consumers’ shopping baskets more than one billion times per year. In addition to the 22 Global ‘billionaire brands’, the number of local billionaire brands has grown from 14 to 18. All 18 are either Indian or Chinese.
• Five global brands joined the billionaires club: Brooke Bond, Head & Shoulders, Kinder, Heinz and Oreo.
• Coca-Cola remains the world’s most chosen brand on the planet, picked from the shelves over 6bn times during the year; followed by Colgate in second place (chosen 4bn times) and Maggi in third (3bn times).

India a key lever of growth

• In the latest ranking India was the country that contributed the most growth for 13 of the top 25 ranked brands. This compares to 8 of the top 25 in 2018, demonstrating the nation’s increasing importance to brand success.
• The unique shopping habits of Indian consumers become more evident in 2019, with FMCG brands being bought more often across the country and in smaller quantities.
• Homegrown brands like Patanjali and Dabur increased their nationwide penetration in 2019, challenging the dominance and growth of leading market players and underlining the global popularity of natural and ayurvedic beauty products

Sector winners and losers

• Across all FMCG sectors competition got tougher. Overall just 46% of brands achieved CRP growth in 2019 compared to 47% of brands in 2018, 49% in 2017 and 52% in 2016.
• CRPs in the dairy sector grew by 0.7%, with global brands losing market share to local brands for the second successive year.
• The food sector grew by 2.7% during the year while market share between global brands and local brands remained unchanged at 27.6%/72.4%.
• In the Beverage sector growth by global brands outperformed growth by local brands. As a result global players increased their market share to 38.4%
• Coca-Cola gained momentum for the first time since 2013, now picked from the shelves over 6.0 bn times in a year, with a much-improved performance.
• The health and beauty sector was the fastest growing category by CRP growth with an increase of 6.1%. Local brands benefited slightly more from the growth compared to global brands. Global brands now account for 59.6% of brand choices down 0.6% vs 2018, a second successive loss of share. 

 

Find out more

To learn more about Kantar’s Brand Footprint, explore the data and request more information, please visit www.kantar.com/brandfootprint.

Watch the webinar here.

 

 

Notes for editors

About Kantar Brand Footprint: Kantar’s annual Brand Footprint study is based on research from 74% of the global population; a total of one billion households in 52 countries across five continents—covering 85% of the global GDP. As part of the study, Worldpanel tracks more than 22,900 brands across beverages, food, dairy, health and beauty and homecare.

Cliona Lynch, consumer insight director, Kantar, Ireland, summarises some of the key findings from our most recent webinar: "Adapting to the new normal: Insights into Irish Grocery Shoppers in Lockdown."

€196m additional take-home spend

With the Irish population on lockdown for the entire month of April, it's clear from the latest data from our grocery panel that shoppers compensated for a lack of out of home options by increasing spend on take home grocery by 23%, spending an additional €196m. Shoppers also added 92 million more packs to their baskets in the four weeks to 19 April, up 19% year on year.

Missing the cinema? You're not the only one; Irish shoppers looking to recreate the experience of going to see a film in their homes boosted popcorn sales which were up 63% in April.  And with no more lunch on the go, brunches out, coffee and cake dates or dinners in town, shoppers added new categories to their repertoire to replicate those occasions as best they could at home. Sales of brunch favourites - bacon and eggs - were up 33% as we take more time over breakfast. BBQ meats grew by 44% bolstered by some very welcome sunshine which saw those with outdoor space taking the opportunity to enjoy it. We're also using the extra time at home to bake - with home baking ingredients growing 52% (sourdough anyone?), and to try out more adventurous recipes for dinner with ethnic ingredients growing 41%.

While March was about stocking up on non-perishables; pasta, canned goods, healthcare and cleaning products, April was more about nesting – trying out new meal ideas, baking and enjoying a drink at home. These are all ways to compensate for missing our usual meals out, treats and pub drinks as we tried to keep spirits up and palates happy in our households.

Locked down and limiting our risks

Whether it was the risk of contact points in the supermarket, the fear of explaining yourself at a Garda checkpoint or the hassle of queuing, shoppers in Ireland adapted their behaviour in April to make less trips to stores, and to stock up when they were there. We have even seen shoppers reduce the number of stores they will visit – down from three stores a week at Christmas to a record low of 2.4 stores in the week to 19 April. Range and availability has therefore never been more important; shoppers want to get everything they need in one shop, and avoid another “unnecessary” journey.

Many shoppers also switched from a Friday or Saturday shop to a Tuesday or Wednesday outing – in part to avoid crowds, and in part due to having freer weekdays, with schools and colleges shut and some 600,000 Irish people becoming unemployed. While Tuesday and Wednesday saw the strongest growth, Sunday remains the quietest day of the week for stores, with just 8% of weekly grocery sales coming through that day.

Staying local

The government-set exercise area limit of 2km seems to have been extended by shoppers to their grocery trips. There is evidence that they have been staying as local as possible when it comes to store choice. Those stores with the biggest networks – SuperValu, Centra and SPAR have benefitted from this trend – winning new shoppers and growing sales faster than competitors.

An extensive store network was one of the key factors behind SuperValu taking back the top spot in the Irish grocery market – a title they last held in April 2018. SuperValu saw 45,000 new shoppers in-store in April, and was the only retailer to grow shopper numbers in a month where we shopped around less and visited fewer stores. The retailer also benefitted from very strong growth of sales through its online platform.

The growth of online shopping was driven in part by over 70s being restricted from visiting stores in person. The number of retired households shopping online doubled in April and their online spend online increased by 157%. These shoppers benefitted from dedicated delivery slots, options to call in orders and a push to increase capacity, as the industry flexed its services to help protect those most vulnerable. However, online grocery deliveries did not fully replace their usual shopping habits and cocooning meant that retired households were the only demographic to reduce spend overall on grocery in April.

Socially distant Easter

Keeping apart from our friends and family certainly impacted Easter. As Leo Varadkar pointed out, Easter Egg deliveries to nieces, nephews and grandchildren were hampered. And while hopefully everyone still had a visit from the Easter Bunny, perhaps there were fewer eggs delivered than previous years – as eggs and novelties represented 59% of confectionery sales this year compared with 68% last Easter.

And while many families will still have enjoyed their Sunday Roast – they might have had a few less seats around the table as extended family and young adults stayed away. As a result we saw no repeat of the traditional Easter boost for fresh meat and veg. Instead we saw shoppers reach for Crisps, Snacks, Chocolate, Baking ingredients and Alcohol – as people comforted themselves for missing out on their usual gatherings with family and friends.

What next?

We identified five major themes in our grocery shopping behaviour for April – and only one of these do we expect to extend beyond lockdown:

1.  Fewer, bigger trips
   • Shoppers are making fewer but bigger trips as they limit their store visits and buy across more categories on each trip
   • Will continue through lockdown but unlikely to continue beyond
2. Location and social distancing
   • Online and Symbols increase their share to 8.5% as they offer convenience and reduce risk
   • Will continue through lockdown but unlikely to continue beyond
3. Experience beats convenience
   • As shoppers spend more time at home, creating in home experiences becomes a top priority
   • Will continue through lockdown and may continue beyond
4. Younger, larger households
   • Larger households drive growth with more mouths to feed while retired shoppers abide by government restrictions
   • May continue through lockdown but unlikely to continue beyond
5. More snacking occasions
   • A break in routine causes more snacking occasions as health takes a back seat to taste and comfort
   • Will continue through lockdown but unlikely to continue beyond

Insights in this piece are based on the four weeks to 19 April 2020. If you’d like to find out more, please do get in touch. You can also watch the webinar again on demand.

David Berry, managing director – Ireland at Kantar, explains: “It’s been a challenging few weeks and we’ve all been grateful for how hard the grocery retailers have been working to keep us fed and watered.  In the absence of dinners with friends and lunch on the go, many more meals are being eaten in the home and grocery sales have risen accordingly.  But social distancing means people are less likely to be buying categories like clothes, food on the go, and general merchandise – which means, for some retailers, the overall picture will be more modest.”

In the most recent four weeks, year-on-year grocery growth slowed slightly from March levels to 22.5% and, as people followed Government advice to stay at home, the average household visited the grocers 19 times, two times fewer than the same period last year.   

David Berry comments: “In an effort to get everything they need in one go and cater for all the additional meals and snacks eaten at home, shoppers are adding an extra four items to their baskets each visit, increasing their monthly grocery bill by €118 on average.  

“The change in shopper behaviour adds up to an extra €440 million spent on grocery in the past 12 weeks, but this additional spend is impacting individual retailers in different ways.  Before lockdown, Dunnes customers already spent 80% more than the average shopper each visit at €43.80, which means the retailer has experienced less of a jump in spend per trip than those grocers starting from a lower base.  Dunnes is growing slightly behind the rest of the market as a result, but these are extremely narrow margins and only 0.5 percentage points separates the three retailers at the top of the table.”

Lidl was the fastest growing of all the retailers during the full 12-week period, boosting sales by 22.1% and increasing its market share to 12% while Aldi grew by 15.6% to hold an 11.8% share. 

In the shorter term, SuperValu’s large store estate saw it benefit from shoppers choosing to visit outlets closer to home, and it was the only retailer not to experience reduced footfall during the past four weeks.  

Demand for online grocery has soared as people try to limit their contact with others and 10% of Irish households received an online grocery delivery in the past four weeks compared with 6% last year.  David Berry comments: “An additional €20.6 million was spent online this month and it’s heartening that the number of retired people getting groceries delivered has doubled in the past 12 weeks, indicating the take up of delivery slots among more vulnerable groups.”

Consumers are looking for ways to pass the time during lockdown and David Berry comments: “People are turning to cooking from scratch as a good way to keep their families entertained at home.  Sales of ready meals are in decline but 50% of Irish households bought baking supplies in the past four weeks, with flour up 52% and sugar up 43%.  Those shoppers trying to recreate their favourite takeaway dishes have also boosted sales of ethnic ingredients by 41% and herbs and spices by 61%. 

“There are signs that people are trying not to let the lockdown dampen their spirits.  While beer gardens and wine bars remain off limits, people have been turning to the grocers for their favourite tipples and boosted sales of alcohol by 70%, an additional €47 million.  Wine sales increased by 50% year on year, while beer, lager and cider sales benefited from the warmer weather and were double the levels in the same four weeks in 2019.”

As Irish consumer behaviour shifts dramatically, retailers are at the front line in delivering essential food and medicines to the public. Manufacturers are facing unprecedented supply chain challenges to meet an unstable demand. Understanding this new normal is key to adapting. During our webinar on 9 April, our team of experts discussed the challenges facing our sector and what to expect next, including:

• How does the public sentiment differ in Ireland compared to the UK and rest of Europe?
• How is consumer and shopper behaviour changing?
• What categories are most impacted by boosted demand?
• What is the role and evolution of ecommerce?
• How do manufacturers and retailers get products moving along the supply chain more efficiently, effectively and faster than ever?
• How to communicate with the public and regulate shopping behaviour to prevent irrational purchasing?
• How can manufacturer and retailers comply with ever-changing rules, regulations, and government requests?
• How different will retail / consumer / shopper behaviour be when this all ends?

David Berry, managing director - Ireland at Kantar, comments: “Over the past month we have faced profound changes to our daily lives as a result of the need for social distancing, impacting the way we work, shop and socialise.  Retailers and their staff have risen to an enormous challenge since restrictions on movement were announced on 12 March.  They have been on the frontline as households across Ireland prepared to spend more time at home, with more mouths to feed.”

Grocery sales reached €2.8 billion in the past 12 weeks – topping last year by €250 million and exceeding the previous peak seen at Christmas 2019.  The average household spent an additional €122 on groceries during the four weeks to 22 March, largely driven by shoppers making bigger trips.  Last year, 15% of households made a shopping trip containing €120 or more of groceries – this year that figure almost doubled to 27%.

At the top of the list for many shoppers were personal hygiene products and non-perishable foods.  David Berry continues: “The products demonstrating the strongest growth show a country putting health, hygiene and practicality first.  Sales of hand soap rose by 300% and household cleaners were up by 170% in the four weeks to 22 March.  Facial tissues and loo roll were also in demand, with sales up by 140% and 86% respectively. 

“Looking at our food choices, items with a longer shelf life saw the biggest uplift, as sales of frozen and ambient foods, meaning those that can be stored at room temperature, increased by 32%.  By comparison, demand for fresh food has been more modest – growing by 16% over the last four weeks.  While we’d expect sales to remain strong in the coming weeks and months, there will likely be a rebalancing of sales of fresh and non-perishable items as shoppers with full freezers and cupboards replenish fresh supplies.”

More households than ever before placed an online order in the four weeks to 22 March 2020, with approximately one in 10 households taking advantage of the service.  This represents 25,000 more shoppers purchasing groceries online than last Christmas, the previous peak, and 54,000 more than the same period in 2019. 

All of the country’s main grocery retailers were simultaneously in growth over the 12-week period as sales were boosted by unprecedented levels of demand. 

David Berry comments: “All the major retailers have adapted to rapidly changing circumstances, with teams working hard to keep shelves stocked during an incredibly busy time.” 

Dunnes, SuperValu and Tesco each saw sales increase by just over 10%.  While the three grocers hold almost equal market share, Dunnes’ takes the largest portion at 22.3%, with SuperValu and Tesco following closely at 21.3%. 

Lidl was the fastest growing of all the retailers during the 12 weeks, boosting sales by 14.7% and increasing its market share to 12.3%.  Aldi matched Lidl’s market share and grew sales by 11.9%.

News reports around coronavirus in February saw consumers take steps to ward off colds and flu, though the impact in Ireland was less pronounced than it was in Britain.  Hand wash products, including sanitisers, grew by 15% in the 12 weeks to 23 February – representing strong, but not dramatic, growth.  Charlotte Scott explains: “We’d expect to see more of an impact towards the end of February and into March, as increased awareness of the virus will likely lead to an uplift in sales of healthcare products.  This coupled with the impact of Storm Jorge in late February may well lead to growing sales of goods typically associated with stockpiling like pasta and tinned or frozen food.” 

Meanwhile, retailers capitalised on the most romantic day of the year, which provided a welcome boost for grocers.  Charlotte Scott, consumer insight director at Kantar, comments: “Sales of chocolates and gifts were up by 13% over the four weeks to 23 February, while other traditional Valentine’s day categories – like wine and chilled ready meals – grew by 6%.  Sweethearts were savvy with their money and sales of products on deal doubled compared to the same period last year.”

Dunnes, Tesco and SuperValu all contributed to the boost in promotional activity, increasing sales of boxed chocolates on offer by 23%, 22% and 18% respectively.

Lidl remained the fastest growing retailer this period, increasing its market share by 0.5 percentage points to 11.5%.  The grocer benefited from shoppers maintaining healthy habits, with fruit sales rising by an additional €2.3m.

Aldi was hot on Lidl’s heels, enjoying marginally slower growth than last period at 5.3%.  The retailer continued to gain share as shoppers chose to put more in baskets, with one in every two customers adding an additional item compared to the same 12 weeks last year.

Supervalu weathered a slowdown in growth, managing to increase its market share to 21.4%.  It benefited from a wider market uplift in organic food sales of 12%, as the number of baskets across all retailers containing organic goods rose by 9% year on year.

Charlotte Scott comments: “SuperValu has performed particularly well in the organic foods category, and now holds 25% of the total organic market.  Fruit sales have grown by an additional €3.1m in SuperValu over the 12 weeks, a key everyday category which has likely helped to drive the retailers’ success in securing bigger baskets.  The grocer also saw a bounce in dairy sales, with butter, cream and eggs all achieving double digit growth of 12%, 16% and 15% respectively.” 

Tesco accelerated its growth rate to 0.7% this period and held its position as the second largest retailer in Ireland.  Shoppers visited the store more frequently, with trips rising 2.5%, and filling baskets in particular with convenience goods.  Prepared fruit and vegetables, as well as ready meals, were standout categories for the business, up by 19% and 3% respectively.

Meanwhile, Dunnes was the only other retailer to accelerate its growth rate along with Tesco.  The grocer gained 0.5 percentage share points, taking it to a 23.5% market share.  Performance was led by success in key staple categories, with sales of fresh produce up 3% and an uptick of 12% in bread sales. 

However, the market found a bright spot in increased sales of plant-based products as many shoppers pledged to make healthier choices at the start of the year.  Matthew Botham, strategic insight director at Kantar, said: “Retailers embraced Veganuary, which brought plant-based foods to the fore.  Sales of alternative milks grew by 20%, while meat, fish and poultry dropped by 3%. 

“Though shoppers reduced their consumption of meat and dairy, households didn’t turn their backs on animal products completely.  This points to an increase in flexitarian lifestyles as people look to cut back rather than go cold turkey.”  

Dry January also made its mark on supermarket sales with the number of households abstaining from alcohol purchases increasing to 22%, up from 19% this time last year.  The only retailer to buck the trend was SuperValu, which grew its alcohol sales by 7.6%.

Overall, Lidl was the strongest performing retailer this period, increasing its market share by 0.4 percentage points to 11.0%.  Matthew Botham continues: “Lidl’s growth was driven by increased basket sizes as shoppers added three more items to their shop than the market average.  More and more people are picking up their groceries at the retailer and 71.4% of households chose to shop at Lidl at least once over the latest period.” 

SuperValu was the only other retailer to accelerate growth over the 12 weeks as its market share grew by 0.1 percentage points to 21.7%.

At the other end of the market, Tesco’s sales were unchanged from last year as the grocer conceded 0.3 percentage points of market share. Matthew Botham says: “As the General Election loomed, falling consumer confidence meant a decline in shopper frequency for the market as a whole.  While Tesco bucked this trend and shoppers visited the retailer more often, it wasn’t enough to boost sales and growth fell to 0.0%.   

“Part of Tesco’s response was to take action by addressing consumer demand for sustainable packaging.  The retailer made headlines with the announcement that it’s removing plastic wrap from its multipack tinned items while still offering the multi-buy deal to customers.  Given that shoppers bought over 139 million* packs of tinned goods over the past year this is a significant step towards reducing plastic waste and is bound to be popular with eco-conscious consumers.”

Aldi also continued to press home its sustainability credentials by removing the polystyrene trays from its pizza range.  The retailer again posted strong growth this period – increasing sales by 5.4%.  Meanwhile, Dunnes had another formidable 12 weeks, with sales rising by 3.3%.  However, that was a slower increase than in recent months, as falling basket sizes and lower prices impacted growth at Ireland’s largest retailer.

*figure corrected 01/03/2020

All of the major retailers achieved growth over the festive season, albeit not necessarily as a result of typical Christmas favourites.  Charlotte Scott, consumer insight director at Kantar, said: “The nation enjoyed a less traditional Christmas this year with many of the usual seasonal classics falling out of favour. The number of people buying turkey fell by 3% and the trimmings didn’t fare much better as sales of Brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips and potatoes all declined.  It was a similar story in the dessert aisles as the value of mince pies dropped by 13% and Christmas puddings by 10%. Ham resisted the trend, growing at 5% as shoppers paired it with their Christmas dinner.

“It was a relatively sober Christmas, as sales of alcohol dropped by €10.5 million. Shoppers spent 5.3% less on beer and 2.2% less on wine. Only SuperValu and Dunnes bucked the trend, growing alcohol sales by 3.9% and 0.7% respectively.  Soft drinks sales rose by 2.7% as shoppers turned to alternative, alcohol-free options."

Dunnes retained its position as Ireland’s largest retailer, and was the only grocer which didn’t experience a slowdown in growth compared to last month. Christmas is typically Dunnes’ strongest season, as shoppers trade up to more premium products, and this year was no different. It achieved a market share of 23.6% in the latest 12 weeks, 1.2 percentage points higher than its average over the rest of the year.  

Meanwhile SuperValu, which typically performs best over the summer, had a welcome Christmas boost and increased sales by 1.4% – slightly higher than it achieved in the same period last year. 

Aldi was the strongest performing retailer over Christmas, with sales up 6.3%, while Lidl’s market share of 10.9% is its highest ever over the festive period. Charlotte Scott continues: “Aldi and Lidl have increased their appeal among shoppers at Christmas and both reached their highest ever festive market shares. While in previous years customers have chosen to do their seasonal shopping elsewhere, Aldi and Lidl found success in 2019 by expanding their ranges and encouraging big shops.”  

Both Aldi and Lidl bucked the trend of falling prices across the sector, and saw prices per pack increase during the period. This was down to a concerted push on brands and premium products, evidenced by the popularity of their premium own-label ranges, which outperformed competitors and grew by 9% at Aldi and 6% at Lidl.

Tesco’s growth was the slowest in the market at 0.1%, which saw it lose 0.3 percentage points of market share and fell to 22.0%. Charlotte Scott says: “Despite only marginal sales growth, Tesco remained the nation’s second largest grocer as shoppers embraced its well-known brands and familiar layout over Christmas. Tesco customers made an average of 16.2 trips to store in the latest period, compared with 15.7 last year.”

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar explains: “There was no sign of the post-election rush many had hoped for in the final weeks before Christmas, with shoppers carefully watching their budgets.  In fact, many of us cut back on traditional and indulgent festive classics.  Sales of Christmas puddings were down by 16%, while seasonal biscuits were 11% lower.  Turkey sales also fell by 1%, partly down to a shift from whole birds to smaller and cheaper joints such as crowns.  

Fraser McKevitt continues: “Shoppers also popped fewer corks this year, as sparkling wine sales dipped by 8%.  However, both beer, up 1%, and still wine, up 2%, were more popular than in 2018.  As predicted, Monday 23 December was easily the single busiest shopping day of 2019 – and indeed the largest shopping day ever recorded – worth £798 million as the nation stocked up before Christmas Eve.”

Overall, average household spending over the 12 weeks fell by £8 to £1,055, while total volume sales fell by 0.7%.  Meanwhile, like-for-like prices only rose by a fractional 0.9%, which was good news for consumers looking to control festive bills, but the low level of inflation did little to boost the market.

Among the bricks and mortar retailers, Lidl led the way with sales growth of 10.3% over the past 12 weeks.  It performed particularly strongly with branded products, where sales were up 24%.  Together with Aldi, the discount retailers took their highest ever combined Christmas market share.  Fraser McKevitt says: “At the end of the decade, it’s worth remembering just how quickly Lidl and Aldi have grown.  Their current combined market share of 13.7% is more than treble what they held in December 2009, an unprecedented increase over the course of ten years.”  

Individually, Aldi’s sales were up by 5.9%, and its market share grew by 0.4 percentage points to 7.8%.  Sales of the supermarket’s Specially Selected range rose by £18 million, the highest rate among all retailer premium own label lines.  This year’s ‘Kevin the Carrot’ adverts also went down well with shoppers, as the addition of new characters to the story helped to sell 2,498 tonnes of sprouts – an increase of 44% on last year.

Britain’s fastest growing grocer overall was Ocado, with sales rising by 12.5%.  The online retailer has now been the fastest grower since June 2019. 

The slow market made it particularly difficult for the largest retailers to increase sales.  The ‘big 4’ grocers were especially impacted by customers choosing to make one fewer trip to stores in the latest period.  Sales at Sainsbury’s fell by 0.7%, although its market share held relatively firm dipping by just 0.1 percentage points to 16.0%.  Sainsbury’s online sales were a highlight however, increasing by 7% with a total 1.1 million users over the past 12 weeks.  

Meanwhile, Tesco sales were 1.5% lower, with its share down by 0.4 percentage points to 27.4%.  Asda and Morrisons also saw sales fall by 2.2% and 2.9% respectively, with their market shares also dropping. 

Co-op’s 3.0% growth was ahead of the market, and enough to increase its share by 0.2 percentage points to 6.1%.  Much of its success was fuelled by chilled products, with fresh poultry sales up by 10% and convenience items like pizza up 9%.

Waitrose’s market share remained at 5.0%, unaffected by a 0.9% fall in sales.  Iceland on the other hand enjoyed a bright festive spell, as Fraser McKevitt explains: “Iceland’s sales rose by 1.3% as its recent newspaper coupon campaign helped to attract an extra 390,000 shoppers through its doors.  As well as increasing sales of frozen food, other categories which performed particularly well included soft drinks – up by 21%.  Iceland was one of the five retailers to win market share, gaining an extra 0.1 percentage points to stand at 2.3%.”

Charlotte Scott, consumer insight director at Kantar, comments: “As countdown to Christmas begins, shoppers are already starting to splash out on old favourites.  Sales of seasonal biscuits have grown by 16% in the latest 12 weeks alone.  Tesco has been the standout performer in that category and the retailer has sold twice as many so far this year as it had by the same point in 2018. 

“Retailers have bet on confectionery with large seasonal tubs of chocolate on shelves earlier than in previous years.  In turn, shoppers have cashed in and confectionery sales are showing no signs of slowing down having already added €8.8 million of spend to the market this year compared to last.  SuperValu has been the real winner, growing the value of its sales in the category by 31.1%.”

A strong month overall for SuperValu saw it pull ahead of Tesco in the retailer rankings as growth of 1.7% took its market share to 21.6%, compared to Tesco’s 21.3%.  Both retailers typically increase their shares as we get closer to the holiday period and shoppers look for familiar names and brands in preparation for the festivities.  Charlotte Scott says: “SuperValu’s highest share since January is largely thanks to shopper penetration, which increased this period having fallen last month.  This coincides with the retailer announcing its new loyalty scheme with Visa in November, designed to appeal to existing shoppers while also attracting new customers.”

Lidl’s growth rate climbed to 5.8%, which helped to lift its market share to 11.6%.  The retailer’s strong performance has been thanks to an increase in the size of customers’ average shop as it continues to expand its ranges.  The average Lidl basket this period contained 17 items, a rise of 3.9% on last year. 

This month also saw Lidl announce a food waste initiative which cuts the price of chilled goods by up to 90% on their best before day.  Charlotte Scott says: “Typically, chilled products like fresh produce aren’t highly promoted by retailers, with less than a fifth of all prepared fruit and veg sold on deal in the past three months.  Lidl’s campaign may help it stand out from the crowd and discounts on prepared and chilled foods will likely be welcomed by shoppers as they start to prioritise convenience over the Christmas period.” 

Meanwhile, Aldi remains the nation’s fastest growing retailer at 7.9%, although this is a drop back from the 9.6% it achieved last month.  Its share currently stands at 12.2%, up 0.6 percentage points on last year. 

Still the nation’s largest retailer, Dunnes has held its market share steady compared to the last period at 22.8%, although this is 0.4 percentage points higher than this time in 2018.  Charlotte Scott says: “Dunnes’ growth has slowed slightly but it remains the third fastest growing retailer behind the discounters.  Dunnes typically relies on customers doing their big shop and stocking up with large visits, but the business has shown it can be adaptable.  We’ve seen a shift in shopper dynamics recently, as customers reduce their basket sizes but visit stores more often with trips up by 2.3%.  Ireland’s biggest grocer is also gaining traction outside of its usual Dublin heartland, growing strongly in Connaught and Ulster where it has historically held a smaller share.”

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, explains: “We’re yet to see consumers ramp up their spending in the run up to Christmas and, as anticipated, Black Friday only brought a limited boost for the grocers.  The number of people claiming to take advantage of Black Friday* this year fell to 53% from 57% in 2018 with signs of ‘promotion fatigue’ among consumers, an increased scepticism regarding the value of the deals on offer and some retailers pulling back from the day all together.  The event is always less significant in the supermarket calendar and this year only 5% of Black Friday deal hunters bought something from a grocer.”

Fraser McKevitt continues: “With the General Election now only days away, people are waiting to fill their cupboards for the festive break and sales of Christmas puddings and seasonal biscuits are down 16% and 12% in the past four weeks compared to a year ago.  But there are some purchases that just can’t wait – £28 million was spent on advent calendars in the past four weeks, up 1% on last year, and sales of fresh and frozen party food rose 7% as our diaries fill up with festive events and gatherings.”

Sales growth of 9.3% during the past 12 weeks propelled Lidl to a new record high market share of 6.1%.  Fraser McKevitt comments: “The good news continues for Lidl and 11.9 million shoppers visited one of its stores in the past three months – that’s 652,000 more than this time last year.  Lidl has been encouraging its customers to make bigger shops, running newspaper voucher deals that offer £10 off when the holder spends £40, and larger baskets over the qualifying spend made up 17% of trips in November.”

Meanwhile, Aldi’s year-on-year growth of 6.2% is worth £129 million in additional sales and takes its market share to 8.0%.  The discounter increased sales of its cheapest ‘Everyday Essentials’ range by 29% during the past 12 weeks but also served customers with a bit more money to spend – selling 15% more of its premium ‘Specially Selected’ range than this time last year.

Co-op achieved growth of 3.6%, with customers spending an extra £12 million in the chilled convenience aisles, on items including pizza, ready meals and cooked meats.  Visitors to the convenience retailer also spent an additional £10 million on fresh fruit, vegetables and salads compared to the same time last year.

The four largest grocers came under further pressure this period with their collective market share dropping to 67.7%, compared with 69.1% this time last year.  Fraser McKevitt comments: “While the big four all lost share in the past 12 weeks, 98% of the British public still visited at least one of their stores during the past three months.  Based on previous years, we expect them to increase their proportion of sales in the coming weeks as shoppers turn to familiar favourites and the traditional retailers in December.”

Tesco was the best performing of the largest grocers over the past 12 weeks though it’s too early to say whether the newly launched Clubcard Plus subscription scheme has had an impact as sales fell by 0.8%.  Sales at Sainsbury’s fell by 1.1% and at Asda by 1.9%, resulting in market shares of 15.7% and 14.6% respectively.  Morrisons’ share of grocery sales dropped back 0.4 percentage points to 10.1% as sales declined by 2.9%.  

Ocado continued to be the fastest growing grocer, with sales 13.7% higher than this time in 2018.  The online retailer is particularly popular with Londoners and its market share in the capital is now 2.6%, almost double its level of 1.4% nationally. 

Iceland’s growth accelerated to 3.2%, its best performance since November 2018, and its share held steady at 2.2%.  While still declining, Waitrose sales fall in sales of 0.8% means its performance has improved for the fifth month in a row.

This period saw an increased focus on seasonal events and promotions, as Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar comments: “The final quarter of the year is associated with holidays and festivities, and retailers are always looking for ways to capitalise on seasonal events to attract shoppers.  This year pumpkin sales were up by 6% in October as the public geared up for Halloween – with more than a tenth of British households taking one home.  In the past decade pumpkin sales have increased by 62% – a telling barometer of how retailers have found success by increasing focus on seasonal spend.”

Following Halloween, consumer and retailer attention has already turned to Christmas, with £17 million spent on mince pies and £3 million on Christmas puddings so far this year.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas, particularly for grocery retailers.  With many supermarkets already unveiling their festive advertising campaigns, the starting gun has been fired on the race to be Christmas number one.  It should come as no surprise to see the grocers jostling for position early – with the average household expected to spend more than £380 on groceries during December.  In total, shoppers will spend nearly £11 billion in that month alone, showing how it’s a crucial period for retailers.”

Co-op has grown continuously since May 2018 and sales increased again this period with year-on-year growth currently standing at 4.4%.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “Co-op welcomed an additional 274,000 shoppers through its doors in the past 12 weeks – fruit and vegetables proved particularly popular as fresh produce sales increased by 10%.  The retailer stayed true to its convenience-focused roots as chilled items like pizza grew by 8%, helping to increase its market share to 6.5%.”

Lidl recently announced its intention to open over 200 new stores in the next three years and was the fastest growing bricks and mortar retailer this period with sales up by 8.8%.  It has made a concerted push to encourage larger trips this year, and its vouchering scheme helped to boost several ‘big shop’ categories, including alcohol where sales rose by 18%.  Fellow discounter Aldi also won market share, with sales growth of 6.7% and now accounts for 8.0% of grocery sales.  Aldi boasted the fastest growing premium own label line on the market – its ‘Specially Selected’ range grew by 17.2%.

Slowing growth in the overall market meant the four largest retailers struggled to make gains.  Sales at Asda and Morrisons fell by 1.2% and 1.7% respectively, while Sainsbury’s and Tesco proved slightly more resilient.  Fraser McKevitt says: “After a positive month last time around, Sainsbury’s sales were down by 0.2% in the past 12 weeks, with its market share falling back slightly to 15.6%.  Meanwhile, Tesco saw sales fall by 0.6%.  The UK’s largest supermarket recently unveiled its new ‘Clubcard Plus’ offer which gives subscribers 10% off two large shops each month.  Some 1.8 million households made at least two trips to the retailer worth £50 or more in the past four weeks, a number Tesco will be looking to boost through its latest initiative.”

