Tesco regains top position in grocery market

A slight increase in footfall and higher spending by young families helped reinstate Tesco as the market leader in the Irish grocery sector in the past three months.

However, commentators anticipate a strong rally from No 2 player SuperValu during the summer.

Latest figures from consumer insights agency Kantar Worldpanel show that Tesco’s market share grew by 0.2% to 25.2% during the 12 weeks to May 24 when compared to the preceding 12-week period. However, it still remains well short of the 26.3% share the supermarket enjoyed at the same time last year.

Tesco also remains the only one of the big players in the Irish grocery sector to see an annualised fall in till sales each quarter. Its sales at the counter, during the latest period under review, fell 3%. That compared to a 1.2% sales rise for SuperValu, a 4.1% rise for Dunnes and respective increases of 8% and 7.1% for the German discounters, Aldi and Lidl.

Tesco’s return to top spot — in market share terms — was aided by SuperValu seeing a marginal decline, from 25% to 24.8% quarter-on-quarter. SuperValu had overtaken Tesco in recent months.

Dunnes now has a 21.9% share of the market, with the German discounters controlling a combined 17% (Aldi, 8.6% and Lidl 8.4%).

Kantar’s insight director, Georgieann Harrington, noted that while Tesco has reclaimed its No 1 spot, its performance remained behind the market. On a combined basis, the leading multiples showed a near 2% rise in till sales in the latest period. However, Ms Harrington did notice some shards of light for Tesco.

“Tesco’s value initiatives, online and in-store, have helped boost the number of visits to its stores by 1.4%,” she said. “The retailer has also seen a spend increase, of 0.5%, from families with children. However, the grocer still has some ground to recover to regain the 26.3% share of the market it had a year ago.”

However, despite its market leader position not lasting too long, SuperValu remains the grocer to have most hope. It is the only retailer among the big three players to show a consistent winning of new shoppers over recent quarters. Furthermore, initiatives such as ‘Good Food Karma’ have helped SuperValu attract more than 12,000 new customers in the past 12 weeks.

“While the retailer [SuperValu] held the top spot for just a short period, the battle for dominance will continue over the summer months — a traditional strong season for SuperValu,” said Ms Harrington.

“With shoppers paying 0.6% more for their groceries compared to last year, competition is fierce between the retailers as they battle it out to offer best value for money.”

Indeed, Dunnes’ strong showing in the latest review represented its sixth consecutive month of gorwth. Shoppers have added more items to their baskets when visiting Dunnes shops and have increased their average basket spend by €3.40, according to Kantar’s findings.

As for the discounters, Lidl has also seen an increase in shopper spend, with the average shopper upping their spend by €8 during the latest period. This was helped, in part, by its recent voucher activity; while Aldi is continuing to win new shoppers with its “As Irish as...” marketing campaign. It won an additional 43,000 shoppers in the past 12 weeks.