SuperValu tops Tesco in grocery wars

SuperValu has replaced Tesco at the top of the Irish supermarket food chain, with 18 months of consecutive growth in customer numbers helping it surpass the British retail giant at the top of the pile.

SuperValu now holds a 24.9% share of the Irish grocery market following sales growth of 0.3% in the past three months.

The continued, albeit marginal, increase has seen the Musgrave group-controlled supermarket leapfrog Tesco after a long pursuit, with the British multiple now commanding 24.7% of the total market, according to figures released yesterday by Kantar Worldpanel.

“One of the key rules in driving sales growth is that you need to broaden your appeal to attract new customers to your brand,” said Kantar Worldpanel director David Berry.

“SuperValu has consistently achieved this with 18 consecutive periods of footfall growth increasing its shopper numbers by 63,000.”

Another key factor in SuperValu’s rise to the top was the acquisition in 2011 and subsequent rebranding of Superquinn’s 24 stores in February of last year, which increased its market share from 20% to 25.1%.

SuperValu managing director Martin Kelleher yesterday said: “It is nice to be recognised as the largest grocery retailer in the market, a feat which is even more important when you bear in mind that SuperValu is a brand that is essentially made up of independent retailers from across the country. So this success belongs to our retail partners and the communities that support them every day.”

While the latest figures show Tesco has slipped to second in the rankings, some positive signs were also evident.

The number of shoppers visiting Tesco stores has not fallen since this time last year and its customers are making the same number of shopping trips with increased average basket sizes — all of which constitute its most positive results in more than two years.

Tesco also announced last month that the head of its London business, Andrew Yaxley is to take over as Tesco Ireland chief executive, replacing Phil J Clarke, who was appointed less than two years previously.

The move is part of a broader reshuffle following a period of poor performance across the group and an accounting scandal that rocked the retailer late last year after profits were overstated by more than €360m.

Dunnes Stores, meanwhile, continued to enjoy healthy growth in the opening part of 2015 with a 4.9% sales increase, improving its market share to 22.7%, while Aldi and Lidl continued to make inroads on the multiples’ dominance.