Iceland’s market share stayed level at 2.1% following sales growth of 1.6% this period.  Fraser McKevitt elaborates: “Iceland sought to reinforce its reputation as a community-conscious operator this month by offering members of the Armed Forces and NHS staff a 20% discount for a limited time.  Coupled with its commitments around plastic waste and palm oil in the past 12 months, the campaign shows a growing focus on community and sustainability issues at the retailer.”

Elsewhere, Waitrose sales declined by 0.9%, taking its market share to 5.0%.  Meanwhile online specialist Ocado was again the fastest growing grocer, with sales up by 13.5% compared to a year ago.

Charlotte Scott, consumer insight director at Kantar comments: “Overall shopper frequency rose by 2.2% in the latest 12 weeks compared with last year, suggesting an increase in people shopping around for the best deals. This phenomenon is in no small part thanks to the popularity of the discount supermarkets – their comparatively smaller product ranges mean shoppers often visit them in conjunction with other stores where they top up on specific items.”

While overall market growth remained strong at 2.6% this period, that is marginally slower than last month’s figure as consumers dialled back spending ahead of the run up to Christmas.  Charlotte Scott continues: “The slight deceleration in the past 12 weeks is largely down to shoppers being wary of spending and holding back slightly ahead of the big Christmas rush.  This month saw price per pack drop by 1%, indicating that customers traded down in order to manage their spend. However, with Halloween now finished, we’re already seeing evidence of people getting in the festive spirit as 6.5% of us have bought a mince pie – worth €383,000 to retailers so far this year.”

While inclement weather can typically dampen moods in the grocery sector, recent rain has failed to make too much of an impact. Charlotte Scott says: “Retailers have responded well to this year’s cold and wet October by pushing additional sales of classic winter warmer categories. Fresh soup grew by 9.9% this period, while hot drinks are up 7.7%. Biscuits also benefited from those additional cups of tea and coffee, growing at 2.9%, with Tesco reaping the most reward from the trend, as biscuit sales at the retailer grew by 10.8%.”  

Overall it has been a strong month for Tesco, which was the only retailer to accelerate growth in the latest 12 weeks, increasing sales by 1.5%. It remains the third largest supermarket in Ireland with a 21.1% share of the market, just behind SuperValu at 21.2%. Both retailers performed well over Halloween, recording an additional €6 million of confectionery sales collectively.

Dunnes’ growth of 4.4% was again the fastest among the three biggest retailers. Ireland’s largest supermarket also increased its market share by 0.4 percentage points, bringing it to 22.8%.  Dunnes will be anticipating further growth as we enter what is traditionally its strongest time of year. Charlotte Scott explains: “Typically Dunnes performs well during the festive season as shoppers trade up and are willing to spend more on premium items.  Last Christmas the retailer recorded its highest market share since March 2013 and having been top of the retailer rankings for over a year now, it will be looking to break that record this December.” 

Aldi and Lidl enjoyed the fastest growth in the market this period, with sales increasing by 9.6% and 4.9% respectively. Shoppers visiting stores more often in the latest 12 weeks was key for both retailers, as new offers tempted people through their doors. Charlotte Scott continues: “Aldi has placed increased focus on brands in recent months, and as a result branded sales have increased by 34.2%. These items now make up 10.8% of spend at the grocer, compared with just 8.8% this time last year.

“Lidl meanwhile has looked to capitalise on the growing popularity of meat-free alternatives by introducing vegan burgers and sausages to stores across the country. It’s no wonder the retailer sees potential in this market, some 40.4% of shoppers bought a vegetarian product in the latest 12 weeks while meat-free burgers and grills have grown by 7.7% year on year.”

This time 12 months ago Dunnes overtook Tesco to become the nation’s number one grocer, and it is showing no signs of slowing down.  The retailer currently holds a 1.3 percentage point lead over its next largest competitor, the biggest differential it has enjoyed since February 2019.  Charlotte Scott, consumer insight director at Kantar, comments: “It has been a big year for Dunnes.  Its continued success, evidenced by 5.5% sales growth in the past 12 weeks, has largely been driven by its Shop & Save voucher campaign."

SuperValu also enjoyed a marked boost in sales over the past 12 weeks, doubling its growth rate to 2.0% which helped it to overtake Tesco and become the second largest retailer for the first time since December 2018.  The convenience specialist has enjoyed larger basket sizes and growth in some of its core categories, as Charlotte Scott explains: “Ireland’s two largest retailers, Dunnes and SuperValu, have both benefited from an out of season boom in sales of cleaning products.  Shoppers have been indulging in a spot of seasonal ‘autumn cleaning’, perhaps thanks to the popularity of internet sensation Mrs Hinch and being kept indoors by the recent wet weather.  Overall people have spent an additional €7.2 million on household cleaning in the past 12 weeks, which is up 5.9% on last year and driven by Ireland’s two largest retailers.”

Despite falling behind SuperValu in the retailer rankings, Tesco enjoyed a return to growth this period, with shoppers making an extra trip compared to last year.  Confectionery has been a key category for Tesco, and is growing at an impressive 31.1%. Charlotte Scott elaborates:  “Tesco individually accounts for 70% of the market growth of confectionery, which has increased in value by 9.9% in the past 12 weeks.  The retailer’s promotion on tubs of sweets, pricing them at €3.99, has proved particularly popular and it has even had to put quotas in place to limit shoppers to a maximum of 4 per person.  With Halloween and Christmas just around the corner, Tesco will be particularly encouraged by these results.”

Aldi reached a new record market share at 12.6% this period – continuing its strong performance and growing by 10.9%.  It has welcomed an additional 21,000 shoppers through its doors, with a particular push to target young families.  Charlotte Scott continues: “Traditionally, Aldi’s core shoppers are young and mid-range families, with these customers still a third more likely to shop at the retailer than any other group.  However, growth among these groups has slowed to 0.8%, as the cohort has cut back on its overall spending by 1.4%.  In response, Aldi’s has brought back its popular Big Toy Event, aimed at drawing these shoppers back into stores, and offering something for the little ones.”

Lidl’s performance at a total level has also improved, with sales up 4.9% and its market share increasing to 11.9%.  While the retailer’s existing shoppers are visiting more often, and spending more when they do, penetration has dropped slightly by 0.4%. 

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, comments: “The grocery market seems to have finally edged out from under the shadow of 2018 and tough comparisons with the strong summer sales of last year.  Sainsbury’s performance reflects this – increasing sales at its fastest rate since October 2018 to make it the only big four retailer to achieve growth.  The grocer recently announced plans to phase out its value ‘Basics’ line which made it into 12% of shopping baskets during the past 12 weeks, so it will be interesting to see how replacement brands like ‘Stamford Street’ and
‘J James and family’ fare as they become more widely available.”

As growth accelerates in the overall market, Brexit uncertainty continues and Fraser McKevitt explains: “Well-documented concerns about the availability of popular products in the event of a no-deal Brexit have not yet translated into a consistent increase in purchasing.  Sales of dry pasta and healthcare products over the past four weeks were 9% and 7% higher than the same time last year, but those of canned products fell by 2% and frozen food by 1%.  While a quarter of British consumers say they are considering stockpiling*, it seems they are waiting to see how the next few weeks play out and we expect if they take any action it will be closer to the deadline if a chaotic trading situation looks increasingly likely.

“One event people are already planning for on 31 October is Halloween, spending a collective £1.5 million on pumpkins in the past 12 weeks.  Those sales are 29% higher than at this point before Halloween last year and retailers should be taking note and aiming to capitalise on the celebration in the coming weeks.”

The proportion of sales on promotion increased for the first time in nearly four and a half years this period to 32.3%, driven by Tesco’s ‘100 years of value’ campaign and Sainsbury’s ‘Price Lockdown’.  The performances of Tesco, Asda and Morrisons all improved compared with last month, but sales are still down year on year.  Tesco sales declined by 0.2% as its market share was reduced to 27.0% and Fraser McKevitt comments: “The announcement that Dave Lewis will depart as Tesco chief executive next year has inspired inevitable reflection on his tenure and it’s worth noting that the retailer’s sales were in freefall when he joined in September 2014 – dropping 4.5% year on year.  Since then Tesco’s absolute and relative performance has improved and profitability has returned, but its market share is down from 28.8% at the start of his time there.”

Sales at Asda fell by 0.9% during the past 12 weeks, dropping 0.3 percentage points of market share to 15.0%, while Morrisons remains behind the rest of the pack, declining by 1.8% with a market share of 9.9%.

Lidl and Aldi continue to gain share and Fraser McKevitt comments: “The discounters now account for a combined 14% of UK grocery sales which is 0.8% percentage points higher than last year, an increase that’s worth nearly one billion pounds annually.  While traditionally known for its own label ranges, Lidl’s 8.2% growth was boosted by sales of branded goods which grew twice as quickly. 

“Meanwhile, Aldi grew by 7.3% during the past 12 weeks as it attracted more new customers than any other retailer with 689,000 additional shoppers.  Its small but growing ‘Everyday Essentials’ also added an extra £18 million in sales.”

Co-op grew at its fastest rate since April at 3.9% as the convenience retailer’s £5 ‘Super saver deal’ drove up sales of fresh pizza by 20% and ice cream by 17%. 

Online specialist Ocado continued its run as Britain’s fastest-growing supermarket – a position it’s held since May 2019 – as its growth sped up slightly to 13.3%.

Iceland sales rose by 0.5%, supported by widely available coupons, while Waitrose declined by 1.1% and its market share slipped 0.1 percentage points to 5.1%.

 *Kantar Brexit Barometer.  A total of 1,144 interviews were conducted online among adults living in Great Britain between 5 and 9 of September 2019. 

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at 0.8%† for the 12-week period ending 6 October 2019. Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as canned fish, crisps and frozen fish, while falling in canned cola, instant coffee and chilled fruit juices.

Charlotte Scott, consumer insight director at Kantar, comments: “When summer draws to a close people return to their normal routines and their shopping habits shift accordingly.  Children are back at school and parents needing easy breakfast and packed-lunch options have boosted sales of cereals, yoghurts and bread by 14%, 10% and 6% respectively during the past four weeks, compared with the month before.

“If you’re one of the people that feels like Christmas starts earlier and earlier each year – you might be right.  With less than 100 days to go until the big day, retailers have been ramping up their festive activity with deals on seasonal chocolates including advent calendars.  Sales of chocolate boxes and gifts were 65% higher than the previous four weeks as people took the opportunity to get a head start on their shopping.”

Tesco and SuperValu are neck-and-neck with 21.4% market share this month.  Charlotte Scott explains: “SuperValu has returned to growth following two periods of negative growth and these 12 weeks represent its slowest share decline since September 2018.  Following a similar trend to the overall market, its shoppers have been making fewer, larger shops and taking home nearly one more item on average per trip.

“Meanwhile, Tesco’s sales decline softened to 0.5% as volume sales moved into growth, up 0.9% compared with last year.  It might be too soon to call these improved performances from Tesco and SuperValu a fightback, but it will be welcome news given the recent success of Dunnes, Aldi and Lidl. Looking ahead to next month, it’s likely that this will contribute to all retailers being in growth for the first time since June.”

Aldi increased its market share this period while posting growth of 11.4%.  As well as attracting new shoppers, Aldi is another retailer successfully encouraging bigger shops.  With each customer now picking up 19.7 items each visit, Aldi is clipping at the heels of Dunnes where the average is 20 – the highest in the market.

Dunnes achieved the second fastest growth during the past 12 weeks at 5.8%.  Charlotte Scott explains: “Dunnes attracted an additional 38,000 shoppers compared with this time last year.  If there was one negative in Dunnes’ report card it would be that customers are visiting its stores less often – but that decline remains marginal at 0.3%.”

While Lidl’s growth slowed to 4.1% it remains ahead of the market and has increased its share from 11.8% to 11.9%.  The retailer also performed well in some standout categories in the past 12 weeks – sales of frozen desserts were up 24%, despite declining by 4% in the wider market, and bread sales increased by 17%, compared with 2% across total grocers”. 

While overall sales grew by 0.5%, volume sales remained flat and Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, comments: “As we move closer to 31 October, it seems talk about stockpiling might be just that because we’re not seeing any evidence of it at the moment.  In fact, households bought 0.9% fewer items during the past 12 weeks than they did last year.”

The August Bank Holiday brought some overdue sunshine and Fraser McKevitt comments: “All summer, retailers have faced tough comparisons with last year’s heatwave and disappointing weather has made it hard for them match the highs of 2018.  The forecast for August Bank Holiday was more than welcome and shoppers made the most of it being the hottest one on record, spending £1.3 billion from Friday through to Sunday, which was marginally more than last year.” 

Tesco and Sainsbury’s became the latest retailers to make high-profile announcements about reducing plastic packaging.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “The plastic issue isn’t going away and the public continues to put pressure on brands to make meaningful changes.  It’s clear there is still work to be done because, despite the various pledges, only 16%* of people can name a retailer that is doing ‘a lot’ to reduce its plastic waste.  Worse still, only 10% can name a grocery brand making significant strides.”  

Lidl reached a new record high market share and Fraser McKevitt comments: “Lidl has crossed the 6% market share line for the first time, and an additional 618,000 shoppers visited the retailer compared with last year, helped by store openings, refurbishments and its newspaper voucher deals.  Having moved through the 5% barrier as recently as May 2017, the retailer has taken just over two years to add another percentage point to its market share – one that’s worth £1.2 billion annually.”

Meanwhile, Aldi increased sales by 6.3% and Fraser McKevitt says: “Aldi’s strongest growth came from the south of England where sales increased by nearly 9%.  The discounter’s lowest market share continues to be in London, where it only accounts for 3.3% of grocery sales, so it’s unsurprising that this week it announced plans to more than double its number of stores within the M25.”

The other bricks-and-mortar retailer in growth this period was Co-op, increasing its sales by 1.8%.  One third of British households made a trip to the convenience retailer during the past three months, visiting the store nearly twice a week on average.  

Ocado was again the fastest growing retailer.  Fraser McKevitt comments: “With one year to go until Ocado starts selling M&S products alongside its own lines and national brands, sales at Ocado were up by 12.7%.  Ice cream, cheese and sparkling wine all experienced growth in excess of 20%.”

This was Sainsbury’s strongest period since October 2018 and it was the best performing of the big four retailers for the second month in a row, despite marginal sales decline of 0.1%.  Sainsbury’s increased its rate of sales on promotion faster than any other retailer with its Price Lockdown strategy lowering prices on meat and fresh produce in particular.  

Sales at Asda and Tesco fell by 1.0% and 1.4% respectively and Fraser McKevitt explains: “There were bright spots for Tesco including sales of free-from products, which were up 11%, and its own value lines like Redmere Farms and Creamfields as sales of these ranges totalled over a third of a billion pounds.”

Morrisons market share dipped below double digits at 9.9% as sales fell by 2.0%.  Waitrose sales declined by 1.3% and Iceland by 2.0% taking market shares to 5.0% and 2.1% respectively.

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at 1.0%† for the 12-week period ending 8 September 2019. Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as crisps, canned fish and frozen fish, while falling in canned cola, chilled fruit juices and instant coffee.

Charlotte James, consumer insight director at Kantar, comments: “While certain typical summer categories felt the impact of the mild weather this period, it wasn’t all bad news.  Ice cream and sun care sales were down 17.0% and 41.5% respectively however wine, which is usually more popular in colder months, grew by 13.7%.  All the major retailers took advantage of this, with Tesco particularly benefiting by ramping up promotions in the sector.  The proportion of wine bought on deal at Tesco increased from 29.6% to 43.8% resulting in category growth of 14.9% for the retailer.”  

Aldi and Lidl continued their march on the Irish grocery sector again this month.  Aldi’s particularly impressive growth of 12.7% helped it achieve a record market share of 12.6%.  While Dublin remains a key area for the retailer, Munster and the rest of Leinster are still its heartland and contributed two-thirds of its overall sales increase.  Lidl now accounts for 12.0% of Irish grocery sales and is also particularly popular in Munster, where it increased sales by 12.1%.

Scrutiny over single-use plastic was a major trend this period, with retailers seeking to adapt to changing consumer preferences.  Charlotte James explains: “Aldi’s ban on black plastic trays for fruit and veg packaging and SuperValu’s move to 100% compostable shopping bags are direct responses to a change in shopper habits.  Many consumers are already making the shift towards more sustainable choices.  For example, loose fruit sales grew by 6.4% in the latest 12 weeks as pre-packed alternatives declined by 2.3%.  Lidl has made the most headway in this respect and sold 23% of its fruit loose, the highest proportion of all the retailers.”

Fresh produce as a whole was a clear focus for all the grocers this period.  Dunnes, Tesco and Lidl attempted to demonstrate value through a mix of 49 cent price points while SuperValu and Aldi continued to offer discounts on different product ranges.  Dunnes, Ireland’s largest grocer again this month, enjoyed success with sales of fruit, veg and salads growing by 2.9% – ahead of the market rate.  Charlotte James elaborates: “Dunnes has had a strong 12 weeks across the board, growing at 6.4% and claiming 21.6% market share.  The retailer is focusing on differentiating itself from competitors through a range of in-store experiences and this month opened a new premium food hall in Dublin’s Ilac Centre as well as a new site in Naas which focuses on its fresh counters”.

SuperValu improved its performance this period with sales decline softening to 0.3%.  As the market moved towards less frequent but bigger shopping trips, SuperValu capitalised with a 10.3% increase in the average spend per shop.     

Overall, average price growth of 1.1% was a welcome boost for the retailers while the strong euro also contributed to an increase in cross-border shopping in the latest 12 weeks.  Charlotte James explains: “Brexit uncertainties and sterling’s struggles saw cross-border spend increase by 14% compared with this time last year, with much of that on fresh and chilled products.  However, this still only makes up 0.6% of all sales and remains a small part of the market.”  

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, comments: “The memory of last year still looms large for retailers and this summer’s comparatively poor weather, combined with low levels of like-for-like price rises, have made growth hard to find for retailers.

“July’s hottest day on record wasn’t enough to shift the market into growth, but the grocers will have been encouraged by glimpses of better weather during the past four weeks which helped boost sales of summer staples like hayfever remedies, suncare and burgers by 17%, 8% and 5% respectively.”

Lidl’s sales increased by 7.7% and the discounter reached a record market share of 5.9% during the past 12 weeks.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “Lidl’s raft of new store openings has helped it attract 489,000 additional shoppers this period.  Its campaign to encourage people to do their main weekly shop at Lidl is making an impact and the average basket spend is now nearly £19, 3% higher than last year, though still significantly lower than the £22.65 average spend at the big four.  While best known for its own-label products, branded lines at Lidl grew by 19% this period and now account for 13% of the discounter’s sales with a strong presence for alcohol, toiletries, household products and soft drinks."

Meanwhile, sales at rival Aldi increased by 6.2%, supported by sales of bakery products, up 11%, and biscuits, up 13%.   Fraser McKevitt comments: “Nearly half of all households shopped in an Aldi during the past 12 weeks, showing the extent to which the discounter has established itself in our retail landscape – this figure increases even further to 58.4% in the north of England where the retailer is most popular.” 

Once again Ocado claimed the top spot as the UK’s fastest growing grocer, increasing sales by 12.6% this period.  The online retailer increased its shopper base by 7% and encouraged its customers to spend £1.93 more each delivery.  Ocado’s share of the total grocery market now stands at 1.4%, while it commands 18% of all online supermarket sales.

In a tough market, Co-op also found growth: sales are 0.2% higher compared with a year ago.  Its new high-profile £3.50 burger and beer deal, which encourages shoppers to opt for barbecue favourites despite the weather, has helped bring customers into its stores more often.  At the other end of price spectrum, sales of the convenience retailer’s premium Irresistible range grew by 11% driven by strong performances for crisps and snacks, cheese and fruit.

Sainsbury’s accounted for 15.4% of supermarket sales this period.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “While each of the big four lost share, Sainsbury’s will be cheered to be the strongest performer among this cohort for the first time since November 2017.  Bucking the market-wide own-label trend, sales of branded goods at Sainsbury’s rose by 1.5%, driven by higher levels of promotion and its price lockdown strategy.”

Asda and Tesco’s sales shrunk by 1.5% and 1.6% respectively.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “It wasn’t all bad news for Asda and Tesco this period.  Asda’s online growth of 11% was notably strong while Tesco continues to find success with its cheapest own-label lines.  In fact, total sales of Tesco’s value tier were £29 million higher than this time last year.”

Already selling more items through deals than any other retailer, Morrisons increased its level of promotion this period as its overall sales fell by 2.7%.  A reduction in number of items bought per trip also contributed to this decline and its market share fell to 10.1% during the past 12 weeks.

Waitrose’s market share decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.9%.  Fraser McKevitt says: “Free-from products were a bright spot for Waitrose, and it sold 8% more items from these aisles than this time last year.   As diets change and public awareness of food intolerances continue to grow, free from products account for a greater proportion of sales at Waitrose than at any other retailer.” 

Iceland’s market share held steady at 2.1%, with sales down by 0.4% during the past 12 weeks.

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at 0.9%† for the 12-week period ending 11 August 2019. Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as crisps, canned fish and frozen fish, while falling in canned cola, instant coffee and chilled fruit juices.

ermarket sales were flat during the 12 weeks to 11 August 2019 as the tough comparisons with 2018’s strong summer continue.  

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, comments: “The memory of last year still looms large for retailers and this summer’s comparatively poor weather, combined with low levels of like-for-like price rises, have made growth hard to find for retailers.

“July’s hottest day on record wasn’t enough to shift the market into growth, but the grocers will have been encouraged by glimpses of better weather during the past four weeks which helped boost sales of summer staples like hayfever remedies, suncare and burgers by 17%, 8% and 5% respectively.”

Lidl’s sales increased by 7.7% and the discounter reached a record market share of 5.9% during the past 12 weeks.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “Lidl’s raft of new store openings has helped it attract 489,000 additional shoppers this period.  Its campaign to encourage people to do their main weekly shop at Lidl is making an impact and the average basket spend is now nearly £19, 3% higher than last year, though still significantly lower than the £22.65 average spend at the big four.  While best known for its own-label products, branded lines at Lidl grew by 19% this period and now account for 13% of the discounter’s sales with a strong presence for alcohol, toiletries, household products and soft drinks."

Meanwhile, sales at rival Aldi increased by 6.2%, supported by sales of bakery products, up 11%, and biscuits, up 13%.   Fraser McKevitt comments: “Nearly half of all households shopped in an Aldi during the past 12 weeks, showing the extent to which the discounter has established itself in our retail landscape – this figure increases even further to 58.4% in the north of England where the retailer is most popular.” 

Once again Ocado claimed the top spot as the UK’s fastest growing grocer, increasing sales by 12.6% this period.  The online retailer increased its shopper base by 7% and encouraged its customers to spend £1.93 more each delivery.  Ocado’s share of the total grocery market now stands at 1.4%, while it commands 18% of all online supermarket sales.

In a tough market, Co-op also found growth: sales are 0.2% higher compared with a year ago.  Its new high-profile £3.50 burger and beer deal, which encourages shoppers to opt for barbecue favourites despite the weather, has helped bring customers into its stores more often.  At the other end of price spectrum, sales of the convenience retailer’s premium Irresistible range grew by 11% driven by strong performances for crisps and snacks, cheese and fruit.

Sainsbury’s accounted for 15.4% of supermarket sales this period.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “While each of the big four lost share, Sainsbury’s will be cheered to be the strongest performer among this cohort for the first time since November 2017.  Bucking the market-wide own-label trend, sales of branded goods at Sainsbury’s rose by 1.5%, driven by higher levels of promotion and its price lockdown strategy.”

Asda and Tesco’s sales shrunk by 1.5% and 1.6% respectively.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “It wasn’t all bad news for Asda and Tesco this period.  Asda’s online growth of 11% was notably strong while Tesco continues to find success with its cheapest own-label lines.  In fact, total sales of Tesco’s value tier were £29 million higher than this time last year.”

Already selling more items through deals than any other retailer, Morrisons increased its level of promotion this period as its overall sales fell by 2.7%.  A reduction in number of items bought per trip also contributed to this decline and its market share fell to 10.1% during the past 12 weeks.

Waitrose’s market share decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.9%.  Fraser McKevitt says: “Free-from products were a bright spot for Waitrose, and it sold 8% more items from these aisles than this time last year.   As diets change and public awareness of food intolerances continue to grow, free from products account for a greater proportion of sales at Waitrose than at any other retailer.” 

Iceland’s market share held steady at 2.1%, with sales down by 0.4% during the past 12 weeks.

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at 0.9%† for the 12-week period ending 11 August 2019. Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as crisps, canned fish and frozen fish, while falling in canned cola, instant coffee and chilled fruit juices.

For the first time since March 2017, two Irish retailers experienced a year-on-year decline.  Tesco sales dropped 0.8% in the most recent period and SuperValu was down 0.5%.  Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar, comments: “Shoppers swayed towards shorter and more frequent grocery trips during last year’s good weather to the benefit of Tesco and SuperValu, which typically boast higher levels of shopper frequency.  But every silver lining has a cloud, and both grocers were always going to face an uphill battle to replicate that performance this year.  

“The retailers have come out fighting in response.  Tesco recently reintroduced its voucher campaign offering €10 off every €50 spent, and will be hoping a renewed focus on this type of promotion will help it capture a greater share of high value trips and move back into growth.  The average value of a shop at Tesco is currently €24, behind Aldi on €27 and some way off Dunnes, which offers a similar voucher deal, on €42. 

Meanwhile, Dunnes is the only one of the three traditional retailers to record year-on-year growth this period, with sales up 6.3%.  Douglas Faughnan continues: “Twelve months ago Dunnes was the third largest supermarket in Ireland.  Thanks to an additional 65,000 customers in the latest 12 weeks the retailer has retained top spot for the eleventh consecutive period.  The retailer typically performs strongest in the second half of the year and the run up to Christmas so has a solid base as we move towards its core trading season.”

While the average price consumers are paying has risen across the board, Lidl has seen the greatest increase as shoppers have bought more of its premium products Douglas Faughnan explains: “While Lidl has witnessed a slight rise in overall shopper numbers, its success encouraging people to trade up to its premium own label and branded lines is a key reason behind its growth.  Nearly 100,000 more shoppers bought Lidl’s top tier own label products this period compared to last, with an additional 13,000 shoppers buying branded goods as well.” 

Both Dunnes and Lidl have capitalised on a growing trend among shoppers who prefer to prepare meals from scratch.  Inspired by the success of meal kit brands and convenience cookbooks, recent package deals on the constituent ingredients for home-cooked classics like spaghetti carbonara and bolognese have been popular at both retailers.  Sales of those key meal ingredients recorded strong growth across all the retailers, with herbs up by 26%, spaghetti by 10%, passata by 15% and mince by 11% – all comfortably ahead of the overall market.

Aldi announced another two fresh produce-focused concept store openings in Ireland this month – known as Project Fresh – underlining its commitment to the category.  Sales at the retailer are up 12.8% on last year, with spend on fresh products typically outperforming overall growth.  For example, dairy products are up by more than a third, while vegetable sales have grown by 15% as Aldi continues to capture share in the sector.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, comments: “It was a challenging 12 weeks for all the major grocers, with growth slowing at every supermarket except Ocado.  The main factor behind the sales drop-off is shoppers heading out to stores less often.  Last year people shopped more frequently and closer to home as they topped up the cupboards while enjoying the sunshine and the men’s football World Cup.  This year households are making one fewer trip, which may not sound like much but is enough to tip the market into decline.  In addition, like-for-like grocery inflation fell marginally to 0.9%, which is good news for consumers but has made it harder for retailers to achieve value growth.”

The difficulties in emulating last year’s performance are evident when looking at traditional summer categories.  Most notably, consumers spent £75 million less on alcohol this year compared to last, with beer down 11% and cider down 13%.  Soft drinks sales fell by £56 million and ice cream by £55 million.  However, the cooler weather gave confectionery a chance to shine as it racked up an extra £68 million of customer spend.  Chocolate in particular grew by 15% as shoppers enjoyed a treat without having to worry about whether or not it would melt.  Despite the tough climate, branded goods also fared slightly better than the overall market, increasing sales by 0.2%. 

Lidl was the fastest growing bricks and mortar retailer this period, with sales up 7.0%.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “Lidl increased alcohol sales by 19%, bucking the market trend partially thanks to its deal offering 25% off when buying six bottles of wine, reflecting efforts the retailer is making to encourage shoppers to purchase by the trolley not the basket.  This focus is also evident through its newspaper vouchering deals, which offer a discount when people spend £20 or more.”

Aldi reached a new record share of the market, accounting for 8.1% of sales with spend up by 6.7% on last year.  Its branded lines grew particularly quickly, up 17%, although they still account for less than a tenth of Aldi’s overall sales.

Amid the market slowdown Co-op kept its run of growth going.  The retailer has now seen sales increase consistently since May last year.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “Growth of 0.2% may sound modest, but it is particularly impressive considering it comes on top of a record increase of 6.4% last year.  Co-op’s popular beer and pizza deal, which offered a full night in for only £5, sold well in 2018 and has now returned to the shelves – the retailer will be hoping this eventually translates to additional market share, which remained flat this period at 6.4%.”

Online specialist Ocado was the standout retailer this period in terms of growth, increasing sales by 11.9% and growing its shopper base by 6% over the past year.  Ocado’s business model shielded it from the effects of shoppers cutting back on unplanned and smaller trips, which has impacted the bricks and mortar retailers, and in fact Ocado’s customers are buying online more frequently than last year.

Fraser McKevitt continues: “Although sales at the big four grocers fell collectively by 2.1%, they continue to account for two-thirds of all supermarket sales and there are bright spots for all the retailers.  

“Asda’s performance faced a particularly hard comparison against last summer, when sales were growing at their fastest rate in more than six years.  However, the retailer has increased spend among more affluent ‘AB’ shoppers and achieved double-digit online sales growth, two significant boosts.  Meanwhile, Tesco now holds a 27.2% share of the market, down 0.4 percentage points on last year.  Despite this, it did find success through its value own-label ranges, including both its ‘Farm Brands’ and ‘Exclusively at Tesco’ lines, which increased by 11%.”

Sainsbury’s sales dropped by 2.3% this period, corresponding to a dip in its market share of 0.3 percentage points to 15.3%.  While frequency of customer visits did fall, Britain’s second largest retailer also attracted 254,000 additional shoppers through its doors.

At the same time, sales at Morrisons fell by 2.6% taking its market share down to 10.3%, a loss of 0.2 percentage points.  Fraser McKevitt points out: “Morrisons continues to sell more on promotion than any other retailer.  Currently 47% of spend through the tills is linked to a deal, and this proportion is still increasing in contrast to many of its rivals.  In addition, confectionery sales at Morrisons outperformed the already buoyant market.”

Iceland sales fell by 1.5%, with its market share staying flat at 2.1%.  Meanwhile, sales at Waitrose declined by 1.9% and the retailer’s market share did not move from 5.0%.

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at 0.9%† for the 12-week period ending 14 July 2019. Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as crisps, canned fish and fruit squash, while falling in instant coffee, detergents and fresh bacon.

Douglas Faughnan consumer insight director at Kantar comments: “Last June was one of the hottest in years, with over 100 more hours of sunshine than the year before.  The first half of June this year has been a different story, with fewer opportunities to sunbathe and socialise outdoors.  This has led to sales of ice cream and sun care products declining dramatically on last year – down 9.2% and 38.0% respectively.”

“Drinks sales have also experienced a slowdown.  While cider was a particularly popular choice this time last year, its current growth of 0.1% is considerably lower than the 14% experienced last summer.”

However, while there is no men’s World Cup this year, Irish retailers have benefited from four English teams reaching the finals of major European football competitions.  By stocking up on snacks and treats, football fans helped sales of crisps to increase by 2.5%, popcorn by 6.4% and soft drinks by 5.0% in the most recent 12 weeks.

Dunnes’ impressive growth of 7.2% is underpinned by a substantial increase in spend per buyer.  Douglas Faughnan continues: “The average Dunnes shopper spent almost €20 more this period compared with the same time last year through a combination of higher prices, bigger trolleys and more frequent trips - shoppers on average bought an additional six items from Dunnes this period.

The average Tesco customer made one additional trip to the retailer in the most recent 12 weeks compared with last year, contributing to growth of 3.0%.  However, while there has been an increase in how often shoppers visit, this has been tempered by them spending €0.80 less each time.  Tesco has successfully cashed in on Irish shoppers’ appetite for soft drinks this period, with carbonated beverages and mineral water growing by 17.5% and 11.9% respectively.

