Dunnes gains ground as Tesco woes continue

The use of branded and rounded-up euro promotions helped Dunnes Stores increase over-the-counter sales 2.6% and boost its share of the Irish grocery market to 21.2% over the past 12 weeks.

Outside of the German discounters, Dunnes emerged as the big winner in the latest supermarket sector data — from consumer insights agency, Kantar Worldpanel — logging performance in the 12 weeks to July 20.

In that period, Tesco Ireland’s woes continued, with a 6.2% fall in over-the-counter sales and a 2% drop in actual market share to 25.6%.

Traditionally, the strongest performer of the Irish players, SuperValu saw a 0.8% dip in sales and a slight drop in market share to 24.7%.

Where Dunnes has been aided by branded goods, SuperValu’s traditional growth has come about on the back of its own-brand products.

While its market share and sales dipped marginally, SuperValu still accounted for nearly 74% of Irish households’ shopping trips during the 12 weeks under review.

“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 — up an impressive 94,000 customers compared with last year,” said David Berry, commercial director at Kantar.

Tesco’s problems comes as its shoppers spend less at the till, with the value of the average Tesco shop falling by €1.60.

Aldi and Lidl, however, both continued their progress, having amassed a combined 16.3% market share in the previous period. That combined share is up to 16.7% now (8.3% for Aldi and 8.4% for Lidl), with combined till sales rising by 14%.

While overall grocery market growth has remained subdued, at just under 1%, there are signs of a boost in the Dublin region — “the driving region of the Irish economic recovery,” as Kantar calls it — where the value of grocery sales has increased by 5.4%.