Rise of discount retailers continues

Aldi and Lidl have continued to increase their shares of the grocery market as shoppers look for value.

According to the latest supermarket sales figures from consumer insights agency, Kantar Worldpanel, the German discounters and Dunnes Stores were the big winners in the 12 week period up to Dec 9.

In that time, till sales among the discounters grew 13.6% year-on-year; with their combined market share rising from 12.3% to 14.1%.

Aldi grew its market share from 6.2% to 7.4% year-on-year, and till sales by just under 19%. Lidl’s over the counter sales were up 8.4% on an annualised basis, with its market share for the 12 weeks increasing from 6.1% to 6.7%.

“Value continues to be an attractive proposition for shoppers,” according to Kantar’s commercial director, David Berry.

“Despite the CSO recently announcing that the economy grew by 1.5% between July and September, the average household spend on grocery items has fallen by 0.2% compared with last year. This is considerably below the 3.4% price inflation as shoppers look to control their spend by reducing the amount of goods they buy.”

SuperValu saw its market share remain unchanged at 19.5% year-on-year, but its sales for the period inched up by 0.1%. Superquinn, which is due to be merged with SuperValu by Musgrave Group, saw its sales drop 5.3% and its market share dip 0.2% to 5.1%.

Tesco Ireland’s market share fell from just under 28% to 26.1% and its till sales dropped by 6.4% year-on-year.

Dunnes, however, enjoyed a 1.7% sales increase and a 0.5% market share boost to 24.2%.

“The savvy approach to shopping is continuing to work in the favour of the German discounters, with Aldi posting growth of 18.7% and Lidl growing its sales by 8.4%,” Mr Berry added. “Over the past 12 weeks, they have continued to recruit new shoppers with 61% of households shopping in Lidl and 60% visiting Aldi. Both are in a strong position as we head into the all-important Christmas weeks.”