Meanwhile, Aldi and Lidl’s rise shows no sign of abating.  The retailers registered growth of 13.3% and 5.8% respectively this period.  Douglas Faughnan explains: “Aldi now accounts for 12.3% of overall grocery sales in Ireland and has enjoyed particularly strong growth in more indulgent categories over the past 12 weeks.  In particular, sales of biscuits grew by 20%, chocolate confectionery by 50%, and morning goods like croissants were up 23%.

“Lidl’s 11.7% share has been underpinned by strong performance in Munster, which now accounts for 26.1% of the retailer’s overall sales.  However Dublin remains Lidl’s heartland and is responsible for almost a third of its sales.  In-store bakeries continue to help the retailer to stand out.  Bakery products are up by 15% year on year, predominantly driven by an 18.2% increase in bread sales.”

Growth of 1.9% for SuperValu was the highest rate the retailer has seen since August 2018, and the retailer registered a market share of 21.1% this period.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, comments: “The modest level of current growth is thanks in no small part to the wet start to the summer, with last year’s heatwave and the run up to the men’s FIFA World Cup making 2018 a difficult year to top. These challenges are reflected in typical summer categories: in the past four weeks sales of ice cream were £15 million lower than this time last year, while beer is down £17 million and burgers £6 million.

“However, even unseasonable clouds have a silver lining. Shoppers sought refuge from the cooler weather and spent more on traditional comfort foods, with fresh and tinned soup sales up by 8% and 16% respectively.”

Aldi attracted an additional 883,000 shoppers through its doors this 12 week period, with sales up 9.3%.  This helped the retailer to grow its market share to 7.9%, up by 0.5 percentage points on one year ago. Fraser McKevitt continues: “Aldi’s announcement that it is rolling out more small, ‘Local’ format stores in London looks like an attempt to increase its share in the capital, where it currently takes home just one out of every £30 of supermarket spend.  Grocery sales growth in London currently stands at 4% year on year, nearly three times the national rate, showing why all retailers see the capital as a major area of potential.”

Rival discounter Lidl, having recently announced plans for a flagship store on Tottenham Court Road in central London, also has eyes on the capital’s convenience market. However, Lidl’s current ‘Big on the Big Shop’ advertising campaign is focused on increasing the number of large shopping trips it attracts. Nearly two-thirds of its current growth is from shoppers spending more than £25 in one go, and Lidl clearly sees value in encouraging a weekly shop. Overall the retailer enjoyed another strong period, with sales up by 7.5%, lifting its market share to 5.7%.  

Growing by 3.0%, Co-op also increased its market share, now commanding 6.2% of British grocery sales. Fraser McKevitt explains: “Co-op is continuing to enjoy success in London and the South, where new store openings have helped make the region its largest area of growth. The convenience retailer already boasts the highest shopper frequency in the market as customers regularly pop in for smaller baskets and this has increased even further in the latest period: the average shopper stopped by 22 times over the course of 12 weeks.”   

Online specialist Ocado was the UK’s fastest growing supermarket, with sales growth of 11.3% comfortably ahead of the overall e-commerce market at 6%. However, only 3% of British shoppers currently buy from the retailer, something it will be looking to build on when it begins to stock M&S products next year. The remaining retailer to enjoy growth this period was Iceland, with sales up by 0.6%, although its market share slipped by 0.1 percentage points to 2.1%.

Tesco sales were flat year-on-year despite an increase in volumes sold. This was caused by the average price paid per pack falling as sales of its value own label lines like Eastman’s and Redmere Farms increased by 11%, and its ‘100 Years of Great Value’campaign continued to offer lower prices. Tesco remained the country’s largest retailer, although its market share fell by 0.4 percentage points to 27.3%.

Sainsbury’s saw its sales fall by 0.6% in the latest 12 weeks, halving the rate of decline it registered last month. This is because of an increase in the number of affluent consumers visiting the retailer, with ‘AB’ shoppers increasing spend by 2% this period. Fraser McKevitt elaborates: “The rise in wealthier shoppers bodes well for Sainsbury’s and its plans to shake up its fresh offer, which will place more emphasis on counters, bakeries and food to go. The retailer will be hoping this provides another reason for shoppers to visit.”  

Meanwhile, Asda’s sales fell by 0.1% though it will be buoyed by the performance of its online arm, which enjoyed double-digit growth of 10%. Asda’s share of the overall market fell by 0.2 percentage points to 14.9%, while Morrisons’ sales decreased by 0.5%, lowering its share to 10.4% of grocery sales.

Waitrose’s share this period slipped back by 0.1 percentage points to 5.0%, with sales remaining flat compared to a year ago.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “Waitrose received good publicity this month for its trial of packaging-free goods in one of its Oxford stores, where shoppers were encouraged to bring their own containers. Six per cent of the retailer’s sales are already sold loose, a greater proportion than any of its rivals, showing an appetite for more sustainable packaging among its customers.”  

Ends

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at 1.0%† for the 12-week period ending 16 June 2019. Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as crisps, bottled cola and dog food, while falling in instant coffee, fresh bacon and detergents.

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar comments: “The strength of Dunnes, Aldi and Lidl – retailers at opposite ends of the price spectrum – is a surprising quirk of the Irish grocery market.  Dunnes has showed little interest in going head-to-head with Aldi and Lidl on price, instead preferring to carve out its position as Ireland’s premium food retailer through smart acquisitions and partnerships with upmarket brands such as Sheridans Cheesemongers and James Whelan Butchers.  At the same time, it is making a clear attempt to prevent losing price-conscious shoppers through its Everyday Savers range.”

Meanwhile, both Aldi and Lidl continue to capture market share through competitive price initiatives like Aldi’s Super 6 initiative and Lidl’s Super Savers.  While value is still central to both retailers, the premium tier has become more of a focus.  Douglas Faughnan continues: “As Aldi and Lidl have grown, they have placed an increased emphasis on their premium own label and branded ranges.  This is a clear attempt to capture more spend from those shoppers who, while seeking value, are also prepared to splash out on certain occasions.  While on the surface Dunnes, Aldi and Lidl have different appeals, they are all targeting the same shoppers and tailoring ranges to reflect that.”  

Tesco grew sales by 3.6% in the past 12 weeks, narrowing the gap with Dunnes to just 0.2 percentage points.  Meanwhile, SuperValu’s growth of 0.9% puts the Musgrave-owned retailer on a positive footing for the second consecutive period ahead of the summer, when it traditionally performs strongly. 

Increased volume sales have been key to Tesco’s success, up by 4.8% over the past 12 weeks, and a shift in promotional strategy is also clear.  While the overall quantity of goods sold on offer has fallen, multibuy deals which encourage shoppers to buy more items are up by a quarter, while Y for €X deals increased by 19%.

Following a dip in sales in March, SuperValu continued to move in the right direction.  Douglas Faughnan elaborates: “A key feature of SuperValu’s performance has been the 7.1% uplift in the value of each trip – on average shoppers spend an additional €1.60 every time they visit compared with the same period last year.” 

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar, comments: “With both the St Patrick’s Day Bank Holiday and the Easter weekend giving shoppers cause for celebration over the past 12 weeks, there have been plenty of excuses for people to get in store and spend.  Shopper visits to the major retailers grew by 1.3% on last year, yielding an additional €28.7 million of value.  Consumers spent a total of €44 million on Easter eggs leading up to Easter Sunday, while fresh lamb, a traditional favourite, generated €29 million.”

Dunnes posted sales growth of 6.1% on its way to retaining the number one position – the highest increase the retailer has seen since November 2016.  Douglas Faughnan explains: “Dunnes has continued to push towards premium items through its Simply Better collection and partnerships with specialists like James Whelan Butchers and Sheridans Cheesemongers.  Encouragingly for Dunnes, shoppers appear to be happy to spend more in-store.  The average price paid at the retailer is up 1.9% on last year, generating an extra €10 million in sales.”

Douglas Faughnan continues: “Tesco’s growth of 2.8% is its strongest of the year so far.  It’s all the more impressive that the retailer has managed to maintain increasing sales considering at this time last year it was growing at 6.2%.  Tesco’s own label offer now accounts for 47% of its sales and is increasing at 4.3%, boosting the retailer’s overall performance.”

SuperValu’s return to growth this period was bolstered by a robust performance in fresh food.  Fresh lamb, fish and beef sales were up by 13.2%, 12.8% and 11.0% respectively – underpinning the retailer’s reputation as a traditionally strong performer among Easter dinner staples.

 Aldi and Lidl, while continuing to perform strongly in Dublin, are making major gains outside of the capital as well.  Douglas Faughnan comments: “Growth of 18% for Aldi in the Connaught and Ulster region was the strongest increase recorded by any retailer in any one region, while Lidl’s 13% growth in Munster makes it the fastest growing grocer in the southern provinces.”

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, comments: “Shoppers indulged in £335 million worth of Easter eggs and seasonal chocolate during the 12 weeks and the average household took home 10 such treats during the longer build up from February to the holiday weekend.  The warm weather over the Easter break helped boost sales of ice cream by 8% and hay fever remedies by 27% during the past four weeks as families made the most of the sunshine.”

Growth of 8.6% pushed Lidl’s market share to a new high of 5.7%, up 0.3 percentage points compared with last year.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “Half of Lidl’s sales now come from the fresh and chilled aisles and its performance this period was fuelled by customers spending an extra £14 million on dairy items and £13 million on fruit, vegetables and salads.  Fellow discounter Aldi was again the fastest growing supermarket, a position it has held since July 2018.   Aided by its store-opening programme, Aldi attracted an additional 823,000 shoppers through its doors to grow sales by 11.6% and increase its market share by 0.6 percentage points to 7.9%.”

Co-op and Ocado were the only other retailers to gain market share on last year, moving to 6.1% and 1.3% respectively.  Fraser McKevitt comments: “Co-op has been able to capitalise on periods of warmer weather as people shop closer to home and, with a 4.5% increase during the past 12 weeks, it has now grown sales continuously for a full year.  Its ‘Irresistible’ range, especially crisps, snacks, biscuits and pizzas, proved particularly popular, up 11% on last year.  The convenience retailer continues to perform well when it comes to small shopping baskets, accounting for 17% of all trips where people spend less than £20.”  

As the dust settles following last week’s CMA decision, Tesco’s position as the UK’s largest supermarket remains secure.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “More than three quarters of British households visited Tesco in the past 12 weeks, over five million more than each of its two closest rivals.  Though sales were up 1.0%, growth was behind the market which meant a loss of share compared with last year to 27.3%.

“Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s and Asda are continuing to battle it out for second place.  Two thirds of the public were aware of the proposed merger: the majority of those who knew about the CMA ruling didn’t have an opinion as to whether it was a good or bad outcome, while only one third welcomed the decision.

“Sainsbury’s has reclaimed second position despite a sales decline of 1.2%.  The supermarket achieved double-digit growth online which coincides with the launch of its first mobile-only payment store in central London this week, further demonstrating its drive towards digital innovation.”

Asda increased sales by 0.3% to take market share of 15.2%.  Fraser McKevitt comments: “The average Asda shopping basket increased in value and shoppers visited more often.  Asda remains strong in its northern heartland with the north of England and Scotland accounting for more than 40% of sales.

“Despite movement at the top of the table, the phrase ‘big four’ continues to hold meaning and Morrisons’ 10.3% market share means it sits comfortably ahead of the fifth largest retailer, Aldi.   Alcohol sales were the biggest contributor to Morrisons’ 0.6% growth this period.”

Sales at Iceland and Waitrose rose by 1.4% and 0.7% respectively with Iceland holding market share of 2.1% and Waitrose falling back by 0.1 percentage points to 5.0%.

Food and drink products are there to fulfil a purpose. Which products you choose to fulfil that purpose depends on a complex combination of who you are and what’s important to you. Add in who you’re with, when and where you are, and the needs you have at the point contribute to the decision about what to consume or buy.  

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar, comments: “If the early evidence is anything to go on, spring 2019 could be a bumper period for the Irish grocery market.  The late Easter hasn’t stopped retailers promoting seasonal favourites – the holiday weekend is still two weeks away but already over half of Irish households have stocked up on Easter Eggs.  

“So far the grocers have been focusing their efforts on multibuy offers to encourage shoppers to splash out a little earlier than they usually would.  This has proven successful to date: over €15 million has been spent on Easter Eggs in 2019 and 41% of these have been bought as part of a deal.”

The St Patrick’s Day bank holiday weekend also provided an opportunity for retailers to entice shoppers into stores.  Many promotional campaigns focused on the provenance of Irish breakfast staples, which saw two-thirds of the population buying either fresh sausages, bacon rashers or black and white pudding. 

Douglas Faughnan continues: “Alcohol always features prominently around St Patrick’s Day, and in the week to the 17 March sales of beer, lager and cider hit their highest point since the New Year.  This helped overall sales for the month to 24 March eclipse the €25 million mark.”

With growth of 11.0%, Aldi was again the best performing retailer and now has a market share of 12.1%, breaking the 12% barrier in Ireland for the first time.  Douglas Faughnan comments: “While Aldi is popular with every demographic group, it is with younger shoppers that it is growing fastest.  This cohort now accounts for 16% of the retailer’s overall sales, having grown by 22.7% over the latest 12 weeks – demonstrating its growing appeal to shoppers beyond just its core family target.”

Lidl saw sales rise by 6.2% making it the second fastest growing retailer this period.  Lidl now accounts for 11.8% of the market, its highest share since August last year, although slightly lower than the 12% it reached in July 2017.  Brands continue to play a major role in its success, now accounting for just under one out of every 10 items bought after growth of 28% on last year.

Dunnes Stores sustained its strong performance and held its place as Ireland’s largest grocer for the seventh consecutive period.  In contrast to Aldi and Lidl, Dunnes’ growth has been driven by private label sales, which went up by 9.2% over the past 12 weeks.  Douglas Faughnan comments: “Dunnes’ current run in pole position beats the five consecutive periods in which the retailer topped the charts between November and February last year.  This goes to show that its appeal to shoppers is broadening beyond the key Christmas period when it has historically performed strongest.“

Meanwhile, Tesco and SuperValu recorded relatively flat performance compared with the rest of the market.  Growth of 0.6% at Tesco was underlined by a strong performance in fresh produce, with fruit and vegetables up by 5.5% and 4.4% respectively.

Douglas Faughnan continues: “SuperValu has been impacted most by the late Easter this year. The Musgrave-owned retailer was number one this time in 2018 and typically performs strongly in the run up to Easter.  The retailer also benefitted disproportionately from the adverse weather brought on by the Beast from the East 12 months ago, as shoppers topped up via their local and independent stores rather than larger supermarkets.  The absence of such circumstances this year has likely contributed to SuperValu’s sales decline of 0.

Commenting on the new brand strategy, Kantar CEO Eric Salama said:

“The change in our branding reflects the operational changes already happening across our company, and is driven by a desire to achieve simplicity, scale and impact for our clients. This one change will make Kantar easier for clients to understand and work with. Removing barriers to co-creation and purposeful collaboration across our organisation will make it easier for Kantar to build platforms and offers globally that address our clients’ most pressing needs.”

Today’s announcement follows recent Kantar-wide initiatives including:

• The launch of Kantar Marketplace, a new global on-demand research and insights store.
• Kantar’s new Brand Guidance Systems that intelligently integrates validated survey measures with social, search, sales, media, behavioural data to provide actionable insights when they’re needed to optimise brand or campaign performance.
• The integration of big data, artificial intelligence and analytical capabilities from across the company into one organisation that unlocks deeper insights to fuel business growth.

Mandy Pooler, CMO, Kantar, added:

“Together, Kantar understands more about how people think, feel, shop, share, vote and view than any other company. Simplifying our brand strategy is a subtle, but important signal of our evolution and our mission – inspiring the world’s most important organisations by providing the most complete understanding of the people they serve”.

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar, comments: “While families were willing to splurge in the run up to Christmas, January has seen them cut back – the average household spent €120 less on groceries during the four weeks to 27 January than in December.  Shoppers were less likely to reach for more expensive branded and premium products, with sales falling 28% and 31% compared with December 2018.

“After an indulgent festive period, many Irish shoppers started the year with good intentions and January sales of fruit and vegetables were up €7 million year on year.  Vegetable side dishes and vegetarian sausages and burgers collectively rose by 35% and, amid the rising popularity of Veganuary, sales of plant-based milks were 40% higher than in January 2018.

“Dry January may have dominated headlines and social media feeds but not everyone abstained – more than a third of Irish households bought either beer, cider or wine in January.  Wine proved to be the most popular – 25% of shoppers took home at least one bottle during the past four weeks.”

Aldi and Lidl’s strong performance continues into the New Year

Aldi and Lidl continue to gain market share and more than 70% of Irish households shopped at both during the past 12 weeks.  Douglas Faughnan comments: “Aldi and Lidl have demonstrated their popularity at two distinctly different times of year – December and January – by providing shoppers with opportunities to both indulge and save.  Both retailers achieved record market share over Christmas and that strong performance has continued into the new year – Aldi increased sales by 10% and Lidl by 5.2%.”

Dunnes was the only other retailer to gain market share this period, attracting enough new shoppers to boost its sales by 4%.  Douglas Faughnan explains: “Dunnes continues to engender loyalty among its existing shoppers with its strong premium own label and branded ranges.  Crucially, the retailer has won over new shoppers as well, welcoming an extra 20,000 households through its doors compared with last year.”

Despite the number of Tesco and SuperValu customers both remaining flat, the retailers increased sales by 1.5% and 1.3% respectively.  This growth was derived from different sources – just under 70% of Tesco’s rise in sales came from its own label ranges while SuperValu was supported by its branded sales.

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar, comments: “Irish shoppers showed a willingness to splash out over the festive break.  Branded and premium private label ranges grew by 3.8% and 11.2% respectively as shoppers spoiled themselves and their families over Christmas.  The market also benefited from continued inflation, with prices up 1.6% compared with last year.”  

The popularity of classic Christmas staples continued to endure, with mince pie sales rising by more than 10%.  Meanwhile, seasonal biscuit ranges grew by 11% and shoppers spent almost €2 million on Christmas puddings alone.

Douglas Faughnan continues, “The fact that Christmas fell on a Tuesday meant shoppers could take advantage of a full weekend of trading before the big day, and Saturday 22 December proved the most popular day for Christmas grocery shopping.  The Irish public spent an additional €25 million compared with the previous Saturday, making it the biggest trading day of the year with €75 million going through tills.”

For the second Christmas in a row and the fourth consecutive period overall Dunnes was Ireland’s leading retailer, accounting for 23% of the grocery market – its highest Christmas share since 2013. Dunnes was the only one of the three biggest retailers to see a rise in shopper numbers, with almost 31,000 extra households visiting its stores compared to last year.  The retailer also performed strongly in the key battleground of Dublin, accounting for 27.2% of grocery sales in the capital.

Tesco and Supervalu recorded market shares of 22.3% and 21.8% respectively.  Despite showing a share decline on last year, both posted sales growth with Tesco’s performance primarily bolstered by its private label ranges, which contributed 57% of overall growth, and its premium Tesco Finest offering, which grew by 4.8%.  Meanwhile, SuperValu will have benefited from any last-minute top up shopping on Christmas Eve due to its convenient store network and strong fresh food offering.

Aldi and Lidl were the strongest performing retailers over the 12 week period, with growth of 8.8% and 4.6% respectively meaning both retailers achieved their highest ever Christmas share.  Douglas Faughnan comments, “The impact Aldi and Lidl have made on the ultra-competitive Irish grocery landscape is evidenced by the fact that more than 70% of households visited each retailer in the 12 weeks to 30 December.  

“Own label products still account for the majority of both retailers’ sales, but it was the premium end of these lines which recorded the strongest growth.  Similarly, sales of branded goods accounted for more than 40% of the growth achieved for both Aldi and Lidl – testament to the popularity of their ever expanding ranges.”

Ends

An update on inflation

Grocery market inflation stands at +1.56 % for the 12 week period ending 30 December 2018.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight, commented: “Despite the supermarket sector growing at 1.6% – its slowest rate since March 2017 – the retailers clocked in another record-breaking Christmas as households racked up an average spend of £383 in grocery bills for the month of December.  Saturday 22 December proved to be the busiest shopping day of the year: more than half of all households visited one of the grocers in a last-minute Christmas dash, with 1.7 million additional customers walking through the aisles compared to the Saturday before.   

“Although the grocers achieved record sales, overall spend was actually tempered by lower inflation of 1.3% – that’s less than half the level of like-for-like inflation of 3.6% which was recorded in Christmas 2017.  This slower inflation rate helped shoppers to manage their festive budgets, with 60% of customers looking to make savvier decisions to make their money go further over the holidays.” 

Seasonal confectionery hit the mark with shoppers – up 7% – while non-alcoholic beer and Christmas puddings clocked in sales of £7.6 million and £40.8 million respectively.  Meanwhile whole turkeys fell out of favour and experienced a drop of 7% as some shoppers opted for smaller joints, such as crowns, in a bid to crack down on endless leftovers.    

Although growing at half the rate of last year, premium own-label lines still increased by 3.7% over the 12-week period – hitting a record £1.1 billion in sales – as customers looked to trade up on quality for their Christmas dinner.  Fraser McKevitt adds: “Asda’s ‘Extra Special’ range was the fastest growing of any premium line of the major retailers, helping the supermarket achieve growth of 0.7% and come out top among the big four.  Asda was also bolstered by a standout online performance as its e-commerce sales rocketed by 12%.” 

Almost neck and neck with Asda, Tesco experienced growth of 0.6% boosted by an extra 125,000 customers shopping at the supermarket, particularly at its larger stores.  Tesco was the only retailer which increased its promotional activity year-on-year, bringing in discounts such as its 29-pence pricing strategy on vegetables.  Tesco’s market share now stands at 27.8% – down 0.3 percentage points compared with this time last year.

Sainsbury’s market share dropped by 0.3 percentage points as sales fell by 0.4%.  With the Competition Market Authority’s verdict on the proposed Sainsbury’s-Asda merger predicted to be published in February, all eyes will be trained on Sainsbury’s over the next few weeks.  Meanwhile, Morrisons market share declined by 0.2 percentage points to 10.6% despite sales growth of 0.1%.

Fraser McKevitt comments: “The discounters have continued to make their mark over Christmas: two-thirds of all households shopped at either Aldi or Lidl over the 12-week period culminating in a highest-ever combined Christmas market share of 12.8%.  With sales up 10.4%, Aldi narrowly won the crown of the fastest-growing supermarket and it appears its marketing efforts are paying off – at least when it comes to vegetables.  The return of Kevin the Carrot contributed to an 18% increase in carrot sales and nearly one in five households bought the vegetable at the discounter.”

Lidl experienced growth of 9.4%.  Nearly one-third of the supermarket’s December growth came through sales of branded products while its ‘Deluxe’ line saw sales jump by 33% over the month.  Meanwhile, Co-op was the only retailer to beat its 2017 growth rate, and this now stands at 3.2%.  The retailer’s market share increased for the seventh period in a row, most recently up by 0.1 percentage points to 5.9%.  With 100 new stores set to open this year – a third of which will be in London and the south east – Co-op could see its good fortunes continue into 2019.

Iceland now accounts for 2.3% of the market – up 0.1 percentage points compared with this time last year.  Four-fifths of its growth came from its non-frozen lines as perceptions of the retailer continue to shift.  Sales at Waitrose dropped 1.7% and it now holds market share of 5.0% – down 0.2 percentage points.  Meanwhile, Ocado’s market share fell by 0.1 percentage points despite growth of 1.3%. 

Fraser McKevitt continues: “Unlike its high street counterpart, the grocery market has been less affected by the move to online.  Although e-commerce is growing – up 3.9% compared to this time last year – online grocery shopping is failing to attract new customers.  Instead, growth stemmed from existing customers spending an additional £9.07 over the month of December.  Though not included in our till roll data set, Amazon remains one to watch as its FMCG sales jumped by 16% over the 12-week period.”

Ends

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at +1.3%† for the 12 week period ending 30 December 2018. Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as cola, fresh lamb and batteries, while falling in fresh bacon and pork, instant coffee and fruit.

Dunnes held on to top spot despite stiff competition from SuperValu, which saw sales growth of 1.3% solidify its position as Ireland’s second largest retailer, with an overall share of 21.7%.  Tesco’s slightly more modest growth of 0.3% means it remains in third place, with the retailer now accounting for 21.6% of the market.

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar, comments: “Promotions continue to play an important role among the traditional retailers as they try to attract new shoppers and encourage customers to spend more in store.  SuperValu has performed strongest here, with the average value of a trip to the retailer increasing by €1.56 to €24.20 this period.  As preparations for Christmas accelerate during December that figure is only likely to rise.  

“However, Dunnes’ long-running vouchering program means shoppers spend significantly more on each trip there than at any other retailer.  Dunnes’ average spend per trip of €42.60 is one of the main reasons the retailer has retained the number one spot this period.”

Elsewhere among the retailers, Aldi and Lidl were the strongest performers for the second consecutive period.  While the two traditionally rely on sales of private label products, both have made a clear effort to attract more shoppers by diversifying and increasing their branded ranges.  Brands now account for 12.1% of overall sales at Lidl and 9.2% of sales at Aldi, up from 11% and 6.8% respectively in 2017. 

Overall, the grocery market grew by 2.9% in the latest 12 weeks.  This represents the strongest performance since the 3.1% growth rate recorded in July during one of the hottest summers on record.  With December typically being the most lucrative month of the year for the grocery market, this year looks as if it could set a new benchmark.  Last December generated €968.2 million for retailers, and all the signs so far indicate that this year Irish households will break the €1 billion threshold for the first time.

Douglas Faughnan continues: “The summer heatwave provided the grocery market with a solid platform for what could be a bumper festive period.  With Christmas Day falling on a Tuesday this year, this gives retailers one full extra day of trading to look forward to.  As the 25 December fell on a Monday last year, Friday and Saturday were the two biggest trading days for the major grocers.  However, with the big day coming on Tuesday this time around, we expect most households to do the bulk of their Christmas grocery shopping on the Saturday and Sunday – with extra sales on the Monday representing a welcome Christmas bonus for retailers.”

Ends

An update on inflation

Grocery market inflation stands at +1.0% for the 12 week period ending 2 December 2018.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar comments: “Consumers are benefiting from falling inflation.  It now stands at 1.6% – less than half the rate of inflation in December 2017, when it reached 3.6% – leading to a slowdown in the overall market.  Over the summer shoppers upped their weekly trips to the grocers as they took advantage of the hot weather, but with the mercury dropping the number of trips has tailed off – again contributing to waning market growth.”

Black Friday – which fell on 23 November – saw footfall to the entertainment, toy and electrical retailers nearly double, but had little impact on the supermarkets.  While the majority of households did take part in Black Friday, e-commerce trumped bricks-and-mortar shopping for non-FMCG products*.

Despite the grocery market slowdown, Christmas spending is still expected to break records.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “The last time Christmas Day fell on a Tuesday was in 2012 and the Saturday before was the busiest shopping day of the year.  We expect the same trend to hold true this year, with Saturday 22 December pulling in the last-minute Christmas crowds. 

“Because of the way Christmas falls, grocers have an extra trading day this year meaning overall sales in December – up to and including Christmas Eve – could reach £10 billion.  Despite an uncertain political climate taking its toll on consumer confidence, shoppers are still willing to spend that little bit extra on more expensive goods.  Total premium own-label lines are growing at 5.5%, which could lead to record sales in this price tier of £1.1 billion over the 12-week period.”  

There are already tell-tale signs of a bumper Christmas: over the month of November, sales of festive favourites jumped as shoppers began stocking up in preparation for Christmas.  More than one in eight households have already bought a Christmas pudding, while boxed chocolate and Brussel sprout sales have reached £292 million and £18 million respectively. 

Meanwhile, the discounters continue to perform well, with both Aldi and Lidl experiencing double-digit growth over the last 12 weeks.  Fraser McKevitt adds: “Boosted by a number of store openings in November, Aldi maintained its position as the fastest-growing supermarket and saw its market share rise by 0.7 percentage points to 7.6%.  Lidl’s market share also jumped – up 0.5 percentage points to 5.6% – with sales of the supermarket’s premium Deluxe line experiencing particularly strong growth of 24%.”

Buoyed by sales growth of 1.5%, Asda led the big four pack and held market share at 15.0%.  Tesco and Sainsbury’s both saw sales fall, down 0.1% and 0.2% respectively.  Tesco’s market share now stands at 27.6% compared to this time last year, while Sainsbury’s clocks in at 16.0%.  

Fraser McKevitt continues: “One of only three retailers to win market share this period, Co-op increased sales by 4.5% and attracted an additional 298,000 shoppers through its doors.  Meanwhile, Morrisons’ sales increase of 0.5% now marks two years of continual growth for the retailer, though compared with this time last year its market share has fallen by 0.1 percentage points.”

Iceland increased sales for the ninth consecutive period, holding market share steady at 2.2%.  Waitrose sales fell by 0.7% and overall market share dropped to 4.9%.  Online specialist Ocado experienced sales growth of 3.4%.  Overall online FMCG sales jumped by 3.7% compared with this time last year, meaning e-commerce’s share of grocery sales reached a record high of 7.4% in the latest 12 weeks. 

Ends

*Data on Black Friday is based on behavioural and questionnaire responses from a continuous panel of 38,643 adults (aged 18+) in Great Britain conducted by Kantar Worldpanel Plus through the Shoppix app. Data was analysed over the 16 weeks to 25 November 2018. 

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at +1.6%† for the 12 week period ending 2 December 2018. Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as cola, sparkling wine and dog food, while falling in fresh pork, ambient cooking sauces and fruit.

The biggest contributors to FMCG e-commerce growth are China Mainland and the US, which both grew at 30% – in line with the average growth rate for global online FMCG sales over the past half decade. In terms of online share of total sales, Asian economies lead the way. South Korea tops of the table with an online value market share of 19.9% followed by China Mainland (9.5%), where access to rural areas is crucial in expanding e-commerce penetration. Taiwan (8.0%), Japan (7.6%), the UK (7.2%) and France (5.6%) follow.

FMCG value growth

Source: Kantar Worldpanel, 12 months ending June 2018

Online FMCG value sales, % of total FMCG sales

Source: Kantar Worldpanel, 12 months ending June 2018

Pure players beat traditional competitors to drive online growth
Online pure players like Amazon, Alibaba and JD.com are attracting new shoppers while traditional retailers are seeing a decline in online customers. In Asia, pure players have made significant steps in consolidating their market growth over the past year – in South Korea alone, pure players now account for 84.5% of the online FMCG market and are attracting three out of four online grocery shoppers.

Pure players vs traditional retailers (brick and mortar and e-commerce offer), % value share of online

Source: Kantar Worldpanel, 12 months ending June 2018

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Over the past year just over one in eight households from the Republic of Ireland made at least one trip north of the border to do a grocery shop.  That equates to more than 207,000 shoppers.  

“While these excursions account for a relatively small percentage of each family’s supermarket visits – on average, eight out of 270 annual trips – they spend substantially more when they cross the border.  Shoppers from the Republic spent €38.50 on an average shop in Northern Ireland while the average spend back home is €23.70. This is likely to be because they want to make the extra effort worthwhile.”

Alcohol is the biggest attraction for shoppers looking for a cross-border bargain.  Douglas Faughnan explains: “Of the €65 million spent by Republic of Ireland shoppers in Northern Ireland over the past year, a quarter went on alcohol, adding up to just over €16 million.  No other food or drink category comes close, with dairy products accounting for the next largest share of cross-border spend, at 5.9%.”

The strength of the euro against sterling over the past two years has made cross-border shopping even more appealing, but there have been benefits for those spending in the Republic as well. Douglas Faughnan explains: “The cost of importing products to Ireland from Britain has fallen while goods made in Ireland with British ingredients have typically been cheaper to produce.  This has allowed retailers to pass savings on to their customers – vital in such a competitive market – and as a result grocery prices in Ireland have for the most part been falling since March 2017.

“However, for only the second time in 21 months, grocery prices have increased, suggesting the prolonged period of grocery price deflation may be coming to an end.”

Fright night provides €30m boost

In the four weeks of trading that preceded Halloween, the holiday generated an uplift of almost €30 million for supermarkets.  Consumers stocked up on supplies for parties and trick or treating and confectionery sales were up 4% compared with the same period last year.  Meanwhile, 17% of Irish households bought a pumpkin this Halloween, spending a collective €1.5 million on the seasonal vegetable.  

