Tesco eyes turnaround as sales decline eases

Tesco is showing early signs of a recovery in the Irish market, with new figures showing a third consecutive quarter of an easing in its sales declines.

The latest grocery market share data from consumer insights agency Kantar Worldpanel covers the 12 weeks to October 12. It shows that German discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to grow market share while the Musgrave-owned SuperValu chain led the way among the Irish players.

The data shows a marginal annualised drop — from 26.5% to 25.1% — in Tesco’s market share for the period, and a 4.6% fall in over-the-counter sales. However, that till sale figure marks an ongoing steady improvement. In the preceding three updates from Kantar, Tesco Ireland’s sales erosion had improved from -6.2% to -5.5% to -5%.