Tag: Supermarket

Grocery Retail

Shoppers spend €65m across the border as Christmas spending begins

Posted on | by Aisling Rafferty

With Brexit continuing to dominate the news and the impact of a hard border still unclear, the latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel show the value of cross-border shopping is at its highest level for five years. €64.5 million was spent shoppers from the Republic of Ireland in the 12 months ending in November 2018.

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” says Douglas Faughnan, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel.

“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 shopping 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.”

One of the biggest attractions for shoppers looking for a cross-border bargain is alcohol. 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.”

Halloween provided €30m boo-st

The four week run up to Halloween generated an uplift of almost €30 million for supermarkets. Supplies for parties and trick or treating were in high demand with confectionery sales up 4% compared with the same period last year. 17% of Irish households bought a pumpkin this Halloween, spending a collective €1.5 million on the seasonal vegetable.

Faughnan says: “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 4th November.

Supermarket sales

Sun, sports and Love Island boost supermarket sales

Posted on | by Aisling Rafferty

All major Irish supermarkets experience growth for the sixth period in a row according to the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel.

The grocery market continues to be intensely competitive with just 1.5 percentage points separating the top three retailers. Tesco is the fastest growing retailer, a title it holds for the seventh consecutive period, 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. Customers spent an average of an extra €21 during the 12 weeks ending 12 August, through both visiting the supermarket more often and buying more items each time.

SuperValu continues to perform strongly with sales up by 2.4% and a market share of 22%, thanks in part to owner Musgraves prominent SuperValu of the GAA All-Ireland Hurling and Football Championships. The brand also performed well outside of its Munster stronghold seeing sales in Dublin up by 3.6% and the rest of Leinster growing by 6.2%.

Dunnes Stores’ saw overall growth of 1.9% during the period, thanks in part to the retailer’s ‘Mix and Match’ promotion on their barbeque meat range which was advertised in the lead up to the August Bank Holiday and boosted sales of chilled burgers and grills by a third.

The discounters also saw good growth with seeing sales growth of 2.9%. Aldi were also the only retailer to see a notable increase in shoppers, welcoming an extra 40,000 customer during the 12 weeks. Lidl achieved sales growth of 1.9% to hold market share at 11.9%.

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.”

Irish households to spend average of €2,654 in the lead up to Christmas

Posted on | by Aisling Rafferty

Irish households are expected to spend an average of €2,654 in the run-up to Christmas, according to Retail Ireland, the retail representative body.

This figure is €870 more than any other month this year as Irish shoppers are expected to take advantage of rising wages and falling prices to spend significantly more in the coming weeks. The Ibec group predicts an increase in total sales of more than €100 million and as a whole, we’re expected to spend around €4.5 billion over the Christmas period, a figure up from the €4.4 billion spent in 2016.

A combination of lower prices and higher disposable income should see consumers more willing to spend. According to the report, the prices of goods have fallen by 2.2% in the first 10 months of 2017 and by 8.4% in the last three years. The pattern of lower prices is set to continue as consumers avail of discounts arising from Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.While prices are falling, spending power is increasing as gross disposable income has climbed by 5.4% in the first half of 2017, following growth of more than 4% in 2016.

For supermarkets and department stores, it expects the week beginning 18 December to be a “make or break” week, with Christmas Day falling on a Monday. Thomas Burke, director of Retail Ireland, said department stores were expecting Christmas to be “a bit of a nail-biter this year” with last-minute shopping expected well into the final week.For 2017 the major trends centre around personalisation, fragrance, champagne and chocolates. For men, the focus will be on trainers, expensive branded and limited editions at mid-price, and for women, luxury accessories and niche fragrance remain firm favourites.

TVs, tablets and video game systems were key to driving sales for many retailers over Black Friday and Cyber Monday and significant demand for these products is expected continue right up until December 25th. While discounting and promotions were used to generate sales over the Black Friday weekend, there will be a renewed emphasis on margin retention on the run-up to Christmas.

SuperValu back on top in the supermarket wars.

Posted on | by Aisling Rafferty

Figures released by Kantar Worldwide show that SuperValu have capitalised on strides made throughout the year and have cemented themselves as top in the supermarket wars. In the week ending December 6th it shows the Irish Grocery retailer has a 24.7% stake of overall market share and experienced sales growth of 3.7% in the 12 weeks previous to December 6th.

Discount German retailer Lidl have experienced the highest level of sales growth in the same 12 week period, registering double digit sales of 10.6% with equates to 37,000 extra shoppers in store. Dunnes Stores have also continued to show considerable growth with an overall market share of 23.8%.

Kantar Figures

Image via TheJournal.ie

Managing Director of SuperValu, Martin Kelleher said ‘’ We are able to differentiate ourselves from the competition with unique selling points like having butchers in every store to provide expert advice, providing locally produced Food Academy products and an unrivalled level of customer service.’’

SuperValu regain top spot in supermarket ranking

Posted on | by Aisling Rafferty

SuperValu has regained their top spot in the supermarket rankings, pitching Tesco by .5%. SuperValu comprise a market share of 24.6% with Tesco ranking second with 24.1%. The results are based on the 12 weeks till November 8th, with Kantar Worldpanel detailing the figures.

SuperValu had previously held the top spot in the 12 weeks leading up till March 29th 2015. Director of Kantar Worldwide David Berry noted that SuperValu are ‘encouraging more repeat shopping trips. The average consumer has visited the retailer on two additional occasions and spent an extra €16 over the past quarter when compared with last year’.

Lidl outperformed all competitors with sales growth of 11.2% and were the only supermarket to boast double digit growth, resulting in an overall market share of 8.7%.

Berry furthered ‘The grocery market is arguably the most competitive retail sector and the latest figures emphasise this, with the three biggest retailers each within one percentage point of each other’.

Supermarket Table

Source: http://www.checkout.ie/supervalu-reclaims-top-spot-in-latest-market-share-figures/21533

 

Most popular supermarkets for weekly shops revealed

Posted on | by Aisling Rafferty

Figures have been released showing where Irish consumers are likely to do their main weekly grocery shop. The continued trajectory of discount rival retailers like Lidl and Aldi, have intensified the market over the last number of years. Tesco, have come out on top with 33% of all consumers choosing to do their main weekly shop there.

Tesco have had a rough time of late with a sales trough, but in figures carried out by Checkout Magazine and Ignite Research it points them as the most popular supermarket for big spends. Tesco was also the most popular supermarket choice by females. The greatest disparity of genders was Dunnes Stores, with 19% of who were male and 11% of female.

Value for money was frequently cited as the most popular reason for shoppers in Lidl and Aldi. 86% of Aldi shoppers and 81% of Lidl shoppers believed that their respective supermarkets were the cheapest. The German discount rivals have seen the biggest rise in consumers switching.

Source: http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/tesco-shopping-ireland-news-money-2213681-Jul2015/