Douglas Faughnan comments: “With Halloween wrapped up and the arrival of the much-anticipated Christmas TV adverts this week, Irish shoppers are already getting excited for the festive season.  In fact, more than 50,000 people had already bought a Christmas pudding by the 4November.”

Aldi and Lidl record strongest growth

Aldi and Lidl have had a strong start to the run up to Christmas, increasing sales by 5.5% and 4.3% respectively during the 12 weeks ending 4 November 2018.  This is the second consecutive period when Aldi has been the best performing retailer, a feat it last achieved in August 2017.  The grocer captured 11.7% of the overall market, with Lidl accounting for 11.7% of sales.

Dunnes improved on its 3.4% growth last period, with overall sales up 3.6%, ensuring the retailer remains in pole position as the battle for number one spot at Christmas intensifies.  Meanwhile, SuperValu and Tesco accounted for 21.4% and 21.3% of total sales respectively.

 An update on inflation

Grocery market inflation stands at +0.21% for the 12 week period ending 4 November 2018.

Will Galgey, head of Kantar Insights for UK and Ireland, comments: “David has proven to be a successful leader at Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland over the past five years and has a very strong reputation in the market.  He has also built a skilled and highly engaged team in Dublin and is excited to now have the opportunity to support and develop the Kantar Millward Brown Ireland team.”

Tim Kidd, managing director of Kantar Worldpanel Europe and US, said of the appointment: “For our clients to retain a commercial advantage in an increasingly challenging environment we need to offer them unique, tailored services that set them apart from their competitors.  David’s new role will bring closer together the expertise of Kantar Worldpanel and Kantar Millward Brown in Ireland.  This will not only arm our customers with the tools to make informed decisions about the direction of their companies, but open up new avenues of growth for both Kantar brands.”  

Kantar Worldpanel’s demographically representative panels track the shopping habits of consumers across the country, recording how people shop and why.  It provides the most accurate read of the British and Irish grocery markets and also offers detailed analysis of the telecoms, entertainment, out of home, fashion and beauty sectors. 

Dunnes posted strong sales growth of 3.4% over the latest period, propelling the retailer to an overall market share of 22.1%.

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Dunnes traditionally performs strongly over the festive period and the retailer may feel like Christmas has come early this year. While it is too soon to assess the full impact of its new Everyday Savers offer, which prices many own brand everyday items at a euro or less, Dunnes’ continued focus on shopper campaigns has helped to attract an extra 14,000 shoppers this period.”

SuperValu, whose owner Musgrave recently acquired high-end Dublin-based grocer Donnybrook Fair, accounted for 21.4% of Irish grocery sales in the most recent 12 weeks, however the retailer still under trades in the capital. Douglas Faughnan explains: “Although SuperValu holds a 26.0% share in its Munster heartland, the retailer is less represented in Dublin, where it only accounts for 19.4% of sales. By contrast, Tesco and Dunnes perform more strongly in the capital, with shares of 23.6% and 26.1% respectively. Musgrave will be hoping its latest acquisition can help SuperValu make up ground in this area.”

Meanwhile, sales growth of 4.5% has helped Aldi to achieve a record market share of 11.8% in the most recent period. The retailer’s Swap & Save campaign, which challenges shoppers to see how much they could save by switching to Aldi, has clearly had an impact. The grocer attracted an additional 28,000 shoppers through its doors, with over 80% of its growth in the past 12 weeks coming through family shoppers.

After six consecutive periods at the top, Tesco was the second-largest supermarket in the most recent period, accounting for 21.5% of total grocery sales. With online grocery sales up 15% compared to this time last year, the retailer will be hoping its latest e-commerce initiative further increases its dominance of online grocery in Ireland.

Douglas Faughnan continues: “Tesco’s recent announcement of free delivery for over 65s when they spend €50 or more shows it is looking to further cash in on the growth of online shopping in Ireland. Although just 2.4% of grocery retailing comes through e-commerce at present, this figure is forecast to hit 5.0% by 2022, and retailers are now looking at new ways to capture their fair share of the online pie.”

Lidl is the latest retailer to try and make the most of the online boom, partnering with app Buymie to allow shoppers in a small number of Dublin postcodes to order groceries on their phones. Lidl turned in a strong performance in the most recent 12 weeks, growing its market share to 11.7% on the back of sales growth of 3.0%.

An update on inflationGrocery market inflation stands at -0.12%* for the 12 week period ending 7 October 2018.

The Irish Brand Footprint 2018 ranking reveals how consumers are buying FMCG brands, as well as highlighting the opportunities that remain for brands to find new shoppers.

The ranking shows that of the top five brands in Ireland, four are Irish, showing the strong connection shoppers have with local brands. 

Many brands performing well in the ranking also appeal in some way to the Irish shopper’s desire to live their lives more healthily. For the top brand Brennans, the development of healthy ranges has contributed significantly to their success.

Besides health, we are also seeing more products being chosen for their indulgent qualities that help make consumers’ lives ‘happier’. The categories and brands fitting in to that sensibility among consumers, and proving they have “value for calories” are the ones generating growth.

Read the full report to find out which brands Irish shoppers are choosing to buy, and why.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Consumer spending often slows in early autumn, after the excesses of summer barbeques and before the festive season kicks off.  The arrival of colder weather and darker evenings has inspired consumers to embrace hearty comfort foods and stock up on Sunday roast staples; shoppers spent £51 million on whole chickens, £62 million on roasting joints and £4 million on Yorkshire puddings in September alone.

“Christmas will be here before we know it and some families seem to be getting into the spirit already – 8% of households bought mince pies last month, spending a total of £4 million with 70 days still to go before the big day.”

In the 12 weeks to 7 October Aldi increased sales by 15.1%.  This is the fastest rate of growth since January 2018, supported by its fresh and chilled aisles, with sales of dairy products up 24% and fresh poultry up 29% compared with last year.  Some 6% of Aldi’s sales came from premium own-label lines including its Specially Selected range – a higher proportion than any other supermarket – and its growing number of stores helped it increase its market share by 0.8 percentage points to 7.6%.

Lidl attracted 5% more shoppers through its doors compared with the same period last year and persuaded visitors to spend an extra 55 pence per trip – a greater increase than any of its rivals – helping the store achieve sales growth of 10.0% and a market share of 5.6%.

With sales up 7.0%, Co-op was the only other bricks and mortar retailer to gain market share.  Fraser McKevitt comments: “An additional 265,000 households visited Co-op over the past 12 weeks.  They were particularly drawn to its own-label lines, buying 10% more of these ranges than this time last year which accounted for more than half of Co-op’s total sales.”

Over the past 12 weeks sales at Tesco were up 0.9% while its market share fell by 0.6 percentage points to 27.4%.   Fraser McKevitt explains: “Despite widespread interest in the September launch of its discounter concept, Jack’s, the small number of stores planned means it won’t impact on Tesco’s market share without a significant expansion.  Within the main supermarket ‘Exclusively at Tesco’ lines continue to be a real bright spot, with 41% of British shoppers buying one of these products during the last 12 weeks, spending a combined £102 million.”

Both Yorkshire-based retailers, Asda and Morrisons, grew sales by 2.4% over the past 12 weeks.  Asda continued to focus on its own-label lines and overall sales increased both online and in store.  In contrast, Morrisons generated growth by selling more branded items, while cutting back on promotions faster than any other retailer.  Despite this, Morrisons still promotes more than any other supermarket, with 45% of sales made on some kind of deal.  Sainsbury’s grew by 0.6%, achieving a market share of 15.4%, down 0.4 percentage points compared to last year.

Growing ahead of the market, Ocado and Iceland sales were up by 7.5% and 4.8% respectively.  Meanwhile, Waitrose sales grew by 0.1%, with market share down by 0.1 percentage points to 5.2%.

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at +2.0%* for the 12 week period ending 7 October 2018.  Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016.  Prices are rising fastest in markets such as cola, butter and sparkling wine.

The summer heatwave continued to provide a boost for the market, particularly for branded products which saw sales increase by 3.9% in the most recent period, while own brand products grew by 1.7%.  Branded sales of alcohol, soft drinks and frozen desserts, all summer favourites, combined to produce an extra €29 million of sales compared with last year.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Competition in the grocery market has rarely been fiercer.  All the major retailers are in growth once again this period, and it’s almost neck-and-neck in the race for market share.  Just half a percentage point separates the leading three retailers.  Tesco leads the way, registering 22.1% of grocery sales, followed by SuperValu at 21.7% and Dunnes Stores at 21.6%.  This healthy competition is good news for shoppers, leading to a fall in the price of food and drink across Ireland.

Back to school has been a major theme on the supermarket shelves in recent weeks and the impact of this can be seen in category sales.  David Berry continues: “Staples of the school day like sandwich fillings, yoghurts and cereal have seen an increase in popularity as the academic year kicks off.  Cereals, cereal bars, chocolate and cheese have all had double digit uplifts in growth in the past month, to the tune of additional €7 million being spent in the month to August compared with July.”

Among the retailers, Tesco has held on to the top spot for the sixth consecutive period – capturing 22.1% of grocery spend, up from the 21.9% it achieved in the same period last year.  Shoppers are heading to Tesco more frequently than a year ago, meaning average customer spend has jumped by €10 to €401 in the past 12 weeks.

SuperValu sits in second position, recording 21.7% market share.  Although this is down slightly compared with last year, sales have grown by 1.7% in that time.  David Berry explains: “SuperValu cashed in on summer alcohol sales, overtaking Tesco as the leading alcohol retailer and capturing 26% of shopper spend in the category.” 

Dunnes Stores registered sales growth of 3.2% in the most recent figures – an improvement on the rate of 1.9% achieved last month.  ‘Round euro’ offers, which see stores offer fixed, round number prices, have contributed to the retailer’s improved performance.  David Berry continues: “More than 20% of sales at Dunnes Stores are at round euro price points and this has encouraged shoppers to add an extra item to their baskets each time they visit – worth a total of €18.5 million over the past 12 weeks.”

Lidl and Aldi recorded comparable performances, with Lidl’s sales growing by 3.0% compared with 2.9% for Aldi.  Each saw an improvement in market share, with Lidl capturing 11.8% and Aldi standing at 11.6% – an increase of 0.1 of a percentage point in both cases.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, commented: “The warm summer has been kind to the supermarkets’ convenience format stores as consumers shopped locally for drinks and barbecue supplies, collectively growing sales by 7.6% compared to last year.  Co-op was a particular beneficiary and increased sales by 8.5%, its fastest rate since 2011.  Tesco Express also benefited from shoppers staying close to home and performed especially well, contributing to total sales for Tesco rising 1.9%.

“As speculation mounts over the launch of Tesco’s discount retailer Jack’s, it’s worth remembering how quickly rivals Aldi and Lidl have grown their market share.  In the five years to September 2013 their combined market share increased by 2.4 percentage points to 6.8%.  This growth then accelerated and in the subsequent five years the two nearly doubled their share to its current level of 13.1%.  

“While it is not yet known which lines Jack’s stores will carry, Tesco’s ‘Exclusively at’ brands such as Eastman’s and Creamfields are proving popular with shoppers.  The own-label product lines launched earlier this year and accounted for £90 million of sales over the past 12 weeks – finding their way into 16% of Tesco shopping baskets.”

In the overall market, promotional sales fell and accounted for 32.4% of total grocery sales – the lowest level since June 2009.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “Retailers are looking to offer consistently lower prices on everyday items rather than one-off deals and they have all reduced promotions as a result. 

“That being said, consumers may not feel like they have more money in their pockets – grocery inflation has now reached 2.0%, adding £1.64 to each household’s weekly shopping bill.  At the current rate, these price increases add up to an extra £85 per home annually.”

Aldi was the UK’s fastest growing supermarket in the latest period – sales rose 13.9% with nearly half of this growth coming from the fresh and chilled aisles.  Its discount rival Lidl also outpaced the market up 8.3%.  Both retailers increased sales of branded products at a much faster rate than overall market growth, though these household brand names still only account for 8% of Aldi’s and 13% of Lidl’s sales. 

Meanwhile Asda’s recovery continues – sales rose 3.1% as the Leeds-based retailer attracted an additional 211,000 shoppers over the past 12 weeks.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “Asda rolled back prices on branded lines and at the same time sales of its core own-label ranges rose 8.4%.  The recently rebranded Waitrose & Partners saw sales rise by 0.8%, up against some challenging comparisons from last year when the retailer had a higher level of price promotional activity.  The supermarket’s unbroken run of growth stretches back to February 2009 and market share now stands at 5.1%, down 0.2 percentage points on last year.”

Morrisons released positive interim results last week and has increased sales by 3.0% with its premium ‘The Best’ range a particular bright spot, growing four times faster than this overall rate.  Sales at Sainsbury’s rose at their fastest rate since December, while its share of the market fell by 0.4 percentage points to 15.4%.  

At Iceland, sales were up by 6.0% supported by its ‘7 Day Deals’ – its core frozen lines did grow, but it was ambient and chilled products which were the best performing for the retailer. Online specialist Ocado increased sales by 7.9%, for a 1.2% share of the grocery market.

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at +2.0%* for the 12 week period ending 9 September 2018. Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as butter, cola and canned fish.

Packed with expert views, the report features brand new Worldpanel Plus insight and six practical ways to create stronger connections with consumers through experiences.

Commenting on the launch, Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight, said: “While the term “experiential” marketing is not new to many of us, for brands which deal very much in products, the move towards experiences might seem daunting or even a threat. Our new paper is a handy guide for those looking to bring a genuinely impactful experiential element to their brand.”

As well as insight and expert views from Kantar Worldpanel across fashion, entertainment, FMCG, out of home and alcohol, the report features opinions from Kantar Consulting and Kantar TNS experts to give the full picture.

• Read the report today
• Watch the videos for expert views and examples of how to apply experiential principles in a range of sectors
• Uncover the latest Worldpanel Plus insight about experiences

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Though the retailers continue to jostle for market share, the grocers have all benefited from the spike in consumer spending as shoppers splash out more during the warm weather. 

“It’s been a summer of indulgence for customers.  Alcohol is continuing to boom – overall sales of beer, wine and cider are up 10%.  Ice cream is also up by a third compared to this time last year – equivalent to an extra €10 million – and soft drinks sales have jumped by 13%.  The August bank holiday provided the retailers with another opportunity to cash in, with targeted advertisements and promotional activity directing customers towards specific categories such as fresh meat, fruit and vegetables and branded treats.”

Sporting events like the football World Cup and pop culture TV favourites such as Love Island have also had an impact on what shoppers are choosing to buy.  Douglas Faughnan explains: “Men’s skincare products and shaving soaps grew at double the rate of the overall grocery market, while sales of razor blades rocketed by 15% as Love Island enthusiasts were potentially inspired by the contestants’ hairless look.  Time spent in front of the TV meant shoppers spent less time on home cooking, to the benefit of frozen and chilled ready meals sales, which jumped by 16% and 6% respectively.” 

For the seventh consecutive period Tesco is the fastest growing of the Irish retailers, with sales up 4.8% compared to this time last year.  Tesco is the only one of the three major retailers to witness a further decline in the average price paid per item, but this has been counteracted by shoppers spending more overall.  On average, customers spent an extra €21 this period as they visited the grocer more regularly and bought more items each time. 

Holding market share at 22.0% and with sales up 2.4%, SuperValu is continuing to perform strongly.  Douglas Faughnan continues: “Musgrave – which owns and operates SuperValu and Centra – has continued its prominent sponsorship of the GAA All-Ireland Hurling and Football Championships, helping SuperValu stay at the forefront of consumers’ minds and contributing to its steady growth.  In particular, it’s performing well outside of its Munster heartland – in Dublin sales are up 3.6%, while in the rest of Leinster sales have grown by 6.2%.  

“Meanwhile, Dunnes Stores’ overall growth of 1.9% has been buoyed by the success of its barbecue categories.  The retailer’s ‘Mix and Match’ promotion on its barbecue meat range, advertised in the run up to the August bank holiday weekend, helped to boost sales of chilled burgers and grills by a third.”

Aldi was the only grocer to experience a significant rise in shopper numbers, attracting an additional 40,000 customers through its doors.  The supermarket saw sales growth of 2.9% – helped by its popular ‘Swap and Save’ campaign – and upped its market share by 0.1 percentage points to 11.5%.  Lidl achieved sales growth of 1.9% to hold market share at 11.9%.       

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, commented: “Consumers’ willingness to spend that little bit extra to fully enjoy the summer sunshine has helped push brands ahead of their own-label counterparts.  At Tesco and Sainsbury’s branded growth has outstripped own-label for a while and – as the two biggest retailers in the grocery market – this has contributed to the market shift.  More expensive premium own-label lines across the market are still growing strongly though – up 6.3%. 

“The grocery market experienced strong growth buoyed in particular by the recent heatwave.  Over July, thirsty Brits spent an additional £67 million on alcoholic drinks, while non-alcoholic beers were cheered on by the sun with sales up 58% compared to this time last year.  Soft drinks also increased – up 28%.  Meanwhile, Love Island not only tugged on shoppers’ heartstrings but also their purse strings as men’s skincare products jumped by 16%.”

Co-op continued to feel the summer glow, experiencing its fastest rate of growth in nearly seven years.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “The last time Co-op saw sales growth of 7.8% it was still benefiting from the acquisition of Somerfield, so its performance is particularly notable this period.  Consumers’ current preference to shop locally when the sun is shining has helped Co-op attract an additional 263,000 new shoppers through its doors.  The retailer also saw the average customer visit 22 times over the 12-week period, contributing to a market share increase of 0.3 percentage points to 6.6%.

“With growth up 2.7%, Morrisons regained its position as the fastest-growing of the big four supermarkets.  Over the past 12 weeks Morrisons cut back on promotions and also gained 231,000 new shoppers, 66% of which were more affluent ABC1 customers.”

Experiencing growth of 2.6% – the second-strongest growth of the big four – Asda’s market share dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 15.2%.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “Asda has bucked the trend when it comes to brands versus own labels.  Its private lines grew ahead of brands – both its standard-tier range and premium ‘Extra Special’ range experienced a sales increase of 8%.  Over the past 12 weeks two-thirds of Asda’s growth came from family households.”

Tesco saw strong growth from its Express convenience stores and increased total sales by 1.8%, though the retailer’s market share dropped by 0.5 percentage points to 27.4%.  Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s experienced its fastest rate of growth since January 2018, up 1.2%.  The grocer was boosted by a strong online performance and the growth of its premium ‘Taste the Difference’ range.  Sainsbury’s market share declined by 0.4 percentage points to 15.5%.

Fraser McKevitt continues: “Aldi witnessed double-digit growth of 12.6%, helping the retailer up its share of the market to 7.6% – a 0.6 percentage point increase on this time last year.  Over half of the retailer’s growth came from the fresh and chilled aisles, with meat, dairy and ready meals performing particularly well.  At Lidl, sales jumped by 8.6% to help the retailer secure a 5.5% share of the market.  The grocer’s premium own-label sales rose by nearly a third, while sales of branded products increased by 37%.”

Sales at Iceland rose by 3.8% to hold market share of 2.1%.  Over three-quarters of Iceland’s growth came from fresh and ambient food and drink and these sectors accounted for over half of the retailer’s sales.  Despite experiencing sales growth of 2.4%, Waitrose dropped market share by 0.1 percentage points to 5.0%.  E-commerce specialist Ocado achieved sales growth of 8.5% and increased market share by 0.1 percentage points to 1.2%.    

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at +1.9%* for the 12 week period ending 12 Aug 2018. Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016. Prices are rising fastest in markets such as cola, butter and canned fish.

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “A number of things may have influenced the surge of bottled water sales in Ireland – in particular the recent weather, speculation surrounding water shortages and this month’s hosepipe ban.  Irish shoppers bought bottled water on 1.8 million more occasions in the latest 12 weeks compared to the same period last year, helping sales grow by over a quarter.  Furthermore a Europe-wide shortage of CO2 may have stifled sales of carbonated water, which grew at a third of the rate of still water, with retailers and manufacturers shifting their focus to stills where necessary.”

With International Beer Day still to come on 3 August, there is already good news for brewers in Ireland, as Douglas Faughnan explains: “This period saw overall sales of take home lager up 11.6%, or the equivalent of an additional 7 million pints, on the same period last year, as shopper numbers increased and consumers bought greater quantities than usual.  While the hot weather will have provided a welcome boost to overall lager sales, so too will the recent World Cup in Russia.  Despite Ireland’s association with stout, it is lager that is actually leading the way – 42.4% of households bought lager at least once in the past 12 weeks, as shoppers took advantage of the sun and the football.”

Tesco’s strong performance has continued through the first half of the summer.  It was the only retailer to increase its market share this period, now accounting for 22.5% of grocery sales in Ireland.  With shopper numbers continuing to fall across most retailers, in-store marketing activity plays an increasingly important role in driving spend from existing shoppers.  Tesco’s extensive Grillin’ and Chillin’ campaign saw it make a big push on key barbecue items, and products like ice cream, chilled poultry and chilled burgers all performed strongly, resulting in shoppers putting an average of 4.7% more items in their baskets on each trip.

SuperValu has achieved its strongest performance since October 2016, with overall sales up 2.6%.  The retailer traditionally performs well in summer categories as its store network is well catered to shoppers making more frequent top up shops during the key barbecue season.  This year has been no exception, with chilled burgers, fresh fish, and fresh lamb all recording double-digit sales growth.

Dunnes Stores now accounts for 21.2% of grocery sales in Ireland, thanks to sales growth of 1.9% this period.  The average Dunnes basket now features 20 items, a 5.7% increase compared to the previous 12 weeks and more than any other retailer.

Meanwhile, Lidl and Aldi now account for 11.9% and 11.5% of the market respectively, with both posting sales growth in the most recent 12 weeks.  Aldi was the only retailer to see a slight rise in shopper numbers this period, with the impact of its current Swap & Save campaign potentially contributing to increased shopper penetration.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “England may not have won the World Cup – but its journey to the semi-finals not only helped to kickstart the summer, but supermarket sales to boot. 

“Over the past month, football-frenzied customers visited supermarkets an extra 13 million times as they hurried to stock up on World Cup-viewing essentials, with alcohol in particular the stand-out winner.  Christmas and Easter aside, the week that the England football team played both Colombia and Sweden saw more spent on alcohol than ever before – a colossal £287 million.”

With the hot and sunny weather showing no signs of letting up, al fresco dining has continued to tempt shoppers.  Over the past month, sales of firelighters and fresh burgers rocketed by 47% and 30% as customers honed their barbecuing skills.  Meanwhile, sun care products and painkillers were both in demand: sales of sun creams jumped by 38%, while nearly a third of all households picked up pain-killing tablets over the past month. 

The warm weather has not only impacted what customers buy, but where they choose to buy their groceries from.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “Over the past 12 weeks Co-op experienced growth of 6.4% – its highest recorded since October 2011 – as shoppers’ desire to maximise the sunshine encouraged them to shop more locally.  The past month in particular saw a boost to the retailer’s popularity, with shoppers returning to Co-op stores on average a record 10.1 times.”

Asda saw sales jump 3.7% to post its strongest growth in more than five years, and it was the best performing of the big four for the first time since December 2014.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “Buoyed by a sales increase of 9% to its core, standard own-label lines – which make up 40% of its sales – Asda held market share steady at 15.1%.  The retailer also encouraged an additional 230,000 shoppers through its doors over the past 12 weeks. 

“Morrisons posted strong growth of 2.9%, with a market share of 10.5%.  Over the past 12 weeks the retailer’s premium line ‘The Best’ outperformed its cheaper own-label options, helping Morrisons to continue a run of growth stretching back to January 2017.”

Although Tesco’s convenience Express stores proved popular with shoppers, contributing to Tesco’s overall growth of 2.3%, the grocer’s market share fell back by 0.3 percentage points to 27.6%.  Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s market share declined by 0.4 percentage points to 15.6%, despite experiencing sales growth of 0.8%. 

Fraser McKevitt continues: “Boosted by its title as the official supermarket of the England football team, Lidl saw sales increase by 9.7%.  The discounter increased its market share by 0.3 percentage points to 5.4% compared to this time last year.  Meanwhile, Aldi returned to double-digit growth – with sales up by 10.9% – to reach a market-share high for the retailer of 7.5%.  Aldi and Lidl are now on the verge of hitting a combined market share of 13% for the first time, though the speculation over new entrants to the discount market could mean new pressures on the two retailers.”

Sales at Iceland rose by 4.5% as the retailer continued to grow outside its core frozen lines, with the supermarket securing 2.1% market share.  Although increasing sales by 2.8%, Waitrose dropped market share by 0.1 percentage points to 5.0%.  E-commerce specialist Ocado experienced sales growth of 8.5% and now accounts for 1.2% of the grocery market.  

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “With hot, sunny weather comes barbequing, sunbathing and socialising – and this has had its impact on the grocery market.  Sales of ice cream, barbeque foods and sun care products have rocketed by 12%, 10% and 8% respectively compared to this time last year.  Alcoholic drinks have also experienced a surge in demand – cider has seen impressive growth of 14% and beers and lagers are up 5%.  The influence of the hot weather on sales of summer essentials looks even more impressive when you compare this to overall market growth at 2.1%.”

Tesco has continued its recent strong run of form, experiencing sales growth of 3.7%.  David Berry continues: “Tesco remains the leader of the pack among the retailers, increasing its market share to 22.4% – a jump of 0.3 percentage points.  Over the past 12 weeks, 1.3 million customers chose to shop at Tesco – the highest reach of all the retailers.  Although the grocer has not notably increased this shopper base compared to this time last year, Tesco has encouraged customers to add an extra item to their baskets every time they shop – upping their average spend by 80c to €25.50.”

In second position, SuperValu has captured 21.8% of Irish shoppers’ grocery spend, experiencing sales growth of 0.1%.  The retailer continues to have a loyal customer following, with consumers shopping more frequently at SuperValu stores.  Dunnes Stores has also performed well – the retailer posted sales growth of 2.6% and has increased its market share by 0.1 percentage points.  The grocer’s success has come from encouraging shoppers to up the value of their baskets to an average of €42.60 – an increase of over €2.50 compared to this time last year.

Meanwhile, Lidl holds market share of 11.7% – its highest since October 2017.  With sales growth of 2.4%, Aldi has upped its share to 11.4%.  The two grocers have performed particularly well in Munster, where they continue to challenge the other major retailers.  

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “After a couple of difficult years for the supermarkets this sustained period of growth is welcome news.  The latest figures largely pre-date the soaring temperatures and new-found optimism for England’s World Cup chances but with the nation spending over half a billion more in supermarkets this period compared with last year, it suggests that summer has already arrived for many. 

“Shoppers have already splashed out 6% more on spirits, and gin sales alone have increased by £38 million and 1.7 million litres, while soft drinks are up 7%.  Consumers are also feeling some seasonal downsides – sales of hay fever remedies are up by 19% year-on-year and have been bought by 5.7 million households, reflecting Met Office predictions of record pollen levels.”

Among the big four supermarkets, Morrisons was again the fastest growing, posting a sales increase of 1.9% – narrowly behind the overall market.  Fraser McKevitt continues:“Consumers have responded very well to Morrisons’ wonky fruit and vegetable lines – these have more than tripled in sales and now feature in 12% of baskets, helping the retailer’s cheapest tier of own label products grow by a remarkable 18%.  The retailer was also helped by double digit growth in online sales, though its overall share fell by 0.1 percentage points to 10.6%. 

“Potential partners Asda and Sainsbury’s have recorded quite different performances over the past 12 weeks.  More than a quarter of a million new customers have helped Asda increase sales by 1.8% – its 16-period run of growth is the longest the retailer has achieved since March 2014.  In contrast, Sainsbury’s sales fell by 0.2%.  The grocer sold an extra £60 million of goods on promotion this year and while this helped attract 159,000 new customers - and the retailer simultaneously delivered a strong online performance - Sainsbury’s overall share fell by 0.4 percentage points to 15.6%.”

Sales grew by 1.4% at Tesco with the strongest performance in its Express convenience stores, though overall the retailer’s market share decreased to 27.7% from 27.9% a year ago.  Meanwhile, Co-op recorded its strongest growth in over a year as sales grew by 2.4%, and its market share grew by 0.1 percentage points to 6.2%.  Iceland has held its share in the market, of 2.2%, as sales grew by 2.5%. 

While overseas deals have buoyed Ocado’s share price, the UK delivery business has also nudged up its grocery market share by 0.1 percentage points – its sales growth of 10.1% makes it the fastest growing UK supermarket. 

Commenting on the discounters, Fraser McKevitt says, “Lidl’s 10.0% sales growth makes it the only bricks and mortar retailer to experience double digital growth, and as a major sponsor of England’s World Cup squad it will be hoping to see the team’s success so far translate into even higher growth in July.  Its growing range of branded goods will play a role here – they’re already up 33% in sales and should help attract an increasingly diverse range of customers through the door.  Yet while Lidl is the champion in terms of growth this period, it is Aldi that has edged up to a new record high market share – it now stands at 7.4% thanks to sales growth of 8.2%.”

Waitrose sales have risen by only 0.1%, however this does mean the John Lewis-owned retailer has grown continually since March 2009 – an unbroken run of success that is only bettered in length by Aldi and Lidl.

Among chief executives recognised by employees in the UK, Kidd received an approval rating of 98% based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews shared by Kantar Worldpanel employees on Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest job and recruiting sites, throughout the past year.

Commenting on the achievement, Abigail Macdonald, HR director at Kantar Worldpanel UK and Ireland, said, “Tim’s dedication to creating an open and trusting environment where everyone can grow to their full potential is evident throughout Kantar Worldpanel and borne out by our success as a business.  Respect for individuals is a key part of our culture and Tim sets a great example, and his win is something that will be celebrated by our whole organisation.”

Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO, said, “Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgement of exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day.  I congratulate all of this year’s winners on this significant achievement.  It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees.  The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work.”

Employees who submit reviews about their company on Glassdoor are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including their overall satisfaction and other workplace attributes like senior management.  As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing.

Among the 770,000 companies reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent.  See the complete list of all UK Top CEOs in 2018 here.

Kantar Worldpanel forecasts that by 2020, 15.3% of FMCG products will be sold by the three fastest growing channels – e-commerce, discounters and cash and carry. E-commerce will be the fastest raising channel in 2020 representing 7.2% of the global market share boosted by increased internet penetration from markets such as Africa and Asia.

Table 1: Global FMCG value share by channel

Stéphane Roger, Global Shopper and Retail Director, Kantar Worldpanel, said: “The global FMCG market is harder than even growing only a+1.9% in value last year while gross domestic product (GDP) experienced an almost +4% growth. Beyond the average, growth is fragmented because of booming e-commerce and discounters, and struggling hypermarkets and supermarkets. Shoppers are giving a clear message: they want convenience and value for money. At Kantar Worldpanel we predict that spending in supermarkets and hypermarkets will decline to 48.4% in 2020. Successful strategies need better understanding of the new channel dynamics at play and the differences between countries.”

The FMCG global market evolution
The FMCG market globally grew 1.9% in 2017. Less mature markets such as Africa, Latin America and Asia are the ones growing at the fastest rate (+8.8%, 7.3% and 4.3% respectively). In contrast, the market grew at 2.2% in Western Europe (influenced by inflation in the UK in the Brexit context) and US, the biggest contributor to FMCG spend in the world, saw almost flat growth (+0.5%). Demand is declining for three key reasons: population growth is slowing, people are generally trading down on their FMCG spend either by buying less or choosing private label, and they are also shopping less frequently.

Table 2: FMCG annual value growth in 2017

Adapting the retail strategy to shoppers 
Brands that adapt their retail strategy to the expected evolution of channels in each region will have more possibilities to succeed. E-commerce continues to grow fast in Asia, which already has a 7.3% market share. The discounters are strongest in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe, where they hold 27.4% of FMCG sales, and in parts of Latin America such as Colombia (21%) and Mexico (18.8%). In contrast, in markets like Brazil modern trade remains relatively underdeveloped and cash-and-carry is growing fast, now representing 10.6% of sales.

Table 3: FMCG value share by channel (2017)

Source: Kantar Worldpanel, Europanel

[i] Modern trade includes: hypermarket and supermarket, convenience stores and discounters

[ii] Other include: door to door, drugstore, and pharmacy

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “A strategic emphasis on volume sales, particularly through its private label offering, has been key to Tesco becoming Ireland’s biggest grocer once again.  While value sales are robust, growing at 4.5% on last year, volume performance has been even stronger.  Tesco’s own label range has been at the centre of its performance, now accounting for more than half of overall sales following double digit growth this period.”

SuperValu sales grew by just under 1% this period achieving an overall share of 22.0%.  The retailer’s focus on fresh produce through its SuperValu 7 offer is evident – volume sales of vegetables are up on last year with staple vegetables like Tomatoes, Potatoes and Carrots have shown particularly strong performance.

For the first time in more than 12 months, Dunnes has seen an increase in customers coming through its doors – an extra 9,000 shoppers in the last 12 weeks.  This, combined with a 3.4% increase in average price paid and shoppers buying more items per trip, helped the retailer grow by 2.6% compared with last year.

Branded sales have been helping boost discounter performance, as Douglas Faughnan explains: “Combined, private label items at Aldi and Lidl still account for over 90% of sales, but both retailers have expanded their branded ranges to attract shoppers and encourage more spend from existing customers.  Branded sales at Aldi now account for 7.6% of overall sales, up from 6.5% in 2017, while 11.1% of Lidl’s sales are from branded items, compared to 8.6% at the same time last year.  These increases have been central to the overall growth of 2.0% and 3.5% at Aldi and Lidl respectively.”

The introduction of the sugar tax in Ireland on 1 May has not yet been reflected in volume sales of carbonated soft drinks – overall volume sales in May were up 4.8% on the same period last year, however this did coincide with a period of hot weather over the early May bank holiday, where other drinks categories like mineral water and fruit squash also experienced a volume increase.  Although the tax is in its infancy, there is a substantial level of awareness among Irish shoppers about its existence – 50% say they are aware of it and that it is important to them.

Chris Hayward, consumer specialist at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “The sun shone on the grocery market over the past month with record-breaking temperatures, a bank holiday weekend and Royal Wedding fever all contributing to a bumper period.  The Friday before the day of the wedding and the FA Cup Final experienced a particularly noticeable spike in sales, with grocers clocking in £415 million over the 24 hours. 

“The festivities and warm weather encouraged shoppers to fire up the barbeque.  Over the past month, sales of burgers and sausages rose by 39% and 12% respectively, while non-alcoholic beer sales jumped by 64%.  Meanwhile, over 16.6 million households chose to pick up an ice cream as temperatures soared.  The hot weather also saw sensible Brits making a beeline for the sun care section, with sales rocketing by 64% on this time last year.”

Morrisons performed particularly well over the past 12 weeks.  Its sales growth of 2.9% is ahead of the overall market. 

Chris Hayward continues: “Morrisons has been enjoying a successful run of form.  The retailer has now celebrated 19 consecutive periods of sales growth and has held market share at 10.5%.  The supermarket succeeded in attracting an additional 311,000 new shoppers through its doors.  Morrisons saw its alcohol sales increase by almost 8%, while the relaunch of the grocer’s own-label line ‘Savers’ also contributed to overall performance.

“With year-on-year sales growth of 2.8%, Asda is also performing ahead of the grocery market.  The retailer continues to prove popular with young families, while an increase in spend per trip – up £0.56 to £26.88 on average – has helped buoy sales.  Asda’s e-commerce offering is also proving a winner among shoppers – the grocer’s online channel saw sales rise by 7.6% year-on-year.”

Over the past 12 weeks Tesco experienced a sales increase of 2.2% and encouraged an extra 170,000 customers to its stores, despite dropping market share by 0.1 percentage points to 27.7%.  Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s first increase in promotional activity in three years helped boost sales by 1.0% year-on-year, though the retailer’s market share fell back by 0.2 percentage points.    

Chris Hayward continues: “Over the past 12 weeks Lidl was the only bricks and mortar retailer to experience double-digit sales growth – up 10.4%.  Branded sales have played a pivotal role for the discounter, accounting for 30% of Lidl’s growth.  Aldi also continues to perform well: with sales up 6.7%, its market share grew by 0.3 percentage points from 7.0% to 7.3%.”

While the disposal of 300 McColls stores is still impacting headline performance, Co-op has experienced sales growth of 1.5%.  Despite experiencing marginal year-on-year sales growth of 0.3%, Waitrose saw its market share fall back by 0.1 percentage points to 5.1%. 

Iceland also dropped market share by 0.1 percentage points, though the retailer saw sales increase by 0.8%.  Ocado’s e-commerce offer continues to entice shoppers: the online retailer has attracted an additional 132,000 new households over the past 12 weeks and has seen its year-on-year sales increase by 12.7%. 

The papers are packed with insights on key themes and market trends alongside case studies of brands successfully pulling one or more of the five growth levers.

In a challenging environment for brands and retailers, brands that listen to the consumer and adapt to what they need are best placed to succeed. With huge changes afoot in the retail landscape and own label products gaining market share, which brands are innovating and giving consumers a reason to choose their product off the shelf at the moment of truth?

Download your copies today to find out how the UK's most chosen brands found growth

The most chosen UK food brands	The most chosen UK beverage brands
The most chosen UK dairy brands	The most chosen UK homecare brands
The most chosen UK health and beauty brands

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “SuperValu has attracted more shoppers through its doors and persuaded its customers to buy more items per trip.  In addition, while performance remains strong in its Munster heartland, SuperValu’s growth in the capital is particularly noteworthy.  The retailer’s sales in Dublin grew 4.5% compared to last year, second only to Tesco which saw growth of 7.4% in the city.

“Tesco has continued to build on its strong start to 2018.  Overall sales are up by 6.1%, almost twice that of the market as a whole.  While Tesco’s performance in Dublin is strong the rest of Leinster contributed the most to growth, with the retailer’s share jumping from 26.1% to 28%.  In contrast, Dunnes’ impressive share growth in Connaught and Ulster was offset by a drop in the Dublin region, where share fell from 26.2% to 24.8%.”

Lidl and Aldi were the second and third fastest growing retailers this period, with sales up 4.2% and 3.0% respectively.  Lidl’s growth was predominantly driven by its sales in Leinster (excluding Dublin), whereas Aldi experienced a strong 12 weeks in Munster, Connaught and Ulster.

Douglas Faughnan continues: “Over the past 12 months Irish households have consolidated their spend, relying more heavily on their preferred retailer.  This effectively means that most of the grocers were seeing fewer shoppers through their doors. However, this period marks a notable turnaround with Tesco, SuperValu, Aldi and Lidl all attracting more shoppers than they did a year ago.  A 3.1% increase in the number of shoppers visiting Tesco generated additional revenue of €13 million and contributed significantly to the retailer’s overall performance.  Although increased shopper numbers driving growth for the other retailers was less significant, it does mark a reversal in recent shopper behaviour.”

Frozen food sales proved a lucrative source of revenue for the traditional retailers.  Sales of frozen food at Tesco, SuperValu and Dunnes outpaced those off fresh, chilled and ambient food and drink while overall frozen sales rose 7.3%, in line with Iceland’s continued expansion in Ireland.  The British retailer has attained a 6.3% share of frozen sales, driven by increased footfall through further store openings.

The average UK main course evening meal features items purchased from between 2-3 retailers. Re-thinking our mindset to understand how that end occasion is being shopped for can offer a significant competitive edge in occasion based marketing.

The more central the category is to the occasion, or the more solution led (like meal kits) the core component is, the higher the spend in that retailer. For example, owning the protein on plate can lead to as much as 40p of wider incremental spend for the retailer. This represents a significant increase when the evening meal is worth on average £2.19.  Conversley the owning of less critical components, such as herbs or spices, has less than 5p incremental value.

Understanding the degree to which categories drive wider store spend can help retailers focus efforts and investment in the right place; justifying promotional activity on certain areas can help manufacturers set the scene for the role their categories play in driving whole store value.

                   Putting the Customer Mission First

In the context of the revenue opportunities up for grabs by driving whole meal value, it’s also important for manufacturers and retailers to consider the impact of shopper missions on how we make choices in-store, to ultimately fulfil occasions we have in the home. Different trips will have different “plate loyalty".

Where shoppers have told us they were on a “main shop” trip we see 67% of the food on an average plate was sourced from that trip. Conversely, “specific journey” missions have only 26% of the plate sourced from that same trip (74% of the plate is accounted for by other shopping trips).
 
Understanding what categories drive each of these respective missions and which categories on plate are "losing" to other missions, and indeed competitors, can provide retailers with insight into the consumer mindset on how we shop. In turn, this can help them to ensure they have the appropriate offers ranged in ways to best serve as many customer needs for that occasion, in that store and on that mission as possible.

Over the past 12 weeks, Sainsbury’s increased sales by 0.2% while Asda’s sales rose by 1.4%.  Both Sainsbury’s and Asda dropped market share compared to this time last year – down 0.3 percentage points and 0.1 percentage points respectively.    

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “This is a pivotal moment for the British grocery market.  A merger between Sainsbury’s and Asda would transform the traditional landscape placing nearly a third of market share in the hands of the joint supermarket giant, though the march of the discounters – and any enforced store closures – could impact this figure. 

“The two supermarkets appeal to different customer bases.  Asda achieves nearly two-thirds of its sales outside London and the south east of England in contrast to Sainsbury’s, which registers 59% of its sales in those two areas.  Sainsbury’s also appeals to more affluent shoppers (ABC1): this demographic accounted for 62% of all sales at Sainsbury’s in comparison to 46% of sales at Asda.  Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s premium own-label line ‘Taste the Difference’ clocked up sales of £832 million annually – nearly two and a half times the size of Asda’s ‘Extra Special’ range.”

Outselling Sainsbury’s in branded goods, Asda also attracts a greater number of households through its doors.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “15.8 million households bought their groceries at Asda over the past 12 weeks –500,000 more households than shopped at Sainsbury’s – but we are seeing a substantial number of customers frequenting both retailers.  Nearly nine million households visited both Sainsbury’s and Asda, with consumers showing little retailer loyalty.”

Overall, the British grocery market grew at its slowest rate since March 2017 at 2.0% – the result of lower grocery price rises.  The like-for-like inflation rate is now 2.1% and is expected to fall further in the coming months.

Fraser McKevitt continues: “Tesco and Morrisons both performed strongly this period.  Morrisons was crowned the fastest-growing traditional supermarket, raking in sales growth of 2.2% and holding market share at 10.5%.  Although Morrisons continues to prove a favourite with shoppers in its northern heartlands the retailer is also excelling in the capital, where it is growing at its fastest rate.  Meanwhile, for the twelfth consecutive period, Tesco has grown more than 2.0% – the first time the retailer has achieved this since March 2011.” 

With sales up 9.1%, Lidl became the UK’s fastest-growing bricks and mortar supermarket.  The discounter upped its market share by 0.4 percentage points compared to this time last year to reach 5.4%.  Despite traditionally performing well in sales of own-label products, branded sales at the retailer rocketed by 32% with sales of branded alcohol, soft drinks and dairy proving particularly successful.

Meanwhile, Aldi has continued to experience strong sales growth – up 7.7% – increasing its market share by 0.4 percentage points to 7.3%.      

Sales at both Iceland and Waitrose rose by 0.2%.  Iceland continues to hold market share at 2.1%, while Waitrose dropped share by 0.1 percentage points on last year to 5.1%.

With the disposal of 300 McColl’s stores still impacting headline performance, Co-op saw sales fall by 0.4% as its market share fell by 0.1 percentage points to 6.0%.  Ocado’s sales jumped by 12.7%, helping the e-commerce retailer to increase market share by 0.1 percentage points to 1.2%. 

Finding new shoppers will be a significant driver for growth for individual brands in the sector.

With consumers’ disposable incomes being squeezed, the brands that come out on top in this highly discretionary market will be those best able to understand and respond to customers’ needs. Understanding why consumers choose certain foods, in specific locations, at certain times will be the key to unlocking growth.

Our latest UK Thoughts On paper “Out of home: Ingredients for Sustained Growth”, uncovers how brands can tap into the opportunities in this growing sector.

Download a copy of the paper today, and for more information about how you can find growth through understanding and fulfilling shopper needs, get in touch.

For the global view, our “Out of Home, Out of Mind?” report gives a comparative read of the out of home market across Brazil, China, France, Indonesia, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Thailand and the UK. 

Kantar Worldpanel’s new report on out-of-home (OOH), published today, reveals that OOH consumption makes up nearly half (41%) of global spend on snacking and non-alcoholic beverages. In some categories, such as coffee, purchases outside the home make up as much as 70% of total spend, exposing a significant opportunity for retailers and manufacturers not currently considering OOH strategies.

The report analyses data from Kantar Worldpanel consumer panels in Brazil, China, France, Indonesia, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Thailand and the UK. It also throws light on contrasting purchase behaviours at a local level. 

Unique regional patterns for OOH

The report finds that OOH purchase behaviour is most developed in the UK, where shoppers spend an average of $525 annually on away from home purchases—almost double that of Spain, the market with the second highest spend ($225).

Thailand’s shoppers are the most frequent OOH buyers, with 214 trips on average per year—more than once every other day. The UK is close behind (199), followed by Mexico (105) and Spain (102).

Where does OOH happen?

The hotels, restaurants and cafes (horeca) channel performs strongest in Europe, with 83% of Portuguese OOH spend and 60% of Spanish spend outside the home happening in horeca locations.

Outside of Europe, impulse channels and traditional trade make up a large proportion of OOH spend. In Brazil, 36% of snack food purchases away from home happen in impulse channels, whereas 85% of total OOH occasions in Indonesia occur in traditional marketplaces.

OOH is incremental to modern trade

$2 out of every $10 spent in modern trade is done outside the home.

As modern trade (hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores) continues to proliferate in developing markets, there has been a knock-on effect for OOH consumption. In Thailand and Mexico, consumption outside the home accounts for more than half the total modern trade spend in snaking food and non-alcoholic drinks (59% and 55% respectively), followed by China (39%) and Indonedsia (38%).

Maria Josep Martínez, global Out-of-home director, Kantar Worldpanel, said:

“Each country has unique customs, which makes adapting OOH offerings across regions difficult. People shop across different channels to meet different needs, and local trade landscapes have a big impact on purchases outside the home. There is no one-size-fits-all approach.

Brands have an opportunity to review behaviour in each market, understanding key differentiators and channel structures. For retailers and manufacturers willing to take on the challenge of creating an out-of-home strategy the rewards can be significant.”

Within these countries 70% of hot coffee spend happening out-of-home with different patterns by country. In China, for instance, 95% of the hot coffee purchases are done away from home, while in Mexico it totals 62% with potential for further growth. 

Three areas to focus on 

1. Develop the big markets: With the population size and rapid rates of development in Brazil, Mexico and China, there is huge potential to increase both market penetration and frequency of consumption in these markets. Due to the population size in China it is the second biggest coffee market in our study, after the UK, despite coffee only making up 7% of OOH beverages occasions. 
   
   
2. Focus on the experience: In the markets where spend per occasion is low such as Brazil and Portugal, there is great opportunity to develop market value by introducing new channel concepts where sharing and premium experiences are enhanced.
   
   
3. Encourage cross-selling: Coffee is a natural accompaniment to a variety of snacks and this is a good way to increase spend per trip. Sales increase two to three times when cookies, pastries or sandwiches are added to the order.

Consumption patterns are quite different across each country and it’s important to understand this to fully appreciate these opportunities.

Country habits

In this study, Western Europe is the largest market for consumption of hot coffee away from the home. Over three quarters of the population across the UK, Spain and Portugal buy coffee when they are out and about. It’s not just an occasional treat either, with the British and Spanish enjoying it at least once a week. Consumption of hot coffee is significantly lower in the other countries in our analysis, with only 40 to 54% of the population buying hot coffee OOH in Brazil, Mexico and China.

Customer occasion

The profile of those who buy hot coffee out-of-home differs considerably by country and its stage of market development. In markets where consumption is more established such as Spain, the consumer tends to be middle class and male, with the occasion taking place mostly at breakfast (60% of occasions). This contrasts with China, a newer market, where coffee is more likely to be drunk after work whilst socializing by young, upper class females (40% of occasions).

Place of purchase

Where coffee is purchased makes a big difference to the average spend per occasion. In the UK, Mexico and China it is high ($2.9, $2.6 and $4.5, respectively) because of the prevalence of coffee shops. 

By contrast, in Brazil and Portugal coffee is mainly purchased in bars, which drives the average spend per trip close to the $1 mark.

About our global out-of-home service

These insights have been taken from the global out-of-home service, which covers different types of food and beverages. A more detailed report will be available shortly. Do not miss our latest updates by signing up for our newsletter.

Download the infographic through the link on this page and please get in touch if you want to find out more about the service.

Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Although shoppers had upped their spend in preparation for the Beast from the East, the length of the storm meant that cupboards were emptied by the time it came to an end.  As a result, in the week following the cold snap Irish households spent €20.33 more than usual on restocking their kitchens.  Far from denting the Irish grocery market, the subsequent shopping rush meant that the Beast from the East made little impression on overall sales.”     

With Easter celebrations falling two weeks earlier compared to 2017, Irish consumers crammed their Easter egg shopping into the month of March.  Douglas Faughnan continues: “Sales of Easter eggs and seasonal chocolate confectionery in March rocketed by 75.2% compared to this time last year, with price rises of 2.4% doing little to deter customers from their chocolate fix.  By the 25 March, just over half of all households had picked up their Easter treats – ready for Easter Sunday – and Irish shoppers had spent a total of €20.6 million on the holiday chocolate.”  

Competition remains tight among the retailers.  Although its market share is 0.2 percentage points behind both Dunnes Stores and SuperValu, Tesco experienced its strongest sales growth in over six years – up 7.1%.  Douglas Faughnan explains: “Encouraging shoppers to splash out and spend more every time they shop has proved the key to Tesco’s success.  Over the past 12 weeks, customers upped their average spend by €1.36 to €26.06.

“However, despite a strong performance, Tesco was unable to edge in front of Dunnes Stores and SuperValu.  Dunnes Stores is now neck and neck with SuperValu – the first time that SuperValu has returned to the top spot since October 2017 – with both retailers securing a joint market share of 22.1%.”

Lidl – only one of two retailers to gain market share this month – was buoyed by strong sales growth of 4.7% to increase its market share to 11.5%.  Aldi experienced growth of 2.4% but dropped market share by 0.2 percentage points to 11.3%. 

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “The Beast from the East played havoc with consumers’ usual shopping plans.  In the run up to and during the cold snap, shoppers stockpiled groceries buying 4% more items than normal, increasing the average value of a trip from £14.99 to £15.80.  However, they simultaneously visited stores 5% less often as they stayed wrapped up at home, meaning overall lost sales from the storm were minimised to £22 million.  Warming foods and drinks were the go-to items for customers after braving the snowy weather – sales of hot beverages and tinned soup grew by 8.4% and 27.5% respectively over the past month.”

An earlier Easter this year compared to 2017 motivated consumers into starting their Easter weekend shopping during the month of March.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “Despite average prices jumping by 35p to £1.83, Easter eggs were rolling off the shelf in March with sales up 69% compared to this time last year.  Almost 15 million shoppers picked up Easter eggs last month while the average household, tempted by promotional offers, was swayed into buying at least two Easter eggs to meet their seasonal chocolate fix.  Hot cross buns also saw a steep rise, with sales up £7.7 million compared to this time last year.”

The discounters – Aldi and Lidl – continue to make their mark with both retailers achieving new market share highs.  Growing sales by 10.7%, Aldi increased market share by 0.5 percentage points to reach a 7.3% share of the market, while Lidl clocked in year-on-year sales growth of 10.3% to reach a 5.3% share.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “Aldi and Lidl are continuing to disrupt the market.  As the discounters proceed with the expansion of their store portfolios, over the past 12 weeks 63.5% of all households visited at least one of the retailers.”   

Over the past 12 weeks Tesco experienced a sales increase of 2.4% to hold market share steady at 27.6% – the first time it has held share since December 2016 – attracting an additional 262,000 customers through its doors.  The retailer saw sales growth of branded goods overtake own-label groceries for the first time since June 2015. 

Morrison’s also saw sales increase by 2.4% with a resulting market share of 10.4%.  Growth at the retailer was helped by a strong performance in online sales, with Morrison’s e-commerce offering proving particularly popular among younger, more affluent shoppers.       

Despite encouraging shoppers to up the size of their baskets by 2.4% – the fastest increase experienced amongst the big four – Asda’s market share fell back by 0.2 percentage points to 15.6%.  Sainsbury’s also saw market share drop – down 0.3 percentage points to 15.8% – despite sales growth of 0.6%.  The retailer has continued its move away from promotions: only 32.7% of sales at Sainsbury’s were achieved while a product was on offer. 

Co-op saw sales increase by 0.1%, with the disposal of 300 stores to McColl’s still impacting performance.  Waitrose also experienced sales growth – up 1.5% year-on-year – while its market share fell by 0.1 percentage points to 5.0%.  After two years of continuous growth, Iceland saw sales fall by 0.8% over the past 12 weeks and dropped market share to 2.1%. 

Online sales growth continues to slow, now only increasing by 3.6% compared to this time last year.  Ocado outperformed the overall online market with sales growth of 9.3%, to hold market share at 1.2%.     

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation now stands at +2.5%* for the 12 week period ending 25 March 2018.  Prices have been rising since the 12 weeks to 1 January 2017, following a period of grocery price deflation which ran for 30 consecutive periods from September 2014 to December 2016.  Prices are rising fastest in markets such as butter, fresh fish and fresh pork, fresh lamb, and are falling in only a few markets, including laundry detergents and ambient cooking sauces.

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Based on results of surveys representing over 10 million employees around the globe, these best workplaces competitions form the basis of the world’s largest and most respected set of studies of workplace excellence, management and the role of trust in workplace culture. 

Kantar Worldpanel Ireland was awarded third place on the list of the 28 best small workplaces in Ireland at an event in Dublin on 21 February.

David Berry, Country Manager, Kantar Worldpanel Ireland, said of the achievement:

“The happiness, motivation and engagement of our employees is a top priority for us and we are delighted to have been recognised with this award.

“Because we know our people are the source of our success, we do everything we can to create a workplace which prioritises their wellbeing. There's no doubt in my mind that the continued success of Kantar Worldpanel Ireland is driven by the combined team effort of every single person in the business."

If you would like to be part of our team, please have a look to the current job opportunities on our careers page. We will be delighted to hear from you.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Shoppers have spent an additional €96 million on groceries over the latest 12 weeks compared to last year and two factors have led to this growth.  First, shoppers are choosing to buy slightly more expensive items and this is reflected in continued sales growth for brands. Second, customers have picked up more items during their weekly shop, with the cost of the average trip 60c more than this time last year.”

Among the retailers, Dunnes remains in pole position, capturing 23.1% of shoppers’ grocery spending.  Growth remains strong at 5.0% but this has dipped from a high of 5.7% last period.

David Berry continues: “Tesco tops the charts in terms of growth this month, with sales increasing by almost 7% and market share hitting 22.3%.  This time last year the retailer was facing a number of store closures due to strike activity and its most recent performance is reflective of this.  The strongest performance for Tesco has been among younger shoppers, with share among the young family demographic increasing from 26.5% last year to 29.3% this year.”

SuperValu sits in third position with market share of 22.0% placing it just 0.3 percentage points behind Tesco.  SuperValu continues to build performance outside of its traditional base – two areas that stand out are young families, where market share has increased by almost 2%, and Dublin, where sales have increased by 3.5%.

Lidl is the second strongest growing retailer, with an uplift in sales of 5.9%.  An increase in shopper loyalty is behind this, with shoppers returning to the store more frequently – resulting in an extra 780,000 trips for Lidl this period compared with last year.

Having previously reported a decline in sales, Aldi’s performance is back on track.  Sales have increased by 1.3% and market share stands at 10.6% – just 0.2 percentage points behind Lidl.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “The grocery market remains in good health, spurred on by February festivities such as Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year, which lend themselves to a focus on ready meals.  Over the month, sales of chilled ready meals which form part of a meal deal jumped by 26% as retailers offered customers the opportunity to wine and dine at home without the fuss, while Chinese ready meals also rose by more than a quarter.”

Tesco and Morrisons were neck and neck as the fastest growing of the big four – both clocking in sales growth of 2.7%.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “Tesco continues to perform well – more positive news following approval of its Booker acquisition last week.  Despite a slight fall in market share of 0.1 percentage points, Tesco experienced particularly strong growth from its Extra superstores.  The varied selection of groceries on offer at these larger stores has encouraged customers to return to fuller trolley shops, with average baskets worth £31.09 – currently, the highest value in the bricks and mortar market.      

“Holding market share steady year on year at 10.6%, Morrisons has continued its run of form, entering its 16th consecutive period of growth.  Its premium own-label line The Best proved particularly successful, with sales rising by 20% year on year as cooked meats, vegetables and cakes and pastries tickled shoppers’ fancy.”     

Meanwhile, there are no signs of a let up in the shift away from discounted products for Sainsbury’s: only 34.5% of sales at Sainsbury’s were on promotion during the past 12 weeks, in stark comparison to 41.9% for the rest of the big four.  Overall sales growth now stands at 1.1%.    

Fraser McKevitt continues: “Over the past 12 weeks Asda attracted an additional 309,000 shoppers through its doors, helping the grocer achieve its highest sales growth since June 2014, now 2.3%.  At odds with its traditionally brand-focused approach, Asda has also encouraged shoppers to choose own-label alternatives, which are up by 6.4% year on year.  Less than a year since its launch, the retailer's Farm Stores range is bought by 30% of all British households – with sales surpassing £50 million – while its premium Extra Special line increased sales by 19%.”

Aldi and Lidl once again battled to be crowned the UK’s fastest-growing supermarket.  Aldi pipped Lidl to the post this month as sales grew by 13.9% and 13.3% respectively.  With both discounters working hard to expand their store portfolio, Aldi and Lidl also benefited from increased shopper numbers as well as growth in basket size.   

Co-op returned to growth for the first time since July 2017 with sales up 0.4%, after a period of decline following the retailer’s sale of nearly 300 stores to McColl’s.  Iceland held share steady at 2.2% compared to this time last year, increasing sales by 1.3%. 

There were no signs of a slowdown for Waitrose, which saw sales growth of 2.3%.  The supermarket has now experienced uninterrupted sales growth since March 2009.  Meanwhile, internet-only grocer Ocado increased market share by 0.1 percentage points to 1.2%.    

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “The recovery of branded sales began in late 2017 and has continued apace in the new year.  Sales of brands are up 4% year on year as shoppers parted with an additional €49 million on their favourites during the past 12 weeks.  This is the first time in four years that brands have posted stronger sales growth than their own label counterparts, with alcohol, baked goods, frozen food and toiletries performing best.”

New year health kicks were in evidence as spinach, berries and avocados continued to grow in popularity.  Sales were up by 46%, 19% and 6% respectively year on year.  David Berry continues: “Shoppers’ increasing interest in vegetarian and vegan lifestyles was clear as sales of vegetarian options surged by 18%.  One in five shoppers picked up a vegetarian product during the past 12 weeks.  Winter also brought its fair share of sniffles: sales of cough sweets and liquids increased by 9.5% and vitamin supplements saw a 14% increase year on year  as shoppers tried to bolster their immune systems.”

Among the retailers, Dunnes remains in pole position, capturing 23.2% of shoppers’ grocery spending.  Sales growth for the retailer has remained strong, with Dunnes posting an increase of 5.7% compared with this time last year.  David Berry explains: “Loyalty continues to define Irish grocery, with shoppers now less likely to shop around and committed to spending more with their retailer of choice.  Dunnes has capitalised on this trend, successfully counteracting lower footfall with higher spending from its existing customers.”

In second place, Tesco is just behind with a 22.7% share of the market and a comparable sales increase of 4.8%.  This is the tenth successive month that the retailer has enjoyed sales growth, boosting market share by 0.3 percentage points year on year.

Performance for SuperValu remains consistent, with sales growth of 2.1%.  Dublin yielded the strongest results for the retailer, with the supermarket managing to increase its market share in a region where it was traditionally under represented.

Lidl continues to enjoy a strong performance, with sales growth of 4.6% boosting market share to 10.5%.  Aldi has seen a slight dip in sales, with market share now standing at 10.3%. 

Meanwhile, Iceland – which currently holds just 0.6% of the Irish grocery market – is gaining a foothold in the frozen aisle.  David Berry explains: “Helped by store openings in 2017 – the retailer opened its twentieth Irish outlet on 23 January – the grocer has managed to increase its share of frozen food sales from 4.3% to 6.0% year on year during the past 12 weeks.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Following a record-breaking Christmas, January saw customers rein in their spending, with shoppers spending £1.6 billion less in the grocers compared with the month before.  Households saved £63.04 on average over January compared to December 2017: customers spent £3.39 less every time they shopped and sales of premium own-label products nearly halved.”

New Year’s resolutions also had an impact on the grocery market.  Fraser McKevitt continues: “As consumers look to more healthy alternatives following the holiday, trends like Veganuary have taken off and now 29% of evening meals contain no meat or fish at all".  This sustained interest in vegan and vegetarian diets is reflected in the chilled aisles – over January one in ten shoppers bought a meat-free ready meal, causing sales to rocket by 15% compared to this time last year.  Sales of spinach, cherries and aubergine also grew strongly compared to the past 12 months – up 43%, 25% and 23% respectively.   

“Despite a renewed focus on healthy eating, the cold weather has taken its toll on Britons, as has a national outbreak of influenza.  January sales of over-the-counter painkillers rose 12%, while cough sweets and liquids increased by 17% as shoppers tried to tackle seasonal colds.”

Lidl once again was crowned the UK’s fastest-growing retailer.  The discounter experienced a market share increase of 0.5 percentage points and saw sales climb by 16.3% compared to this time last year.  Fraser McKevitt explains: “Traditionally focused on own-label lines, Lidl has actually seen fastest growth among its branded products, which are up by 28% and now account for 12% of all sales.  Not to be outdone, Aldi also increased sales by 16.2% to hold a market share of 6.9% – up 0.7 percentage points.  Aldi experienced particular success with its premium ‘Specially Selected’ range, which saw sales climb by £26 million.”

Although its market share fell by 0.3 percentage points to 27.8%, Tesco still remains the fastest growing of the big four, with sales up by 2.6%.  Despite shoppers increasingly opting for vegan options, such as the grocer’s new ‘Wicked Kitchen’ range, Tesco saw the greatest sales growth from its dairy and produce lines. 

Asda and Morrisons both experienced sales growth of 2.2%, though lost market share, each down 0.2 percentage points compared to this time last year.  Asda encouraged shoppers to add extra items to their baskets while customers made an additional five million trips to Morrisons compared to this time last year. 

An extra 311,000 shoppers chose to shop at Sainsbury’s, with shoppers particularly engaging with the supermarket’s Local convenience stores and online offer.  Sales at the grocer increased by 1.5% despite market share falling by 0.3 percentage points to 16.2%.  

Still feeling the effect of selling nearly 300 stores to McColls, Co-op’s market share dropped by 0.2 percentage points to stand at 5.8%, having experienced sales growth of -0.1%.  Waitrose grew overall sales by 1.5% but saw market share fall by 0.1 percentage points. 

Iceland experienced its 23rd period of consecutive growth – a run dating back to May 2016 – with sales up by 1.6%.  Amid the news that the supermarket plans to remove plastic from all its own-label products by 2023, Iceland held market share steady at 2.3%. 

Internet-only retailer Ocado continued its rapid sales growth – up 7.8% – to hold market share at 1.3%. 

**Kantar Worldpanel Usage panel, proportion of meat and fish free savoury evening meals.

But why have we now decided to try a diet which until recently would have seemed restrictive or even unhealthy – even for a month? A look at consumer behaviour over recent years shows that taking the plunge for Veganuary might not be such a stretch for consumers after all, and for many could be a natural result of changing attitudes towards our health.

Veg and two veg

Insight from our Usage panel shows that consumers are already increasingly choosing to eat meat-free dinners, potentially making the jump to veganism less daunting. 29% of our evening meals are veggie, and this has grown consistently over the past few years. The biggest spike has been over the past year, during which we ate an additional 200m meat-free evening meals.

Usage expert Richard Allen explains “The surge in vegetarian evening meals over the past year is down to the wider availability of products which make eating meat-free more attractive and practical. Our ideas about what’s healthy are also changing – we’re more focussed on foods that are natural and less processed and eating a varied diet. High profile celebrities and social media influencers are also raising awareness and promoting eating less or no meat as a healthy lifestyle choice.”

Again, according to our consumption service, entirely vegan-friendly meals* are also already on the rise – we ate 87m more of them over the last year than in 2015.

Dairy-free dairy, meat free meat

The impact of these changes can also be seen in the products we're putting in our baskets. Meat-free products, like Quorn meat substitutes, are growing strongly, with shoppers spending an additional £30m on these year-on-year. 50% of spend on meat-free is going on "meal centres" like sausages and burgers - showing we're increasingly putting these at the heart of our meals.

"Free from” milk and cheese are in double digit growth, and attracting new shoppers. Free from milk is up 10% year on year, and dairy alternative cheese has grown an incredible 80% over the same period, putting its value at £17.8m**.

Rachel Knight, consumer insight director, added: “Not only are we seeing more people buying free-from dairy products, those who do are picking them up more often, suggesting they are becoming more of a staple in shoppers’ baskets and a trend that’s here to stay.”

As we reported last year, “free from”  ranges are being bought by a wide cross section of shoppers – not just those on particular diets -  as they’re seen as a healthier choice.

Meating in the middle

But as ever, when looking across the whole population, no one story fits all, and the rise of vegan and vegetarian diets does not necessarily mean consumers are moving away from meat overall.

In fact, fresh meat and poultry had a strong year in 2017, with the volume sold growing faster than can be explained by population growth (1.8% vs c1%).

Nathan Ward, business unit director for meat, fish and poultry, argues therefore that talk of us abandoning meat altogether is premature: “One dynamic we’re seeing is that shoppers are trying to find ways to cope with rising prices and falling promotions. A jacket potato and beans might be an easy (and vegetarian) midweek dinner, but consumers may also be motivated by other factors such as saving money.”

*lunch/teatime/evening meal
**Kantar Worldpanel Data: to 31st December 2017

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Over the Christmas period the average household spent a record €1,532 on groceries – an increase of €38 compared to last year. Much of this increase has been driven by staple items, with fruit, vegetables, meat and poultry posting a combined sales increase of €28m.

“Shoppers were also partial to a Christmas tipple with sales of alcohol up almost 6% – a boost of €13 million. Wine was the drink of choice this year with white wine and red wine sales up an impressive 10% and 12% respectively.”

Among the retailers, Dunnes Stores remained the top Irish supermarket. The grocer captured a market share of 23.0% – up 0.3 percentage points on this time last year – and achieved its strongest sales growth since May 2017, up 4.9%. Dunnes Stores’ customers remain loyal to the store, with perks such as the ‘Shop and Save’ campaign encouraging customers to add extra items to their shopping baskets.

David Berry continues: “Tesco also performed strongly, achieving its highest sales growth since February 2011, up 5.8%. The supermarket’s impressive growth helped it increase its market share by 0.5 percentage points compared to this time last year, and it now stands at 22.8%. SuperValu clocked in sales growth of 2.0%, with the grocer encouraging customers to spend an extra 70 cents every time they shop.”

Historically, shoppers have chosen to trade up over the Christmas period however Lidl seems to have broken the trend this year. The retailer enjoyed a positive performance over the Christmas period, with market share rising to 10.4% thanks to sales growth of 4.8%. While Aldi saw sales rise by 0.9% this was below the overall market level and led to a slight dip in market share – down 0.3 percentage points compared to this time last year.”

The trend towards online shopping is showing no signs of slowing down. David Berry explains: “Online grocers experienced impressive sales growth of 24%, which boosted their share of the market to a record 2.3% over the Christmas period. Although grocery e-commerce shoppers haven’t increased in number, customers who already shop online have upped the frequency of their purchases with, on average, one extra order placed over this period.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Overall supermarket sales increased in value by 3.8%, with an additional £1 billion ringing through the tills compared to the same festive period last year. Shoppers parted with £747 million on 22 December alone, making the Friday before Christmas the busiest shopping day ever recorded. For most of the year, location tends to be the most important factor in choosing where to shop, but over Christmas customers are actually prepared to travel further in search of specific festive products or better value.”**

Mince pie sales rose by 13.2% year on year, washed down with £3.9 billion worth of alcohol over the 12 weeks. Alcohol sales grew by 5.1% year on year, with spirits leading the charge: up 7.6% as consumers favoured festive tipples featuring gin and whisky. Fraser McKevitt continues: “Shoppers are splashing out despite fewer promotions to tempt them. Only 36% of spending was on items on offer this year – the lowest level of promotional activity at Christmas since 2009. Consumers are still facing more expensive groceries: like for like prices rose by 3.7% in the 12 weeks to 31 December, a slight increase on the 3.6% rise reported last month.”

Aldi and Lidl jointly the fastest growing UK supermarkets

Among the retailers, Aldi and Lidl are level pegging in the battle to be the nation’s fastest growing supermarket, both growing sales by 16.8% year on year. Fraser McKevitt explains: “In some ways Christmas is a tricky time for the discounters: they tend to lose a little market share compared to earlier in the year as many shoppers return to the more traditional supermarkets in search of old favourites. Rising to the challenge, Aldi and Lidl collectively managed to attract nearly one million additional households during the past three months. Aldi increased market share by 0.8 percentage points year on year to capture 6.8% of the market, with 39% of trips including at least one product from its premium Specially Selected range. Meanwhile, Lidl grew market share by 0.6 percentage points to stand at 5.0%, helped by a 22% sales increase in the dairy aisle and a £23 million boost from fresh produce.”

Tesco was the fastest growing of the big four supermarkets, with sales up 3.1% during the past 12 weeks. This is the fastest sales growth the retailer has seen since June, helped by a 6.4% increase in sales of standard Tesco own label. With Christmas Day falling on a Monday this year, Tesco Express, like other convenience stores, benefitted from restricted Sunday opening hours for larger supermarkets and were able to capitalise on consumers preferring to shop closer to home immediately before the big day. Despite a successful festive period, Tesco is still growing behind the market with a 0.2 percentage point fall in market share to 28.0%.

Meanwhile, Asda’s sales grew by 2.2%. This was particularly helped by a strong online performance which saw the retailer’s average shopping basket increase to just over 16 items. Despite this, the grocer’s market share declined by 0.2 percentage points to 15.3%.

Biggest ever online Christmas, sales up by 4.9%

Morrisons increased sales by 2.1% – with strongest growth coming from ambient and frozen foods – though the grocer’s market share fell by 0.2 percentage points to 10.7%. Sainsbury’s managed to increase sales across its convenience stores, larger supermarkets and online deliveries, growing overall by 2.0%. This is against the backdrop of the retailer’s continuing strategy of moving away from promotions, selling 5.6% fewer items on offer than during the same period last year. Sainsbury’s market share fell by 0.3 percentage points to 16.4%.

Sales at Waitrose increased by 2.3%, but fell by 0.2% at Co-op, as the retailers captured 5.2% and 5.8% of the market respectively. Iceland grew sales by 2.9%. Supported by a 7% boost for own label sales, more than half of the increase came from products beyond the retailer’s traditional frozen lines.

Overall online supermarket sales enjoyed their biggest ever Christmas: up 4.9% year on year. Ocado comfortably outpaced the online market, increasing sales by 8.4% to account for 1.3% of the grocery market.

** Data from our the new Worldpanel Plus service, where over 6,000 continuous Shoppix users were asked what would make them choose a different store to normal over Christmas – questionnaire fielded over one week from 20th Dec ‘17.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Dunnes Stores has always performed strongly in the countdown to Christmas and this year is no exception. Holding steady year-on-year with a 22.5% share of the market, the retailer has seen strong sales growth of 2.4% to retain the title of Ireland’s largest supermarket. Bigger trips continue to drive growth for Dunnes Stores, with each basket now €2.30 more valuable than last year.

“Dunnes Stores’ ‘Shop and Save’ initiative has proved the key to the retailers’ success. Shoppers now spend €2.30 more per shop than last year as customers are encouraged to up the value of their baskets to get extra money off.”

Tesco clinched second position while, despite experiencing its strongest sales growth since June, SuperValu sit in third place.
David Berry continues: “Tesco has continued its strong run of form as we approach the peak Christmas shopping season, with consumers visiting the store more frequently and buying more items every time they shop.

Sales have grown by 4.7% compared with last year and this is now the fourth month in a row that Tesco has experienced sales growth of more than 4%. This strong growth has translated into increased market share – up 0.5 percentage points on this time last year, the supermarket now holds a 22.3% share of the market. Just 0.3% now separates the top three as competition hots up for Christmas.

“Despite Tesco’s success there are only 0.3 percentage points separating the top three supermarkets – with the festive shopping period well and truly underway any of these retailers could secure the top spot at Christmas.”

Meanwhile, Aldi and Lidl are tied for fourth position, capturing 11.2% of market share each. Lidl enjoyed the second fastest growth rate in the market, behind Tesco, with sales growth of 3.3%.

With Christmas just around the corner, shoppers are stocking up on festive treats. Christmas pudding and mince pie sales are soaring – up 12.6% and 2.5% respectively on this time last year. Wine sales are also up by 8%, giving the market an extra holiday boost worth €9 million.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “With Christmas just around the corner, prices are still rising. Like-for-like grocery inflation now stands at 3.6% – it’s highest level since 2013.

“Despite higher prices the British public is well into the swing of festive shopping. Alcohol sales are up by nearly £172 million compared to this time last year and while volume sales have increased, this impressive growth is mainly a result of consumers choosing more expensive festive tipples. Gin, whisky and sparkling wine all saw significant growth: up by 26%, 10% and 7% respectively as shoppers pushed the boat out. Still small but growing rapidly, non-alcoholic beer is the new kid on the block this Christmas – growing sales by 27% during the past 12 weeks.”

Aldi reclaimed its crown as Britain’s fastest growing grocer during the latest quarter, with sales up 15.1% year on year. Fraser McKevitt continues: “This performance places the retailer marginally ahead of Lidl, which grew sales by 14.5% during the past 12 weeks. Aldi saw notable successes in the chilled aisle, increasing sales of convenience products like ready meals and desserts by an impressive 40% year on year.

“Aldi’s Specially Selected line was the UK’s fastest growing premium own label brand during the past 12 weeks, enjoying a healthy sales increase of 25%. Meanwhile Lidl’s market share increased by 0.5 percentage points to stand at 5.1%. This was helped by a strong performance from well-known brands, which currently account for 11% of the retailer’s sales.”

The biggest four grocers saw collective growth of 1.9% during the past 12 weeks, making this the ninth consecutive period of increasing sales for the UK’s largest retailers. Tesco – with sales up 2.5% compared to this time last year – was the fastest growing of the four.

Despite its market share falling by 0.1 percentage points to 28.2%, Tesco remains Britain’s most-visited retailer – welcoming 21 million households during the latest quarter.

Sainsbury’s grew sales by 2.0% year on year, with its market share falling to 16.3%. Meanwhile Morrisons’ market share fell to 10.6%, despite a sales boost of 1.4% year on year. Sales also grew at Asda – up 1.2% – with market share down by 0.3 percentage points.

Waitrose and Iceland both increased sales, up by 1.6% and 1.3% respectively. Co-op’s sales fell by 1.5%, taking market share down 0.3 percentage points to 6.0%.”

As the snowy weather turns the nation’s thoughts to mince pies and turkey, the supermarkets are now also fully focused on the critical Christmas trading season. Fraser McKevitt explains: “Christmas day falls on a Monday this year – last time that happened, in 2006, the Friday before was the most popular day for grocery shopping that year. If we see a similar pattern in 2017, Friday 22 December is likely to win out as the grocers enjoy not only the biggest shopping day of 2017, but the most successful ever recorded. Over Friday 22 and Saturday 23 December, we expect shoppers to part with an eye-watering £1.5 billion as they fill their trollies ahead of Christmas day.”

Although online grocery sales growth has slowed considerably to just 2.8% during the past 12 weeks, it is still likely to be a record December for grocery e-commerce. Internet specialist Ocado grew ahead of the online market during the latest quarter. Sales were up by 5.2% as market share remained flat year on year at 1.3%.

Sales of groceries through e-commerce platforms grew by 30% in the 12 months to March 2017, according to the report “The Future of E-commerce in FMCG” by Kantar Worldpanel, published today.

The study shows that e-commerce now accounts for 4.6% of all FMCG sales globally. Whilst the e-commerce channel is growing, the FMCG market as a whole is sluggish, increasing just 1.3% during the same period. E-commerce now contributes to a record 36% of global FMCG growth and will continue to outpace growth in offline FMCG retail. “Our projections show that in 2025, online FMCG will be a USD 170 billion-dollar business and hold a 10% market share” says Stéphane Roger, Global Shopper and Retail Director at Kantar Worldpanel.

Global hotspots

In terms of absolute value growth, the top six contributors are all leading power economies, led by China and the US. The other top performing countries are South Korea, the UK, Japan and France. Last year, value increased by 52% in China, 41% in South Korea, 8% in the UK, 7% in France and 5% in Japan and in the US.

However, the online grocery sector is also expanding into new markets. There has been significant value growth, for example, in Thailand (+104%), Malaysia (+88%) and Vietnam (+69%) where e-commerce is in its early stages.

Europe

Europe remains a continent divided. With 5.6% value share in 2016, it is the second largest market in the world for e-commerce following Asia. However, while the UK and France remain on the front foot for e-commerce – with 7.5% and 5.6% market share respectively – Germany (1.7%) and the Netherlands (2.6%) are lagging behind.

 Furthermore, there are signs that e-commerce is slowing down in Europe. Mature markets like France and the UK – while still evolving – are doing so at a slower rate.

USA

Known for its attachment to large format hypermarkets, online grocery penetration has increased rapidly in the US in recent months, reaching 30% of the total population. Annual spending on food and alcohol through e-commerce is this year predicted to reach $20 billion.

South America

There has been a slight increase in online grocery spend in Latin America over the past 12 months. The lack of trust in payment methods coupled with the overwhelming popularity of discount formats makes Latin America one of the most difficult regions for brands to succeed in the online world.

Throughout most of Latin America, e-commerce is lagging far behind traditional methods of shopping. The exception to this is Argentina, where e-commerce is exceeding usage compared to the rest of the region.

2025 Forecast

Kantar Worldpanel projections show that by 2025, online FMCG will be a USD 170 billion-dollar business, and hold a 10% total market share.

South Korea and China will continue to lead the way and Asia in general remains at the cutting edge of online adoption. The big global uplift will come from the USA, predicted to rise from a 1.5% e-commerce share in 2017 to 8% in 2025. This can be attributed to the successful rollout of click and collect, delivery and subscription models, and the acceleration of disruptive models.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Dunnes Stores traditionally posts a strong performance towards the end of the year and 2017 is no exception. While growth of 1.4% compared to this time last year is slightly behind the market average, shoppers have spent almost €2 more per trip this period, which has been enough for the retailer to edge ahead of the competition.”

SuperValu is in the second spot with a 22.0% share of the market – in line with last month – though larger basket sizes have contributed to a sales improvement of 0.5%.

The strongest growth this month has come from Tesco, as David Berry explains: “Tesco’s sales are 5.1% higher than they were this time last year, which has lifted its share of the market from 21.3% in 2016 to 21.9% today. The retailer is the only one of the top five not to lose shoppers this year, and customers have been tempted in by lower prices. On average, consumers have paid 2% less than this time last year and in turn this has contributed to shoppers making bigger trips and returning to store more often.”

Meanwhile, Aldi and Lidl have both continued to see sales grow ahead of the market – up 2.9% and 3.8% respectively. Unusually, Lidl has performed well in branded goods, particularly in the alcohol, biscuits and confectionery aisles as shoppers gear up for the festive season.

However, it wasn’t just Christmas that consumers were stockpiling for this period, as David Berry explains: “Storm Ophelia – which hit on the 16 October – had a surprisingly strong effect on the Irish grocery market. The week before Ophelia landed supermarkets were buoyed by a spike in sales as shoppers battened down the hatches in preparation for the course of the storm. Munster in particular saw an uplift in sales, with growth reaching 12% during that week.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4

The average number of children in a household has declined steadily to just 1.38, and the days of the stereotypically large Irish family are fading fast. They’re also shopping differently; families are making 23 more shopping trips a year than they were five years ago and are increasingly seeking refuge behind a laptop screen – spending an incredible €107 million on online grocery shopping over the past year.

Understanding how this changing family unit shops, how they eat and their attitudes to food and drink is vital for brands and retailers alike.

In our latest paper, Thoughts On: The Irish Family, we delve into how brands and retailers can take advantage of the significant spend by families.

Visit our publications page to download a copy of the report.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “It’s tight at the top for Tesco and SuperValu. Tesco’s strong sales growth of 4.2% has boosted its share of the market to 22.0% – an increase of 0.4 percentage points from this time last year. SuperValu has also seen an increase in sales, up 0.5%, putting the two stores’ market shares on a level footing.

“Both retailers have benefited from customers spending more each time they shop. Though SuperValu has seen consumers spend an additional 40 cents per basket on average, Tesco has encouraged its shoppers to add an extra €1 to every shop.”

Dunnes Stores has also increased its share of the grocery market – now standing at 21.9%. David Berry continues: “With Dunnes Stores only 0.1 percentage points behind SuperValu and Tesco, the top three Irish supermarkets are all fighting for the top spot. With the festive period just around the corner – the time of year when sales spike and shoppers aren’t afraid to spend that little bit extra – the competition shows no signs of abating.”

Meanwhile Lidl and Aldi both increased sales year on year – up 3.0% and 2.8% respectively. Lidl’s market share increased to 11.7%, while Aldi’s rose by 0.1 percentage point to 11.6%.

Over the past year, the grocery market has seen a shift back towards branded goods. David Berry explains: “With the recent trend towards own-label items, there’s now some good news on the horizon for brands. This time last year sales of branded items dropped by 0.5% compared to the year before, however we’re now seeing a return to form – with sales up 1.3%.

“At Christmas, shoppers tend to flock back to brands – partly for sentimental reasons and also as people are tempted to trade up at this time of year – so with the countdown to the festive season now well and truly underway, it’s likely we’ll see this trend continue into the new year.”

Overall, deflation has eased to stand at 0.1% – compared to 0.4% last month – and the grocery market remains in the black, with overall supermarket sales up 2.1% year on year.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4

Recent stories about the poultry supply chain have not materially dented chicken sales; fresh poultry sales have remained flat in the month of September, while chilled processed poultry has increased in value by 6%.

Meanwhile, Christmas has already started in the supermarket aisles. £69 million of chocolate confectionary boxes were sold in the last four weeks – a near threefold increase on sales in August; mince pies reached sales of £4 million and the British public spent £1.1 million on Christmas puddings.

It’s a mixed picture for the major retailers – each of the big four has grown sales but seen a decrease in market share as smaller operators continue to entice new customers through their doors.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Morrisons was the fastest growing of the large supermarkets this period, increasing sales by 2.8%. The biggest wins came from frozen foods and healthcare products – frozen fish rose by 19% while vitamins and supplement sales were up 23% as consumers bed in for winter. Growing sales at Morrisons’ bricks and mortar stores were supplemented by rapid expansion on its e-commerce platform, particularly in London and the south where online sales have risen 29%. Despite the growth, however, the retailer’s overall market share fell by 0.1 percentage points to 10.3%.”

Closely following Morrisons, the remaining big four have each continued to increase sales every month since April. At Tesco, sales grew by 2.1% though share was down 0.3 percentage points to 27.9%. Asda meanwhile has sustained its recent recovery, with sales up 1.8% in the past 12 weeks.

Fraser McKevitt explains: “Despite traditionally selling a higher proportion of brands than its major rivals it is own-label sales which are driving the growth at Asda. They now account for 45% of sales, with Asda’s value-focused Farm Stores line and premium Extra Special range leading the charge.”

Sales at Sainsbury’s increased 1.9% on last year while market share now stands at 15.8%, down 0.2 percentage points. Only 35% of Sainsbury’s sales are now through price-cut deals, down sharply from nearly 40% a year ago as part of the retailer’s ongoing programme of scaling back the overall level of promotions.

Fraser McKevitt continues: “Aldi and Lidl collectively added an additional £390 million in sales this quarter, which accounts for half of the entire market’s overall growth this period.” Lidl remains Britain’s fastest growing supermarket, up by 16.0%, while Aldi grew by 13.4%. Share increased for both retailers by 0.6 percentage points, up to 5.2% of the market for Lidl and 6.8% for Aldi.

Waitrose sales increased by 2.3% though in contrast share fell by 0.1% to 5.3%. Despite the fall Waitrose has again pulled ahead of Lidl in terms of market share – the premium retailer is traditionally stronger in the latter stages of the year as consumers start trading up for the Christmas period.

At Co-op, sales fell back by 2.5% and market share fell to 6.2%, a drop of 0.3 percentage points. Iceland’s sales grew by 2.6% -notably, it is the only bricks and mortar retailer other than Aldi and Lidl not to lose market share this period.

Online sales growth has slowed to 6.7% from a recent high of 21.9% in October 2014. Ocado’s sales increase of 8.7% means it continues to win share of the online market. With only 18% of the population buying groceries online in the latest 12 weeks, online specialists and the traditional supermarkets will both be looking to capitalise on the potential for long-term growth through Internet sales.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “A year-on-year sales growth of 0.4% was enough for SuperValu to hold onto the top spot in the face of a strong challenge from Tesco. SuperValu has improved the number of items sold per trip but has done so at a lower price point and now holds a 22.2% share of the grocery market, down 0.3 percentage points on last year.

“This is the fourth consecutive period of growth for Tesco, which is a clear indication that it’s achieved a turnaround in performance. This is also only the second time since July 2014 that Tesco has posted a year-on-year increase in market share.”

The overall grocery market has seen growth of 2.2% despite deflation holding steady at 0.5% for the second month in a row.
In third place behind SuperValu and Tesco, Dunnes Stores has maintained its market share at 21.1%, with sales increasing by 2.0% in comparison with last year.

David Berry continues: “There are some interesting dynamics boosting Dunnes’ performance this period. The number of households shopping with the retailer has fallen from 64% to 59% - that’s a reduction of 68,000 in absolute terms. However, this decline in footfall is cancelled out by a healthy improvement in how much shoppers are spending. The average Dunnes basket now includes an additional item and is worth an extra €2, suggesting that it’s performing well in the larger ‘main’ shop of the week and less so among smaller top-up trips. If Dunnes can encourage some of its lapsed shoppers to return to the store then it could be seeing a healthy increase in sales growth and market share.”

Lidl continues to perform ahead of the market, with sales growth of 2.7% ensuring the retailer could achieve a market share ahead of 12.0% for a second period.

Meanwhile, Aldi has tied with Tesco for the title of fastest growing retailer this period. Its sales growth of 3.4% has improved its market share to 11.5%, matching the record level it first saw in March of this year.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4

Fraser McKevitt, head of retailer and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Ten million households visited the retailer’s expanding network of stores during the past 12 weeks, with alcohol and fresh produce performing particularly well as the retailer increased sales by 18.9% overall. Lidl is growing sales 40% faster with families than with households without children. Families tend to buy more items each time they shop, so strong growth with this demographic has helped Lidl to increase its average basket size year on year. Not far behind, Aldi grew sales by 17.2%, attracting 1.1 million more shoppers through its doors than this time last year and increasing market share by 0.8 percentage points to stand at 7.0%.”

“Overall supermarket sales grew by 4.0% year on year, although disappointing weather hit summer favourites hard during the past month. Ice cream sales were down 9% as consumers huddled indoors, while sales of burgers slumped by 25% – an £8 million loss year on year – as rain dampened the nation’s appetite for barbecues. In contrast, sausages managed to escape the summer downturn thanks to a growing taste for posh bangers: 1/3 of those purchased during the month were from premium own label lines, as retailers persuaded shoppers that sausages should be enjoyed beyond the barbecue.”
Like-for-like grocery inflation increased slightly to 3.3% after holding steady at 3.2% for the past two months. At the current rate, price increases could add a further £138 to the average household’s annual grocery bill, with the price of butter and fish most affected.

Meanwhile there is good news for the UK’s largest retailers, as the recovery which has so far defined 2017 continues apace. Fraser McKevitt comments: “All four of Britain’s biggest grocers managed to grow sales for the fifth consecutive period, a run of collective success not seen since 2013. However, this welcome period of sustained growth hasn’t been enough to entirely offset pressure from the discounters: the big four now account for just 69.3% of the UK grocery market – down from 76.3% five years ago – and that looks set to fall further in the coming months.”

Overall sales grew by 3.0% at Tesco, helped by an increase in volume sales, but market share fell to 27.8% – down 0.3 percentage points compared to last year. Morrisons increased sales by 2.6% – the ninth consecutive period of growth for the Bradford-based supermarket – while market share dropped slightly to stand at 10.4%. Morrisons’ online business is performing particularly well: the retailer continues to increase its share of the online grocery market, attracting more shoppers as it expands its delivery service to new parts of the UK. Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s sales rose by 2.0% as the grocer’s market share fell to 15.8% – down 0.3 percentage points year on year.

Fraser McKevitt continues: “After a difficult couple of years, Asda has managed to continue the run of positive sales performance which began in April this year – up 1.4% during the latest quarter. This follows the retailer’s recent announcement of a return to like-for-like sales growth, suggesting Asda is asserting its recovery across the board. Own label has been important to the grocer’s turnaround, providing a boost from both ends of the price spectrum: the value ‘Farm Stores’ and premium ‘Extra Special’ lines both saw double-digit growth during the past 12 weeks.”

Waitrose’s market share held steady at 5.1% as it managed to increase sales by 2.8% year on year, continuing the unbroken run of growth the grocer has enjoyed since March 2009. Sales of branded goods were up 7% year on year at Waitrose – particularly noteworthy at a time when many retailers are focusing more on their own label lines.

After more than two years in growth, Co-op’s sales declined by 0.4% as its market share fell to 6.3% – down 0.3 percentage points compared to this time last year. This dip is at least partly attributable to the retailer’s sale of nearly 300 of its stores to convenience chain McColl’s. Meanwhile online specialist Ocado increased sales by 12.6%, now holding 1.4% of the overall grocery market.

Cora Campbell, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Despite a decline in the average price per pack, the market has continued to grow. In response to lower prices, shoppers have been putting more items into their baskets, which has kept market performance on an upward trajectory. Shoppers continue to favour retailers’ own brands, with sales growing by 3.7% and accounting for 55% of total grocery spending over the past 12 weeks.”

SuperValu remains in the top spot for the 8th consecutive period; and as shoppers’ money continues to stretch further, the grocer has managed to increase its sales by 0.2% over the past quarter. However, compared with this time last year, SuperValu’s market share has dropped 0.3 percentage points to stand at 22.1%.

In second position, Tesco captured 21.9% market share, with a 0.4 percentage point lead over Dunnes Stores in third place. Value sales at Tesco increased by 2.0% during the past quarter as consumers made one extra visit on average to the retailer, and continued to buy more each time they shopped.

Cora Campbell continues: “Despite seeing a drop in shopper numbers again this quarter, Dunnes Stores continued its strong sales growth, up 3.0%. Dunnes shoppers spent 8% more – €36.80 on average – with the grocer during the latest quarter, and also visited the retailer slightly more often on average than this time last year.

“Meanwhile Lidl and Aldi have also enjoyed strong performances over the past 12 weeks – Lidl’s growth accelerated to 3.8%, with Aldi boosting sales by 3.7%. Both retailers have captured a larger share of the grocery market – Lidl’s market share now stands at 12.1% with Aldi close behind holding 11.4%. Lidl and Aldi have both benefited from shoppers visiting their stores more regularly over the most recent quarter.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4

Price deflation, which has held steady at -0.2%, has been offset by an increase in overall volume sales of 4.6%.

Cora Campbell, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains, “The grocery sector grew by €80 million over the past 12 weeks – that’s a 3.5% increase on the year before. While average pack prices are down, shoppers are choosing to take advantage of this recent period of deflation by adding more items to their baskets per trip, driving the market’s overall growth.

“In the face of continuing competition the major retailers’ investment in developing and improving their own brand lines is paying off. Overall sales of private label goods are up by 4.2% and they now account for 54% of grocery spend – the highest proportion since March this year.”

Among the retailers, SuperValu’s lead over Tesco has narrowed to 0.2 percentage points. Cora Campbell continues, “On average SuperValu’s shoppers are spending an extra €0.60 each time they shop with the retailer and while this may not seem like much, it’s been enough to contribute to an increase in overall sales of 2.5%.

“SuperValu can’t remain complacent. Second place retailer Tesco is growing ahead of the market, at 3.8%, and has closed the gap in share between itself and SuperValu to just 0.2 percentage points. With the battle for the top spot hotly contested over recent years and only 0.7 percentage points separating the top three retailers, there can’t be any guarantees that you’ll stay in position.”

Despite a drop in shopper numbers Dunnes Stores remains the strongest growing retailer, increasing value sales by 4.5%. Existing customers are shopping more often and spending an additional 10% on average while they’re at it, increasing their average spend in the retailer by €44.50 in the latest 12 week period.

Cora Campbell continues, “Lidl and Aldi have both enjoyed a strong performance over the past 12 weeks, holding market share at 11.7% and 11.2% respectively. Lidl’s growth accelerated to 3.3% while Aldi was just ahead at 3.7%.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Only now are we are starting to feel the effect of the weakened pound following the EU referendum as the price of British imports drops. For the first time since May 2015 grocery prices are falling so consumers are likely to have a little extra cash to hand, though this doesn’t necessary mean they’ll spend more in store. Many will see the break from inflation as a chance to cut down their grocery costs and pocket the savings instead.”
Meanwhile, SuperValu has regained the title of Ireland’s largest grocer having been pipped to the post by Dunnes Stores for the past two months.

David Berry continues: “The battle to attract shoppers remains fierce as ever as SuperValu makes its way back to the number one spot. After two consecutive months at the top, Dunnes was unable to remain Ireland’s largest supermarket for a third month with SuperValu finishing 0.3 percentage points ahead of the retailer.”

The latest figures reflect the impact of Easter on consumers and retailers alike. With the Easter weekend not until the middle of April this year, the holiday falls outside the latest 12 weeks while it was within the comparable period last year. As a result overall growth in the market fell to 0.7% – significantly below the level during the same period in 2016, demonstrating Easter’s significant boost to the market. The recent return to deflation has also contributed to the slowing of growth.

One of the main trends within the Irish grocery market this year is shoppers’ move towards own-label, with these goods now accounting for 54% of total grocery spend – up 6% in the past four years. Discount retailers Aldi and Lidl are a major contributing factor; their stock is predominantly own-label so they have driven this growth, with shoppers now also more accustomed to seeing own-label ranges on shelves.

David Berry continues: “SuperValu and Tesco have both responded and expanded their own-label ranges. The retailers see this as a real opportunity for growth, with own-label lines offering them the chance to set themselves apart from the rest.

“However brands are still dominating in Dunnes Stores, with own-label accounting for just 38% of sales this year – up only 1% since 2013, much lower than its competitors.”

Despite losing market share, Dunnes still has reason to celebrate. Sales grew by 3.2% year-on-year – the 30th consecutive period of growth for the retailer. Lidl’s success continues too as the retailer experiences a 3.7% increase in sales. Shoppers visited the store once more over the past 12 weeks, compared to the same period last year. Aldi remains Ireland’s fasting growing retailer with sales growing by 5.0%. The retailer increased its market share to 11.3%, closing the gap with its closest rival Lidl to just 0.1%.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here:  http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Dunnes’ shoppers are adding more to their baskets, helping the retailer to maintain the title of Ireland’s largest supermarket this month. 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 per trip and €25 million for the retailer in the past 12 weeks.”

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

David Berry continues: “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.”

Following three months of steady growth, Tesco sales dropped by 1.0% as eleven days of staff strikes led to disruption for the retailer. 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 percentage points to 21.7%.

Aldi’s and Lidl’s success is continuing, with sales rising by 5.3% and 4.1% respectively. Over the past twelve weeks Aldi managed to attract an additional 20,000 customers into its stores, while also encouraging them to visit more frequently. Lidl’s uplift in sales enabled the retailer to increase its share of the market to 10.6%.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

With Christmas Day falling on a Sunday this year, shoppers had two extra days to tick off all the items on their Christmas shopping lists. Having the whole week to prepare meant that the average household spent €193 on the big day, €35 more than last year. Despite the extra shopping days, 55% of the population still chose to brave the supermarkets on Friday 23 December, making it the busiest day for retailers.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “After a turbulent 2016, shoppers really chose to treat themselves this Christmas. Always popular over the festive period, biscuits and chocolates did even better than usual. Irish families spent 9% more on seasonal confectionery than last year, making sure they had plenty of sweet treats to keep them going over the festive period. More were in the mood for a Christmas tipple too, with alcohol experiencing double-digit growth. This was partially down to more multi-buy promotions in stores tempting shoppers to up their spend.

“As in previous years, 2016 was defined by fierce competition for the grocery market with Ireland’s three biggest supermarkets vying for the top spot all year long. With shoppers willing to fork out more over Christmas, it’s a vital time of year for grocers – an opportunity to pull away from the competition. Whether that’s via a heart-warming Christmas ad or the best premium own-label offers for the big day, we’ve seen retailers going all out to persuade the Irish public to shop with them this festive season.
“It was Supervalu that came out on top after a tussle with Dunnes Stores at the end of last year, a position the retailer has held for 10 out of the past 12 periods.”

Despite a return to second place, Dunnes Stores continued to perform well. Sales for the Christmas period were almost 5% higher than in 2015 and the average spend per trip reached a new high of €41.60, significantly ahead of any other retailer.
Tesco continued to improve its performance, with sales growing by 1.3% over the final quarter – up from the 1.2% growth the grocer saw in the 12 weeks to 4 December 2016. Premium own label was a particular bright spot for the retailer, with its Tesco Finest range experiencing strong growth over the festive period.

Elsewhere, Aldi posted the strongest growth of all Irish supermarkets with sales up by 5.3%. The retailer managed to attract 37,000 new shoppers this Christmas, boosting its market share to 10.5%. Lidl also recorded positive results, with festive sales 2.3% higher than in 2015.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4  

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Dunnes’ strong performance is largely down to its continued success in encouraging larger shopping trips via its innovative “Shop & Save” promotional campaign. Persuading shoppers to add one extra item to every basket – worth €3.20 on average – may not sound like much, but across the country this adds up to an additional €2.8 million each week. Growth across a wide range of categories has contributed to the retailer’s overall sales increase of 6.7% year on year, with toiletries, alcohol, frozen food and confectionery performing particularly well.”

Now capturing 22.4% of grocery spending, SuperValu continues to enjoy a positive performance with an increase in sales of 2.3% year-on-year. More shoppers have chosen to visit the retailer this year but they have also spent more, parting with an additional 80c per trip on average.

Tesco remains on an upward trajectory, with value sales falling by just 0.6% in the past 12 weeks and volume sales increasing compared with last year: the grocer’s market share now stands at 21.4%.

David Berry continues: “Lidl’s share of the market has increased slightly to 11.4%, with sales growth of 5.3%. Aldi’s strong performance continues with sales growing by 6.6% year on year – leading to a healthy increase in market share from 11.1% last year to 11.3% in the past 12 weeks. Aldi has seen the biggest boost to its shopper numbers during the latest quarter with an extra 40,000 households visiting the retailer and also returning more often.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

“Since its introduction Dunnes’ ‘Shop and Save’ initiative has gone from strength to strength. The campaign has been very successful in persuading shoppers to spend more, and we’ve seen a whopping 18% increase in shopping trips where consumers spend over €100 since last year.”

SuperValu continues to hold the number one position in Ireland, with sales growth of 2.9% the retailer has managed to recruit an additional 38,000 shoppers during the past 12 weeks compared with last year.

Performance for Tesco has improved compared to previous months, with value sales falling by just -1.3% – the lowest level of decline since May this year – and volume sales increasing. Tesco’s market share now stands at 21.6%.
David Berry continues: “Lidl has increased its share of the market to 11.6%, with sales growth of 5.1%. The average Lidl shopper visited the retailer 11 times over the past quarter. In what looks like a shift to an increasing reliance on its own brand lines, branded items accounted for just 10% of Lidl’s sales during the past 12 weeks compared to over 20% in 2012.”

Aldi enjoyed the strongest growth across the market this quarter, with sales 6.6% higher than last year boosting its share of the market to 11.4%. 

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Larger trips have boosted sales for Dunnes, with the average spend increasing by €2.50 to €37.20 in the latest quarter, compared with the same time last year. Dunnes has successfully tempted shoppers to add more expensive items to their baskets, with the average price per item rising to €2.05 – an increase of 12% on last year.”
SuperValu remains Ireland’s largest grocer with a 22.4% share of the market, increasing sales by 3.1% year on year. This is the third consecutive month where growth for the retailer has been above 3%, helped by shoppers adding more items to their baskets on average every time they shop.

While Tesco has seen value sales fall by 2.3% it continues to sell more items, with volume sales 1.9% higher than the same time last year. The performance gap between value and volume sales is a reflection of a lower average price point at Tesco, in part the result of its ‘Staying Down Prices’ campaign.

David Berry continues: “Lidl’s market share now stands at 11.7% – in line with last year – while sales increased by 4.5%. Three core categories have contributed most significantly to the strong performance, with produce, meat and bakery together accounting for €11 million of extra sales compared with last year. Lidl has also managed to increase the number of repeat visits its shoppers make, with the average customer returning 11 times over the past 12 weeks compared with fewer than 10 times last year. ”
“Meanwhile sales growth for Aldi continues to improve, with market share increasing from 11.2% last year to 11.4% in the latest period.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4  

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Over recent months the price of groceries has increased slightly, with an average basket now costing 2.7% more than this time last year. Areas where we have seen the most significant increases include vegetables, fruit and beer – all major categories for the retailers.”

Among the major retailers Dunnes Stores has posted the strongest growth this quarter, with sales 5.8% ahead of last year. The retailer now captures 21.2% of the market, up from 20.7% this time last year. While the outlook remains sunny for Dunnes, growth has slipped back recently: in May sales grew by 8%, and the retailer will be seeking a return to this strong performance for the rest of 2016.

SuperValu continues to post positive results with sales growth of 3.2%, maintaining its position as the number one grocery retailer for the 11th consecutive month. Further welcome news for Ireland’s biggest supermarket comes in the form of boosted footfall: an additional 15,000 households shopped with the retailer in the past 12 weeks. Meanwhile Tesco remains in second place, although its market share has dipped to 21.8%.

David Berry continues: “Lidl’s market share has reached 11.9% – a new record high for the retailer, beating its previous best of 11.8% from August 2015. Lidl is reaping the rewards of recruiting 34,000 new shoppers during the past 12 weeks.
“Aldi’s share of the market has increased by 0.1 percentage points to 11.3%, alongside a significant improvement in sales growth. The retailer has recovered well since March this year when it saw sales growth dip below 1.0%: a healthy 4.4% increase in the past 12 weeks shows its performance is firmly back on track.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4  

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Ireland’s involvement in the Euro 2016 certainly looks to have had a positive impact for the major supermarkets. Alcohol sales over the past 12 weeks are 11% higher than the same time last year, as consumers stocked up more often and bought more each time they shopped. Soft drinks, confectionery, crisps and snacks all also saw positive sales growth as football fans made the most of the opportunity to treat themselves.”

Among the majors retailers SuperValu grew sales slightly ahead of the market, maintaining its position as the number one retailer in Ireland with a 22.5% market share. The grocer is closely followed in second place by Tesco, which currently holds 21.9% of the Irish grocery market. This represents a fall in share compared with last year – largely the result of a 1.9% dip in sales.”

Dunnes Stores continues to experience strong growth, with larger shopping trips helping to boost sales by 6.5%, while Lidl remains the fourth largest supermarket with an 11.9% share of the market, an increase of 0.2 percentage points year on year.

In the past year an extra 38,000 households have visited Aldi, contributing to a 3.7% sales growth in the past 12 weeks – a clear improvement from March of this year when growth stood at just 0.8% and the discounter was losing shoppers.

David Berry continues: “The strongest growth we’ve seen this period has actually been from the smaller retailers, which together increased sales by 6.8%. This has been boosted in particular by bargain stores such as Dealz, a strong period for Iceland and an increase in cross-border shopping. Iceland and bargain stores have both felt the benefit of expanding their store estates, while the drop in the value of sterling has made cross-border shopping more appealing. While all three of these phenomena remain small, they have contributed to an impressive combined €14 million sales increase.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Consumers are making more frequent visits to supermarkets, averaging an additional four trips in the latest 12 weeks compared with last year and driving volume growth across the market. Coupled with increased prices this means that the average household is spending an additional €50 on groceries this year, amounting to an extra €89 million for the market.

“Each of Ireland’s five main retailers has seen sales either flat or growing on the year prior this period. At Tesco, sales remain in line with last year, with market share just 0.3 percentage points behind SuperValu at 22.4%. Tesco has managed to recruit an additional 10,000 shoppers on last year, with more than 80% of households visiting one of its stores in the latest 12 weeks. This is the first growth in footfall for Tesco in 10 periods, suggesting its investment in keeping prices down may be starting to pay off.

“Lidl continues to post impressive sales growth as more consumers choose to shop with the retailer – a record 72.4% of all Irish households shopped in a Lidl store in the last quarter, widening the gap between it and rival discounter Aldi. Sales growth for Aldi stands at 2.4% in the latest quarter – a positive step up from the previous results for April and an early sign that sales growth might be starting to improve again.”

SuperValu remains in positive growth, increasing sales by 2.9% on last year – the tenth consecutive period of growth for the retailer. This has enabled the retailer to maintain number one position in Ireland for the eighth month in a row, with a 22.7% share of the market, though this share is 0.2 percentage points lower than this time in 2015.

Dunnes Stores was one of only two retailers to perform ahead of the market this month, with sales growing by 8.0% as shoppers continue to up their spend with the retailer – the average spend at Dunnes is now €37.20, compared to a national average of €21.80. Sales first began to grow at Dunnes in January 2014, meaning that the retailer has now enjoyed 19 periods of constant sales growth.

The grocery market inflation stands at 2.3%† for the 12 week period ending 22 May 2016.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4  

The 2016 Brand Footprint ranking measures which brands are being bought by the most consumers, the most often. Avonmore has been chosen by 75.8% of the population, on average 27.4 times a year, meaning it was picked from supermarket shelves 35 million times during the course of the year.

This year’s ranking sees 25 Irish brands making it into the top 50 and of these, 17 grew their penetration on last year. Of the six brands entering this year’s ranking four are Irish – Charleville, MiWadi, Country Kitchen and Carroll’s of Tullamore. The latter saw the average frequency of purchase increase by 18.2% as spend on its cooked meats and ready meals rose by 38% thanks to an investment in new product lines and innovation following a €40 million management buyout.

Four other Irish brands sit alongside Avonmore in the top 10. Brennans retains second place, growing in both frequency and penetration this year (bought an average of 25 times a year by 71.5% of households). It is followed by Denny in third place (16.3 times a year by 76.7%) and Jacob’s in fifth. Jacob’s is bought by 84.8% of Irish households, achieving the highest penetration of any brand in this year’s ranking. If consumers continue to increase their purchase frequency at the same rate – up from 12.1 to 12.4 this year – then it could edge ahead of fourth placed Knorr.

Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola retains first place in the worldwide Brand Footprint ranking. However, the enduring popularity of domestic brands means it has only made it into the top 10 in the Irish table for the first time this year.

Only Knorr, Coca-Cola and Heinz appear in both the Irish and European top 10, with few home favourites having a presence outside of Ireland. Globally the top ranking is more diverse – with data from 44 countries and covering 15,000 brands it features a range of FMCG categories including health and beauty, hygiene and cleaning brands.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Irish brands continue to represent a strong contingent in our shopping baskets and it’s promising that they’re succeeding in the same space as pan-European and global businesses. This isn’t just true of food brands – sector specific rankings show brands like Lyons, MiWadi and Killeen all performing better than their international competition.”

Eoin Doyle, director of marketing and innovation at Glanbia, said: “We are delighted that yet again Avonmore tops the list of Ireland’s most bought grocery brands. This reflects our continued commitment to developing and growing the brand in Ireland, through on-going innovation and investment which consumers continue to respond positively to.”

Kantar Worldpanel’s Brand Footprint Ranking reveals the strength of brands in 44 countries around the world, across the food, beverage, health and beauty and homecare sectors. It uses an insightful metric called Consumer Reach Points which measures how many households around the world are buying a brand (its penetration) and how often (the number of times shoppers acquire the brand).

This unique calculation of penetration and frequency helps FMCG manufacturers to clearly understand their Irish and global reach in terms of actual basket reach and provides a vital guide on which regions present the biggest opportunities.

Have a look at how the top global and Irish brands achieved success in this link http://bit.ly/1TJ1Fmj  

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “As competition amongst the main grocery retailers remains intense, we’re actually seeing shoppers visit stores more often. Over the latest 12 weeks the average household has made 63 separate trips for grocery items, an additional four trips compared with last year. This is linked to a reduction in the overall size of the average grocery trip – which has dropped from €22.40 last year to €21.60 – as we see a rise in top up shops whereby consumers buy fewer items more regularly throughout the week.

“SuperValu remains the largest supermarket in Ireland, capturing 23.0% of consumer spend on groceries and increasing sales by 2.8% year on year. We’ve seen consumers continue to allocate more of their shopping budget to fresh food over the past four years, and SuperValu has managed to capitalise on this very successfully. Most recently the retailer has launched its ‘Good Food Karma’ campaign, which aims to inspire the general public to cook from scratch using fresh ingredients. The retailer saw strong growth across fresh staples in the past 12 weeks as a result: sales of fruit, vegetables, meat and poultry all saw healthy increases.”

Meanwhile Tesco remains in second place, with the retailers’ share of the market standing at 22.2%. Tesco has managed to sell more items this year but at a lower average price point – investing in low prices in a bid to win back customers. The result has been a dip in value sales of 0.7%, but volume sales have remained more positive, increasing by 2.7%.

David Berry continues: “The recent strong performance continues for Dunnes Stores, with sales growth reaching an impressive 8.0%. Bigger trips have been the main driver of this growth, with an additional €2.50 spent each time the tills ring compared with the same time last year. This is testament to the ongoing success of Dunnes’ ‘Shop and Save’ campaign: incentivising shoppers to spend more each visit in return for money off next time is a formula that has really worked for the grocer.”

Lidl has maintained its position as the fastest growing retailer – an additional 43,000 shoppers visited the grocer this year, and the discounter is getting customers through the door more often than ever before. The average number of visits per person increased to a record high of 10.6 trips in the latest 12 weeks, and has meant that Lidl’s market share now stands at 11.2%. Elsewhere Aldi has grown sales by just over 1% and now captures 10.9% of grocery spend in Ireland.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4  

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “An early Easter saw shoppers spend an extra €40 million on groceries as they prepared to celebrate with family and friends. Fresh produce sales were up by 11% compared with last year as shoppers picked up the trimmings for their Easter roasts, while crisps and snacks received a 12% boost. Sales of confectionery were up 32% as the nation stocked up on sweet treats, with 69% buying at least one chocolate egg during the Easter period.”

SuperValu has retained the top spot, cementing its lead with a slightly increased market share of 24.9% – up 0.1% year on year. Shoppers have visited the retailer more often so far this year, with the average number of trips increasing to 22 – up from 20 in 2015 – with a sales increase just ahead of the market at 5%.

David Berry continues: “Tesco posted sales growth for the fourth consecutive month as their performance continues to improve. Volume growth remains stronger than value – an increase of 2.7% compared with 1.4% – as keeping prices low continues to be a major focus for the retailer.

“Growth for Dunnes Stores continues to be driven by larger shopping trips, with spend per trolley increasing by an impressive €3 year on year. The success of the Shop and Save campaign continues, and has proved particularly effective with families, where Dunnes now captures 25.6% of the market compared with 23.9% this time last year.”

Elsewhere, Lidl continues to set the pace with the strongest sales increase in Irish grocery – 9.5%. Lidl is in the strong position of getting more consumers through its doors while also encouraging them to spend more on each visit and return more frequently. Aldi’s sales growth remains healthy, with an increase of 1.5% on last year as shoppers spend more on each visit.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4  

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Over the past twelve months we have seen a gradual increase in the level of price inflation, increasing from slight deflation of -0.1% in March 2015 to inflation of 2.6% in the past 12 weeks. Interestingly shoppers don’t seem deterred by rising prices, increasing their spending well ahead of the rate of inflation.

“There are signs that the Irish public may be sticking to their new year’s resolutions, with healthy foods performing well ahead of the market. Sales of fresh fish increased by 13% in the past 12 weeks, while fruit saw an 11% boost and sales of nuts have increased by 17% compared with last year. However, we’re still looking to treat ourselves too – sales of chocolate confectionary were up 14% this quarter, while ice cream saw a 13% sales increase compared to the same period last year.”

Among the major retailers, Dunnes’ recent run of success continues with sales 7% higher than last year – an increase of almost €3 million per week across the quarter. Bigger baskets remain the primary driver of growth for Dunnes, with the average shopping trip now coming to €37.60, almost €2.50 higher than last year.”

Meanwhile SuperValu has grown slightly ahead of the market, increasing sales by 3.7%. This has boosted the retailer’s market share to 25.0%, reaffirming its position as the number one supermarket in Ireland.”

Tesco remains in second place, capturing 24.2% of grocery spend and increasing sales by 0.6% year on year. This is the third successive period of growth for Tesco and has been driven by more frequent visits – each shopper visited the retailer 14 times on average over the past quarter compared with 13 visits last year.

David Berry continues: “Elsewhere, Lidl’s double digit growth continues, improving their market share by half a percentage point. Over 66% of Irish households shopped in a Lidl store in the past 12 weeks, compared with less than 60% five years ago. Aldi’s growth is more modest but remains impressive, with larger shopping trips increasing sales by 3.0%.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

Georgieann Harrington, insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “The increased consumer confidence we saw over Christmas has continued, with little indication that shoppers are tightening their belts after the festive period. Combined with a 0.4 percentage point increase in price inflation over the past 12 weeks, this means that consumers have been spending more on their grocery shopping than this time last year.”

SuperValu remains Ireland’s number one retailer, capturing 25% of the grocery market. Impressive sales growth of 4.4% has seen the grocer perform ahead of the market, increasing its share from 24.8% last year. Shoppers visited the retailer nearly 21 times on average in the latest period – more frequently than last year – spending an additional €27 with SuperValu as a result.

Dunnes enjoyed the strongest rate of growth of the top three supermarkets with sales up 5.1% compared with last year. This is due in part to larger shopping trips – Dunnes has successfully encouraged shoppers to spend an additional €1.70 on average every time they visit the store.

Georgieann Harrington continues: “Tesco is still in second place, half a percentage point behind SuperValu, with a 24.5% share of the grocery market. However, sales growth of 1.1% makes this the most positive performance Tesco has seen since November 2012, so things are still looking up for the retailer.

“Elsewhere, Lidl has now seen double digit growth for the fourth consecutive 12 weekly period. The retailer is successfully driving growth across the board, with a higher number of shoppers visiting its stores more often and spending a larger amount each time. Aldi also posted a positive performance, with sales 2.9% higher than in 2015. The main growth driver for Aldi has been an increase in customer numbers: almost 65% of all Irish households visited the retailer within the past 12 weeks, compared with just shy of 63% a year ago.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Christmas is the most important time of the year for grocery retailers and this year proved no different. The past 12 weeks are the first time since March 2013 that all five of the major supermarkets in Ireland have grown sales. Shoppers spent an additional €77 million on groceries compared with the same time last year, with confectionary, crisps and other snacks doing particularly well. But it wasn’t just party food that boosted sales, shoppers also spent more on staple items such as fruit, vegetables and eggs. This is a clear sign of increased consumer confidence as shoppers worry less about what they’re spending.”

SuperValu has retained its position as the number one retailer in Ireland. Sales growth has continued to accelerate over recent months, reaching 4.3% over the past 12 weeks and increasing the retailer’s share of the market to 25.1%. SuperValu secured additional trips from a larger customer base this Christmas, resulting in a 6.5% increase in the number of transactions in store.

David Berry continues: “Tesco saw a better performance over Christmas, with sales up marginally versus last year. This is a notable improvement on results for October and November, suggesting things are looking up for the retailer.

“Elsewhere, Dunnes enjoyed a strong sales performance with an increase of 5.6%, improving its market share by half a percentage point to 24.0%. Bigger trips continue to be the focus for Dunnes, with its average basket size increasing by more than €2 year on year. The ongoing ‘Shop and Save’ campaign looks like it’s had a major impact with larger families – sales have grown by 11% among households with more than four members compared with last year.”

Lidl enjoyed the strongest growth within the grocery market with sales 11.6% ahead of Christmas 2014 – an additional 44,000 people chose to shop with the retailer this year. Aldi also enjoyed healthy sales growth with a 2.9% increase year on year.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “It hasn’t all been plain sailing for SuperValu – over the past six months the retailer has seen falling shopper numbers, but in the past 12 weeks it has managed to get that issue under control. This has allowed SuperValu to strengthen its position at the top, posting impressive sales growth of 3.7% and increasing its share of the grocery market to 24.7%. Alongside a strong performance in its traditional heartland – fruit and vegetables – the grocer also posted excellent sales in confectionery, crisps and snacks and soft drinks during the past quarter.

“Tesco remains in second place with a 24.1% share of grocery sales. While value sales may have dipped, we have seen growth in the number of items shoppers are picking up on each trip. The reduction in value sales is linked to the fact that these items are at a lower price point than last year, leading to a dip in the retailer’s value share of the grocery market.”

Dunnes’ sales continue to grow, with an increase of 3.6% this period to cap off a strong year – the retailer has seen non-stop sales growth for the whole of 2015. Dunnes has continually managed to encourage shoppers to spend more per trip, with its Shop and Save campaign helping to create a more loyal customer base and increase its market share to 23.8%.

Elsewhere, Lidl continues to post the strongest growth with sales increasing by 10.6% as 37,000 more shoppers visited the retailer compared with the same time last year. Dublin has proved a particularly strong region for Lidl, with shopper numbers in the nation’s capital increasing by 10% this quarter. Aldi’s performance remains ahead of the overall market, with sales growth of 2.6% and market share holding at 8.4%.

David Berry continues: “While the big Christmas shop has yet to take place there are signs that shoppers may have begun their preparations for the festive season earlier this year. Confectionery, crisps and snacks have all seen double digit growth in shopper spend when compared with last year, helping to increase overall grocery sales by 2.5%. Such strong growth is an early indicator that Ireland’s retailers could be in for a bumper Christmas, and we’re sure to see grocers competing eagerly for the biggest slice of festive sales.”

The grocery market inflation stands at 1.3%† for the 12 week period ending 6 December 2015, in line with last period.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “This is the most positive performance the market has seen in over five years. The growth in sales this period was ahead of the rate of inflation, indicating that consumers are becoming less restrictive in what they buy and adding extra items to their baskets.

“With the countdown to Christmas now underway and seasonal items appearing on the shelves, the battle to win during this vital season is on. Intense competition means that consumers are already seeing a range of strong offers as retailers try to outdo each other on price and quality, and this will only continue as Christmas approaches.”

Among the big three retailers Dunnes posted the strongest performance this period, with sales growth of 4.7% increasing their share of the market to 23.2%. This marks the eleventh successive period of sales growth for Dunnes, as its ongoing ‘Shop and Save’ campaign encourages shoppers to buy more items in each shop. Dunnes has also focussed on price promotions this period, with products on offer accounting for 39% of all consumer spend in its stores during the past 12 weeks.

David Berry continues: “Tesco retains its position as the largest supermarket in Ireland, with sales performance continuing to stabilise and market share standing at 24.5%. SuperValu has seen an improvement in performance this period, bringing its market share to within just 0.1% of Tesco. This can be attributed to a significant increase in repeat shopping trips, with each shopper making an additional two visits to the retailer when compared with last year.”

Elsewhere, both Lidl and Aldi continued to gain ground, with year on year increases in sales of 9.8% and 4.5% respectively. For both retailers the strongest source of growth has been larger trips – each basket in Lidl contained on average two additional items when compared with last year, while Aldi’s baskets saw an increase of one item. Lidl has also managed to successfully win new shoppers, with an additional 40,000 choosing to shop with the retailer this year.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

Georgieann Harrington, insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “After an unprecedented period of decline, Tesco has posted growth of 0.3%. This is the first time sales have increased for the retailer since early 2013. Making the most of the back to school season, the grocer has seen its spend from families with children – a heartland for the retailer – increase by 4%. A modest increase in shopper numbers overall has certainly played a part in Tesco’s recovery, and its customers are also buying more products per shop in the latest period, helping to boost the retailer’s performance.”

Meanwhile, discount retailer Lidl posted the strongest sales for the past 12 weeks, growing well ahead of the market with an increase of 9.5%. It was closely followed by Dunnes, which grew sales by 5.2%.

Georgieann Harrington continues: “Getting shoppers through the doors continues to be the biggest driver of growth for Lidl, with 40,000 new customers visiting the retailer this year. Lidl has utilised clever marketing campaigns like ‘Stikeez’ to encourage customers to spend more per visit, with the average spend increasing by 5% to €22.84.

“Dunnes’ strong performance continues – shoppers now spend almost €50 more than they did last year, thanks largely to the ‘Shop & Save’ campaign. The retailer continues to gain share in shopping trips worth over €100 and has benefitted from customers buying more items, with volume sales increasing by 5%. However, Dunnes has actually seen a drop in shopper numbers, with around 70,000 leaving its stores in the latest period.”

Aldi’s growth of 3.6% is ahead of the market, with the retailer improving its share by 0.2 percentage points to 8.7%. Like Dunnes, Aldi has seen the number of customers entering its stores fall this period, but nevertheless continues to grow its sales. The retailer has also seen the average shopper spend increase by 6% to €170.

SuperValu’s growth continues at a slower pace, but the retailer maintains second position, capturing 24.3% of market share. The number of visits to its stores increased by 5% this period, with shoppers spending €16 more on average than they did last year.

The grocery market inflation stands at 1.8%† for the 12 week period ending 13th September 2015, up from 1.3% last period.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Dunnes’ success is in large part thanks to the continuation of its ‘Shop and Save’ campaign. Although fewer people have shopped with the retailer this period, these customers have been encouraged to spend more, with the average shop now costing €34.50 – an increase of more than €5.”

Lidl has maintained its strong performance, boosting its share of the market by more than half a percentage point to 9.1%. Sales growth of 7.7% has been driven by an increased number of shoppers returning to the store more frequently and spending larger amounts on each occasion. Lidl is the only retailer to drive improvement in all three of these areas in the past quarter.

David Berry continues: “We’ve seen Tesco’s performance improve in recent months, and the past 12 weeks are no exception – sales decline now stands at just -1.0%. As its performance continues to improve, Tesco retains the number one position in the market with 24.8% share, despite an ongoing tussle with SuperValu for the top spot. An increase in customer numbers, with more than 20,000 new shoppers recruited this year, has played a vital part in the supermarket’s recovery.”

SuperValu has retained second place, though close competition continues as the second largest retailer remains just 0.3 percentage points behind Tesco, with 24.5% of the market. Aldi has seen sales grow by 3.8%, lifting its share of the market to 8.7%. 

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4   

Online’s share of FMCG purchasing in advanced e-commerce markets will double in the next 10 years and Kantar Worldpanel estimates online purchasing will reach 30% in South Korea, 15% in China and at least 10% in the UK and France.

Global FMCG online sales grew 28% in 2014
With growth of 28% globally in 2014 alone, sales online are rising, particularly in the world’s most advanced e-commerce markets.

FMCG e-commerce grew at a faster pace in Asia with China being the fastest growing market (+34%) followed by South Korea (+22%). In Europe the FMCG ecommerce grew 20% in the UK and 12% in France. South Korea continues to be the country where FMCG online sales are higher reaching 13.2% of the total FMCG market (compared to 10.2% one year ago).
 

Opportunities for retailers and brands
The report is based on in-depth analysis of the purchasing habits of 100,000 shoppers in ten of the biggest online FMCG markets and identifies the need for retailers and brands to prioritise their e-commerce strategies to take advantage of the real opportunities that e-commerce brings:

Huge promise: with only one in four shoppers buying online on a global level, there is enormous headroom for growth. South Korea is a great example of e-commerce potential becoming reality: 58.9% of South Korean households buy FMCG products online at least once a year. In the UK, France and Spain, nearly one out of four households buy online but the UK supermarkets are trailblazing in building repetition.

Valuable shopper profile: the typical profile is a family with young children, urban-suburban, middle/upper class. An average online shopper in the UK, for example, spends £43 (66 USD) per trip online compared to the £10 (16 USD) spent per trip in a bricks-and-mortar store, over four times more.

Loyalty: the online share of wallet is already high. Online shoppers in the UK spend 23% of their annual FMCG spend in the same retailer.

Stéphane Roger, Global Shopper and Retail Director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains:
“Since last year’s ‘Accelerating the Growth of E-commerce in FMCG’ report, we have seen major changes in the structure of many retailers and brands. Mondelez, Walmart, Pepsico, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Unilever have each implemented plans to future-proof their business for e-commerce. It seems that for these global leaders, the talk is fast turning in to action.
Roger stresses that joining the e-commerce race is a matter of urgency: “Simply put: the market is remarkably unkind to latecomers. Winning among the retailers are those which first invested. Tesco in the UK and France’s E.Leclerc both enjoy an online market share double that of their offline counterparts. For brands, the urgency lies in getting on shopping list. Our data shows that 55% of online shoppers use the same shopping list from one purchase to the next, giving first movers a big advantage.”

Cliona Lynch, Insight Manager at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Dunnes continued focus on its ‘Shop & Save’ voucher scheme is encouraging consumers to buy a bigger basket on each shop. The average Dunnes visitor is buying 18 items per trip compared with a market average of 13 – an increase of three items per basket on this time last year and an additional €5.00 through the tills on each shop.”

Tesco has retained its position as Ireland’s number one retailer with a 25.1% share of the market, despite a sales decline of 3.3%. While the volume of items bought has increased as shoppers take advantage of savings and stock up on goods, this has not been enough to compensate for a decrease in shopper numbers and average spend.

SuperValu sales grew just behind the market at 0.6% and share remained flat at 24.7%. Some 19,000 fewer shoppers visited the retailer than over the same period last year and those that remained were more frequent but lighter shoppers, visiting SuperValu more often but picking up fewer items on each trip.

In contrast to Ireland’s three largest retailers, Aldi and Lidl have continued to recruit shoppers to their stores and household penetration is now at 63.1% and 65.1% respectively – ahead of Dunnes’ 63%. However, the growth in shopper numbers at discounters is slowing. Aldi gained 28,000 new shoppers in the past 12 weeks compared with 80,000 this time last year, while Lidl picked up 6,000 – down from 53,000 in the 12 weeks to June 2014. Aldi has also seen growth in basket size slow, an area in which Lidl is outperforming.

Cliona Lynch continues: “As the discounters become more established in the market, year-on-year growth is harder to win. While both Aldi and Lidl are still seeing a strong performance and gains in market share, the landscape is becoming more competitive. The impact of Dunnes’ vouchering campaign has given it a strong boost this period. Elsewhere, SuperValu remains a steady challenger for the number one spot but Tesco’s plans to turn around performance could yet help it to regain growth and firmly re-establish its lead.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

Georgieann Harrington, insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Tesco has reclaimed the top-spot capturing 25.2% of the grocery market, but the retailer is still seeing sales decline as their performance remains behind the market. However, Tesco’s value initiatives online and in-store have helped boost the number of visits to its stores by 1.4%. The retailer has also seen a spend increase of 0.5% from families with children. However, the grocer still has some ground to recover to regain the 26.3% share of the market it had a year ago.”

SuperValu, the number two grocery retailer, captured 24.8% of the grocery market over the past 12 weeks. While the retailer held the top spot for just a short period, the battle for dominance will continue over the summer months – a traditionally strong season for SuperValu. Its share of the market is consistent compared to a year ago and its sales also grew by 1.2%. SuperValu is the only retailer among the big three to consistently win new shoppers. Its initiatives such as ‘Good Food Karma’ have had a positive impact for the retailer and helped it attract over 12,000 new customers this period.

Dunnes posted the strongest sales growth among the big three retailers at 4.1%, bringing its share to 21.9%. This is the retailer’s sixth consecutive month of growth, despite some negative publicity in recent months. Shoppers have added more items to their baskets while visiting Dunnes and have also increased their basket spend by €3.40 this period.

Elsewhere in the market, Aldi and Lidl grew sales by 8.0% and 7.1% respectively. Aldi and Lidl now hold a combined share of 17%. Both retailers have seen their growth slow over the past few months, but remain in a strong position given the overall market growth of 1.2%. Aldi continues to win shoppers with its ‘As Irish as’ campaign, with an impressive 43,000 additional shoppers this period. Lidl also benefits from a shopper boost, with the average shopper increasing their spend by €8 over the period, in part down to its recent voucher activity.

Georgieann Harrington comments: “With shoppers paying 0.6% more for their groceries compared to last year, competition is fierce between the retailers as they battle it out to offer best value for money”.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

David Berry, Director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Over the past 12 weeks SuperValu and Tesco have each captured 25.0% of the grocery market, with SuperValu battling to hold onto the number one position it claimed last month and Tesco aiming to recover lost ground. Intense competition between the supermarkets has resulted in more choice and better value for shoppers, highlighted by the low level of inflation and prices increasing by just 0.2%. Many staple grocery items are now cheaper than they were last year, with the price of meat and vegetables both dropping by 3% and bread by 2%.”

Among the big three retailers Dunnes has posted the strongest sales growth of 3.6%, lifting its market share from 21.5% to 22.0%. This increase comes despite the recent industrial action taken by staff in the build up to Easter. One of the key positives for Dunnes has been its strength in Dublin, an area where grocery sales are growing and where Dunnes accounts for over a quarter of shopper spend.

While Tesco’s market share is lower year-on-year it has improved its position versus last month. This recent improvement has lifted its market share back up to 25.0%, in line with SuperValu as Ireland’s joint largest supermarket. The amount of groceries sold at Tesco has remained flat, but value sales have declined because of shoppers choosing to pick up cheaper goods in store. SuperValu’s sales have remained in growth for the eighth month in a row, largely thanks to the retailer’s ability to consistently win new shoppers. SuperValu’s plan to open four new stores this year gives it the opportunity to grow sales further and out-perform the overall market.

David Berry continues: “One of the most interesting trends in the latest data is the slowing growth rate of both Aldi and Lidl. While the 8.8% growth posted by Aldi and 7.8% for Lidl remains impressive, this is the first time since 2010 that both Aldi and Lidl have grown their sales by less than 10%.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4

David Berry, Director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “One of the key rules in driving sales growth is that you need to broaden your appeal to attract new consumers to your brand. SuperValu has consistently achieved this with eighteen consecutive periods of footfall growth increasing its shopper numbers by 63,000. Undoubtedly one of the key milestones in helping SuperValu move to the top of the pile was the acquisition of the Superquinn business in July 2011. Rebranding the 24 Superquinn stores under the SuperValu banner in February 2014 led to an immediate jump in market share from 20% to 25.1%. More importantly, SuperValu’s performance within Dublin improved dramatically as its market share more than doubled from 9.5% to 22.2% today.”

Tesco’s story is one of mixed performance. Sales are down year on year and as a result market share has dipped from 25.9% to 24.7%. While Tesco will be disappointed to have lost its number one position, there are some positive signs for the retailer. It has not lost shoppers since this time last year and its customers are making the same number of shopping trips with increased average basket sizes – the most positive results for these metrics in more than two years. This points to an interesting battle over the coming months as SuperValu looks to remain in the top spot while Tesco aims to regain its advantage.

Dunnes has continued to enjoy healthy growth, with a 4.9% sales increase improving its market share to 22.7%. This has been fuelled by larger baskets, with two additional items included in each average trip, and can be linked to the retailer’s ‘Shop and Save’ voucher campaign which incentivised shoppers to spend more on each visit. The performance of both Aldi and Lidl has remained impressive with sales growth of 11.1% and 9.7% respectively. Aldi has successfully recruited new shoppers to its stores, while Lidl shoppers are returning to the retailer more often.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Dunnes’ recent ‘Shop & Save’ campaign looks to have made a mark with shoppers. The retailer’s sales have grown by 6.5% over the latest period, improving its market share by just over one percentage point to 23.4%. Dunnes has successfully encouraged its customers to buy more, growing the number of trips where €100 or more is spent by an astonishing 25%. One point to note is that this time last year Dunnes was struggling, with sales falling by almost 5%, so while performance is positive this year the benchmark for comparison is relatively low.”

Elsewhere among the big three retailers, SuperValu’s 0.4% sales growth has put it almost on parity with Tesco. SuperValu’s share of the grocery market is now 24.9%, just 0.1 percentage point behind Ireland’s largest supermarket. SuperValu has attracted an extra 50,000 customers this year which means that three quarters of all Irish households shopped in SuperValu in the latest period.

Tesco remains Ireland’s largest supermarket with one in every €4 spent on groceries going into its tills. However this is lower than this time last year with sales down by 3.7%. The main driver of this sales decline does appear to be changing. Shoppers had been cutting back the number of products they bought there. Now, they are buying a similar number of products but at a lower price.

Both Lidl and Aldi continue to post impressive performance, with both enjoying growth of 10.7%. Lidl’s market share has improved to 7.6% and Aldi now stands at 8.1%.

Grocery inflation stands at 1.2%† for the 12 week period ending 1 March 2015, up marginally from 1.1% last period.

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

This prestigious accolade was presented at the Great Places to Work Awards in the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Dublin on Wednesday 25th February. The event was attended by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin T.D., who acknowledged the great accomplishment of all organisations present.

After first entering the awards in 2014, this is the second year that Kantar Worldpanel has achieved the Great Place to Work status. The improvement in the ranking, from 11th in 2014 to 2nd this year, highlights the strong workforce engagement achieved over the year. In the Great Place to Work Survey, staff highlighted a sense of camaraderie within the team and how they are treated with respect by the company.

 To read about the Best Workplaces in Ireland in full visit http://www.greatplacetowork.ie/best-workplaces/best-workplaces-in-ireland 

Georgieann Harrington, Consumer Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “There are clear signs that the grocery market is improving along with the overall economy. Shoppers are taking advantage of lower grocery prices by visiting the supermarkets more often and putting more in their baskets when they go. On average, consumers increased their grocery spending by €5 in the latest period.”

While growing, the retail landscape remains challenging as retailers compete fiercely to hold on to shoppers post-Christmas. Tesco has maintained its market-leading position with 25.2% market share although its sales have fallen by 2.1% compared to this time last year. SuperValu is continuing to grow and now has 24.9% market share, only 0.3 percentage points behind Tesco. Dunnes was the best performing supermarket with sales growth of 1.7%, the strongest performance for the retailer since July 2014. Dunnes has seen its basket spend increase by 3% to just over €35.

Elsewhere in the market, Lidl and Aldi have continued their strong performance with double digit sales growth of 12.5% and 11.5% respectively. Both retailers continue to increase footfall with over 60% of Irish households shopping in each retailer in the past 12 weeks. Lidl has seen shoppers visit its stores more often while Aldi has continued to increase the amount shoppers spend on each visit.

Georgieann Harrington comments: “With signs of recovery in the market, it’s great to see the positive trend continue after the key Christmas period. The battle for shoppers will continue well into 2015 and this will create more value for Irish households as retailers go head to head.”

For more Grocery Market Share data check out our new interactive DataViz platform here: http://bit.ly/1AIgaS4 

Georgieann Harrington, insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Growing confidence in the economy meant shoppers relaxed the purse strings this Christmas, visiting the supermarkets more often in the seasonal period than last year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, festive shoppers reached for the treats, and sales of confectionery grew by 6%, crisps and snacks were up by 3% and soft drinks enjoyed a 2% sales growth.”

Competition for market share remains fierce, with less than 2 percentage points separating the big three retailers. Tesco continues to hold the top spot with 25.4% and reported its best performance since May 2013 thanks to an increase in customers. Following closely behind is SuperValu, which holds 25% market share and enjoyed a 0.3% increase in sales. Almost three-quarters of all Irish households visited the retailer in the past 12 weeks, with 52,000 new shoppers enticed through the doors by its value-for-money positioning. Despite a decline in footfall, Dunnes posted seasonal sales almost exactly in line with last year.

Elsewhere in the market, Lidl and Aldi topped off an excellent year with sales growth of 15.0% and 12.2% respectively. A strong Christmas extends an impressive run that has seen each retailer enjoy double digit sales growth for 14 successive months.

Georgieann Harrington comments: “The battle for market share looks set to continue well into 2015. With the top three retailers separated by the narrowest of margins, it really is all to play for in the coming months.”

An update on inflation
Grocery inflation stands at 1.8%* for the 12 week period ending 4 January 2015, down marginally from 1.9% last period.

*This figure is based on over 30,000 identical products compared year-on-year in the proportions purchased by Irish shoppers and therefore represents the most authoritative figure currently available. It is a ‘pure’ inflation measure in that shopping behaviour is held constant between the two comparison periods – shoppers are likely to achieve a lower personal inflation rate if they trade down or seek out more offers.

David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “In a bid to emerge victorious over the all-important Christmas period, competitive pricing among the retailers has led to inflation dropping to just 1.9%. Shoppers are reaping the benefits, with staple items such as vegetables, eggs and bread costing less this year compared with last – meaning savings on Christmas dinner purchases.”

The battle for market share remains hotly contested as the top thee retailers continue to be separated by just 1.5%. Despite a 3% dip in sales, Tesco remains Ireland’s leading supermarket, benefitting from a slight increase in footfall to their stores of 18,000 shoppers. The challenge now facing the retailer is encouraging shoppers to buy more at the tills. Hot on Tesco’s heels, SuperValu, which holds 24.5% market share, has experienced a slight up lift in sales thanks to expanding its customer base by 42,000, the majority drawn from its strong base in provinces like Munster and Connaught. For only the second time since returning to growth in May, Dunnes Stores has experienced a drop in sales, with the retailer’s market share standing at 23.5%.

Elsewhere in the market, Lidl and Aldi continue to post impressive sales, reporting growth of 16.6% and 13.1% respectively. The two retailers now hold a combined market share of 16.2%. David comments: “Lidl and Aldi have each enjoyed strong sales growth throughout 2014. It seems likely that they will maintain this streak over the festive period, which will top off what has been a stellar year for the German retailers.”

Grocery inflation stands at 1.9% for the 12 week period ending 7 December 2014, down from 2.6% last period.

David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Grocery market growth has accelerated, with sales up by more than twice the average rate achieved over the course of 2014. This is in stark contrast to the Great British market which has contracted for the first time on record. One reason for this growth is improved confidence among Irish shoppers which is illustrated by a marginal return to growth for branded grocery products (0.3%). Since the recession began branded sales have been in decline, so a return to growth is a positive prospect for recovery.”

“Competition in the market is intensifying as the battle to be the number one grocer wages on. The top three retailers are separated by less than 1.5% share – a record narrow divide at the top of the market. There really is all to play for among the big retailers as the critically important Christmas period approaches.”

Tesco remains the top supermarket in Ireland with a 24.9% share of the market, despite falling sales due to shoppers putting fewer items into their baskets. SuperValu closely follows holding 24.5% of the market and is performing well with a sales increase of 0.8% driven by new shoppers. Dunnes remains in third place holding a 23.5% market share.

Elsewhere in the market, Lidl and Aldi’s widespread consumer appeal has allowed both retailers to continue to enjoy strong growth, with sales increasing by 16.4% and 14.4% respectively. Some 63.5% of all households shopped in each of the two retailers during the past quarter, with Lidl particularly benefitting from more frequent visits by customers as shoppers returned to the store for one additional trip. Meanwhile, Aldi continued to attract new shoppers bringing an additional 80,000 shoppers through its doors.

Grocery inflation stands at 2.6%† for the 12 week period ending 9 November 2014, up marginally from 2.4% last period.

Georgieann Harrington, Consumer Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “While SuperValu’s growth has been moderate, its performance has been consistent. It continues to perform well through ‘top up’ shops and smaller convenience trips, and the acquisition of Superquinn has given it an improved balance of store locations across the country, with 223 outlets to choose from and a vastly increased presence in Dublin.”

Aldi and Lidl both continue to enjoy strong growth, with shares in the market growing by 14.3% and 14.9% respectively over the past year. Aldi has successfully attracted more shoppers through its doors and is increasing its share of baskets between €50 and €100, as consumers pick up a wider range of product lines and do their entire weekly shop with the retailer. Meanwhile Lidl has seen shoppers increase their average spend by €18 in the 12 weeks to 12 October, while also visiting the store more often.

After posting five months of consecutive growth, Dunnes has seen a slight reduction in sales of 0.4%. Average spend has fallen by almost €7, which has been a significant factor in its recent performance. Yet despite losing sales, the retailer has captured a larger share of the market as its main rival Tesco continues to drop back. Dunnes’ current market share of 22.7% is its highest since February of this year, and it has made moderate gains with shopper numbers, attracting an extra 13,000 shoppers into its stores. Meanwhile its share in the ‘big shop’ (baskets over €100) is the highest among all retailers, at 37.2%.

In a similar story to the UK, Tesco Ireland has seen less share loss than in recent months, posting a sales decline of 4.6%. However, customers are continuing to increase the number of trips they make to Tesco stores, meaning that if the retailer can persuade shoppers to add to their in-store spend, it could be turning a corner in terms of performance.

David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Aldi and Lidl have both enjoyed record levels of market share over recent months and this strong performance has continued thanks to increased footfall over the past 12 weeks. Lidl has attracted 41,000 new shoppers this quarter as shoppers were enticed by back to school offers. Meanwhile, Aldi’s sales have been boosted as more shoppers chose to visit the retailer for their main grocery shop, with customers increasing their spend by €1.20.

“Dunnes has posted the strongest results among the larger grocers, enjoying increased sales for the fifth successive month. A rise in the number of round euro priced branded goods on sale has drawn customers into its stores, contributing an additional €15 million in sales for the retailer. Some 37% of branded goods sold in Dunnes are now on sale at a clear round euro price point, compared with just 32% last year.”

SuperValu has attracted an extra 40,000 households through its doors this year, boosted by its own brand offering. The trade-off is that reduced customer spend in store has meant a slight dip in sales for the retailer compared with last year. On average SuperValu customers have reduced their spending by €16 over the past 12 weeks by choosing more own brand products.

Elsewhere, Tesco remains Ireland’s number one grocery retailer despite a dip in market share from 26.7% to 25.2% year on year. Shoppers are continuing to choose Tesco, upping the number of trips they make to the leading grocer. The challenge for Tesco lies in making sure its customers maintain their in-store spend, which has decreased by almost €2 on average over the past year.

David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “The intense price competition between Ireland’s larger grocers doesn’t show any signs of letting up. This has led to falling prices across a number of staple food and drink items. We have seen prices fall across popular products and vegetables, bread and milk are now all cheaper than this time last year.”

Among the retailers, Lidl and Aldi continue to perform ahead of the market with both retailers posting strong increases in market share.

David continues: “Some 65% of Irish households have purchased their groceries from Lidl over the past 12 weeks – 46,000 more shoppers than a year ago. This increased footfall has helped to boost its share of the market to a record 8.5%.”

Meanwhile, despite a slight slowdown in Aldi’s sales growth which has dropped to 14.4%, it is still growing ahead of the competition thanks to increased numbers of shoppers visiting the store more frequently and spending more per trip.

Elsewhere, Dunnes Stores and SuperValu have both broadly held sales in line with last year, albeit slightly behind overall market growth. Both Dunnes and SuperValu have attracted more shoppers into their stores, by 41,000 and 60,000 respectively, however the challenge lies in enticing customers to up their in-store spend. Tesco has seen its market share drop to 25.4% and sales fall by 5.5%. Despite lagging behind the market, Tesco has improved its performance compared with last month where its sales fell by 6.2%.

David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Despite declining numbers of shoppers coming through its doors over the past year, Dunnes has managed to increase footfall levels within the past two months, largely by drawing in customers with branded promotions. Branded sales have grown in value terms by 5% this period thanks to well publicised ‘round euro’ promotional offers. Traditionally branded products have been a core strength for Dunnes, and it has used their appeal to draw back customers.”

Meanwhile, Lidl and Aldi are both continuing their impressive growth streaks. Both Aldi and Lidl achieved record market shares this period, with Lidl’s share now standing at 8.4%, while Aldi boasts an 8.3% share.

David continues: “On the flip side to Dunnes’ branded success, SuperValu has seen a strong performance among its own brand products. While the shift to cheaper own label goods has led to a slight drop in value sales, SuperValu has posted a record number of shoppers this period. Some 73.6% of Irish households shopped in SuperValu over the past 12 weeks – up an impressive 94,000 customers compared with last year.”

Tesco’s performance lags behind the market, mainly as a result of decreased customer spend in store – the average shopping trip fell in value by €1.60 as fewer items were placed in baskets. While overall grocery market growth has remained subdued at just less than 1% there are signs of a boost in Dublin – the driving region of the Irish economic recovery – where the value of grocery sales has increased by 5.4%.

The seven capabilities have been structured to help brands find opportunities for growth throughout the marketing cycle. The capabilities span from Market Dynamics – which offers an understanding of real consumer and shopper behaviour in every market to Media – designed to build better media plans and improve advertising return on investment. The seven capabilities also include: Segmentation, Attitudes, Innovation, Pricing & Promotions and Shopper & Retail.

Each capability offered by Kantar Worldpanel is built on the purchase behaviour information gathered from the 450,000 households tracked on a continuous basis around the world. Kantar Worldpanel offers core tracking data services, supported by the proprietary delivery tool WorldpanelOnline, standardised advanced analysis to increase understanding of shopper behaviour and fully customised expert solutions to support strategic decision-making.

Josep Montserrat, CEO Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Brands are constantly looking for growth opportunities globally, so they need a complete understanding of shopper and consumer behaviour across borders. The launch of our seven capabilities provides our clients with access to a consistent portfolio of services across all the markets we measure globally.”

To read more about Kantar Worldpanel’s new global suite of solutions, please click here.

Mark Thomson, business unit director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “The fall in grocery inflation is providing welcome relief for households. Among the big grocers, SuperValu is the stand out performer, attracting 87,000 new shoppers this quarter – more than any other retailer over the latest period. Almost three quarters of Irish households shopped in SuperValu over the latest quarter.

“Aldi and Lidl continue to deliver outstanding growth, increasing sales by 19.5 and 12.4 percentage points, and market shares to 8.1% and 8.2% respectively. Meanwhile at the other end of the market, Tesco and Dunnes are both lagging, with their corresponding shares standing at 26.1% and 21.1%.”

Although Aldi and Lidl are continuing to benefit from increasing numbers of sales, both retailers are experiencing growth mainly as a result of their existing customers spending more. The average Aldi shopper in Ireland spent €161 over the latest period; up €15.60 compared with this time last year.

Mark continues: “Footfall is increasing for all the large retailers at a time when customers aren’t wedded to a particular grocer week by week. The opportunity for Tesco and Dunnes lies around encouraging shoppers to spend more per shopping trip, which is something that Aldi and Lidl are already doing successfully.”

The report, which is based on in-depth analysis of the purchasing habits of 100,000 shoppers in ten of the biggest online FMCG markets, forecasts that ecommerce will account for 5.2% of global FMCG sales by 2016 – up from 3.7% at present.

At present, the UK is the trailblazer of the European online FMCG market. British online shoppers buy on the internet once a month and their carts are five times bigger than offline (in most countries online shopping carts are twice as large as their offline equivalents). However, the impressive growth of the click and collect offer in France, referred to as “Drive”, will see France overtake the UK by 2016 with 6.1% vs. 5.5% of market share respectively.

It predicts that Asia will be the next major growth market. South Korea will continue its lead position with online accounting for 13.8% of FMCG sales by 2016. Today, 55% of Korean shoppers buy online, an exceptionally high figure that is not matched by any other country in the world. Online FMCG market share will continue to grow rapidly in Taiwan and China to achieve 4.5% and 3.3% share of the total FMCG market respectively.

The growth of online FMCG sales presents a prime opportunity for retailers and brands. Current online shoppers, typically middle and upper class, tend to favour branded products over own-label making it an ideal platform for brands. In France, 55% of online consumers re-use the same list for each trip making its essential for brands to secure a place on shopping lists if they are to benefit from this forecasted growth.

The report reveals the barriers which prevent retailers and brands from engaging with the online channel. It shows the majority of these are perceived rather than based on how consumers actually behave. They include a fear that having an online presence will mean sales in physical stores are cannibalised and that consumers will become less loyal if they shop online – the research shows that the opposite is true for both of these scenarios.

The report also showcases the strategies that retailers and brands are deploying to win market share in very different local retail environments, from South Korea, China, France and the UK. These include tapping into impulse purchases, making online retail more fun and the latest techniques in convenience shopping

David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “A gradual increase in the cost of food and drink has helped push price inflation to 2.6%, a record for 2014, which has increased the amount shoppers are spending at the tills and has kept the grocery market in growth.

“Dunnes is the only one of the big three retailers to grow its sales this period, albeit by a relatively modest 0.7%. Its clear strategy of offering ‘round euro’ promotional offers is appealing strongly to price-conscious consumers. Some 30% of Dunnes’ in-store sales are now sold on a round euro deal – up from just over 20% a year ago.”

Aldi and Lidl have both maintained their impressive double digit growth at 21.6% and 13.2% respectively. Aldi’s record share of 8.0% is held from last month while Lidl has reached a new record high of 7.9%.

David continues: “SuperValu’s sales remain in line with last year, with a slight dip in market share from 25.2% to 24.8%. Tesco continues to perform behind its main competitors, but the retailer’s sales have improved since the decline of almost 7% seen at the end of 2013. Interestingly, both retailers have succeeded in recruiting new shoppers this month. SuperValu has gained 32,000 additional shoppers and in so doing has recorded a seventh consecutive month of footfall growth. Tesco’s additional 12,000 customers is more modest, but the trend over the past year has been one of losing shoppers, so this is a welcome change for the retailer.”

The Brand Footprint ranking reveals the brands that are being bought by the most consumers, the most often. Warburtons leads the ranking as the UK’s most chosen brand, picked an average of 25 times a year by 86% of UK households. It is joined in the top 10 by fellow British brands McVities (bought 14 times per year by 89% of UK households), Hovis (15 times by 74%), Kingsmill (14 times by 74%), Walkers (11 times by 73%) and Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (9 times by 73%).

Alison Martin, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “The world consumer market continues to be dominated by a small number of global brands, but in Britain we’re opting for local names. Classic British brands such as Warburtons and McVities have a rich understanding of their consumers, create products that are tailored to the tastes of their home market and deliver marketing and messaging that appeal to the domestic audience. Warburtons’ ‘One’s bun is done’ advertisement – which tied into the royal birth of Prince George – is a particularly good example of a bespoke campaign. In the post-horsegate world we’re more conscious than ever of provenance and look for brand names that we know and trust.”

Kantar Worldpanel’s global Brand Footprint ranking shows that domestic brands are performing strongly across the world. Local brands – those that exist in just one country – are growing almost twice as fast as global brands.

Alison Martin continues: “Local brands across the globe are winning in their home markets, backed by an in-depth knowledge of their consumers. The lesson for large global brands is to adapt their products to suit local tastes and create campaigns which connect with local cultures. Conversely, British brands looking to grow overseas will need to think carefully about whether their product and messaging translates abroad and consider the challenges that different retail environments pose.”

Kantar Worldpanel’s Brand Footprint Ranking reveals the strength of brands in 35 countries around the world, across the food, beverage, health and beauty and homecare sectors. It uses an insightful metric called Consumer Reach Points which measures how many households around the world are buying a brand (its penetration) and how often (the number of times shoppers acquire the brand).

This unique calculation of penetration and frequency helps FMCG manufacturers to clearly understand their UK and global reach in terms of actual basket reach and provides a vital guide on which regions present the biggest opportunities.

The top 10 UK FMCG brands revealed by the Brand Footprint study are:

1: Warburtons

2: Heinz

3.: McVities

4: Hovis

5: Kingsmill

6: Birds Eye

7: Muller

8: Walkers

9: Coca-Cola

10: Cadbury's Dairy Milk

Now in its second year, Kantar Worldpanel’s Brand Footprint ranking of Ireland’s most chosen FMCG brands revealed today that local brands are dominating the market. Irish brands now account for six of the top ten most chosen brands in Ireland.

The Brand Footprint barometer, launched in 2013, ranks the brands that are being bought by the most people, the most often. Avonmore leads the ranking as Ireland’s most chosen brand for the second year running, picked an average of 27 times per year by 81% of the population, while Galtee has jumped an impressive six places, from 16 to 10.

David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Irish brands such as Brennans and Denny continue to dominate, showing that shoppers are looking for brands that they know and trust. Knowing exactly where our food is coming from is more important than ever after the horsemeat scandal, and has reinforced the importance of brands with clear Irish roots to our consumers.

“Galtee has increased both how many people buy it and how often, appealing to savvy customers with its price marked packs and promotions. Irish brands have captured the hearts and minds of consumers by offering traditional favourites, which are winning over global brand heavyweights.

“Familiar brands like Avonmore, Brennans, Denny and Galtee topped the rankings, showing the full Irish breakfast is certainly set to remain a staple. In the recession we saw consumers turning to familiar, comforting foods and this trend is continuing into recovery.”

Commenting on Avonmore’s success, Robert Jordan, Head of Beverages and Innovation, Glanbia, said: “Avonmore has been a favourite of Irish households for over three decades now, so consumers have great trust in the brand. And consumers engage with the brand across so many sectors, whether that’s milk, cream, soup, butter and cheese. We’re delighted that Avonmore is Ireland’s most chosen brand.”

In the global Brand Footprint Top 50 ranking, only 16 brands were chosen more than one billion times last year – with Coca-Cola the top-ranked brand. Multinational FMCG brands are being chosen, on average, by just 18% of the global population, highlighting the huge potential that each has to reach more shoppers.

Kantar Worldpanel’s Brand Footprint Ranking reveals the strength of brands in 35 countries around the world, across the food, beverage, health and beauty and homecare sectors. It uses a metric called Consumer Reach Points which measures how many households around the world are buying a brand (its penetration) and how often (the number of times shoppers acquire the brand).

This unique calculation of penetration and frequency helps FMCG manufacturers to clearly understand their Irish and global reach in terms of actual basket reach and provides a vital guide on which regions present the biggest opportunities.

The top 10 Irish FMCG brands revealed by the Brand Footprint study are:

This was the key finding of Kantar Worldpanel’s Brand Footprint study of the 50 Most Chosen Global FMCG Brands: http://www.brandfootprint-ranking.com/home/

The research also highlighted the scale of the opportunity that exists for global expansion, with the average global penetration of the Top 50 brands being just 20%.
In its second year, Kantar Worldpanel’s Brand Footprint ranking and report outline the winning strategies that the most successful global FMCG brands are employing as well as the key global consumer and industry trends. The ranking reveals the brands that are being bought by the most people, the most often, in 35 countries around the world, across the food, beverage, health and beauty and homecare sectors.

FMCG manufacturers that want to convert more households around the world into loyal customers must compete with established and often dominant local brands. Kantar Worldpanel’s report highlights that local brands are growing their footprints almost twice as fast as global brands, with an average annual growth rate of 2%, compared with 1.2% for global brands. Local brands account for 60% of global FMCG shopping choices and were chosen 129 billion times last year.

However some global brands stand out. Coca-Cola, which remains the world’s most chosen brand for the second year, was chosen more than 5.8 billion times in the last year. The beverages manufacturer was chosen an additional 124 million times in the last year (a growth of 2% which came mainly from Latin America). P&G’s fabric softener brand Downy grew its reach by 26%, adding 9.5 million new households to its consumer base in the last year. The world’s favourite biscuit brand Oreo added the most new buyers – 19 million in the last year – equivalent to the total number of households in the Philippines.

Josep Montserrat, Global CEO of Kantar Worldpanel, says: “Growth is top of the agenda for all FMCG companies, but there is no single path to prosperity. They are looking for new shoppers, new occasions, new markets, and are investing in the creation of innovative new products. The Brand Footprint report highlights the opportunities that exist for every brand with global aspirations to expand its consumer base. It provides an essential guide for FMCG manufacturers on their journey to increase the dominance of their brands in the world’s fastest growing markets.”

The top 16 global FMCG brands revealed by Kantar Worldpanel’s Brand Footprint study – all of which were chosen more than one billion times in the last year – are:

1 Coca-Cola (Coke)
2 Colgate
3 Nescafé
4 Maggi
5 Pepsi
6 Knorr
7 Lifebuoy
8 Lay’s
9 Pantene
10 Kraft
11 Dove
12 Palmolive
13 Lux
14 Nestlé
15 Tide
16 Surf

Read the full 2014 Brand Footprint report and explore the data at a global, regional and country level, and by category or brand at: http://www.brandfootprint-ranking.com/home/

David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “During the recession shoppers turned to ‘little and often’ shopping to control their spending, but this trend is now showing signs of reversing. The latest figures show consumers making slightly fewer shopping trips but buying more groceries each time. This means bigger baskets and an increase overall of the volume of goods purchased, which has provided an €18 million boost in grocery sales in this 12 week period.

“Aldi continues to be the strongest performing retailer, with a 22% increase in sales lifting its share of the market to a new record level of 8.0%. The reason for its success is in line with the overall market, with shoppers buying more items and spending more each time they visit an Aldi store. Lidl has also posted double digit sales growth, boosting its market share from 6.9% last year to 7.6%.”

SuperValu is the only other retailer to have grown sales this period, having attracted an additional 18,000 shoppers through its doors this year. While Tesco’s performance remains behind the market, there are signs that this is beginning to stabilise with a 4.2% decline in sales – the lowest fall since July 2013. Dunnes has convinced its shoppers to increase spending this year, but it must reverse its loss of shoppers to the other grocers in order to overturn a 1.3% drop in sales this period.

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%.

The latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, published today for the 12 weeks ending 2 March, show that SuperValu has become Ireland’s second largest grocer following the rebrand of Superquinn’s stores on 13 February.

David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Bringing 24 Superquinn stores under the SuperValu banner has enhanced the retailer’s position as a major player in the grocery market. SuperValu now accounts for 25.3% of Irish shoppers’ grocery market spend, just 1.1 percentage points behind Tesco. Its sales have remained broadly in line with the market, which shows that it has been able to retain its market share while acquiring assets. Now, the main challenge for SuperValu is to convince previously loyal Superquinn shoppers of the merits of the SuperValu brand, and ultimately hold onto their custom.

“Despite the overall grocery market declining for the fifth successive month, Aldi and Lidl continue to impress. Both retailers are delivering double digit sales growth, and have increased their market shares by 1.4 and 0.8 percentage points respectively. Over the past three years Aldi and Lidl have captured a combined 3.8 share points from the competition, and have grown sales by 37% in an overall grocery market which has grown by just 1%. Conversely, Tesco and Dunnes have both experienced declines in market share and actual sales as the result of the pressure exerted by the increasingly competitive market place.”

February saw the grocery market’s weakest performance since September 2011, with sales declining by 0.6%. Falling inflation has played a significant part in this as vegetables and bread, two important staple items, are now cheaper than they were last year.

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation stands at 1.7%* for the 12 week period ending 2 March 2014, down from 2.9% last period and the lowest level since April 2012.

Feeding Ireland's Future has been created by ECR Ireland, which promotes efficient consumer response between retail partners in Ireland, with the aim of uniting the Irish food and grocery industry in helping young people on their path to employment. Feeding Ireland’s Future will give more than 1,500 young people across Ireland insight into the vast range of career opportunities available in the food and grocery industry.

At Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland this week 18 young people experienced a range of pre-employment activities including skills workshops, advice on CVs, presentation and interview training.

The Kantar Worldpanel team also gave young people a ‘Day in the Life’ experience of key roles around the business from client service to technical operations. All participants in the Feeding Ireland's Future initiative completed their Kantar Worldpanel experience with knowledge of market research and the decisions that research intelligence enables.

Mark Thomson, business unit director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Amid a challenging market backdrop, SuperValu continues to maintain solid growth ahead of the market at 0.7%. It has benefitted from welcoming around 30,000 new customers to its stores, with 63% of the Republic of Ireland now doing their grocery shop with the retailer. The store’s increased prominence is key as 24 Superquinn stores convert to the SuperValu fascia this month.”

Tesco’s market share has dipped from 27.7% to 26%, despite 87% of Irish shoppers frequenting its stores – more than any other retailer. Dunnes and Superquinn have both lost ground with shares standing at 23.8% and 5.1% respectively, while the discounters continue to thrive. Aldi has increased its share points by 1.3% to 7.2%, with Lidl holding 6.6% of the market.

Mark continues: “This slowdown in spending is partly linked to price inflation which has halved from the heights of 6% last year to 2.9%, slightly ahead of inflation in Britain which stands at 2.1%. The fall in prices across vegetables is still a contributing factor to the performance of the grocery market, with shoppers spending €12 less on fresh vegetables compared with the same period last year. Although levels of inflation are reducing in Ireland, the financial pressure on people’s budgets remains an important factor in deciding where people shop, and what they are buying.”