SuperValu second behind Tesco in Irish grocery sector

SuperValu has become the second largest grocer in the Irish market after its re-branding of 24 Superquinn stores last month.

Kantar Worldpanel, who compiled the figures for the 12 weeks up to March 2, say discount retailers Aldi and Lidl continue to perform ahead of the market.

The German discounters have seen their market share increase by 1.4 and 0.8 percentage points respectively.

Kantar Worldpanel’s commercial director David Berry said: "Over the past three years Aldi and Lidl have captured a combined 3.8 share points from the competition, and have grown sales by 37% in an overall grocery market which has grown by just 1%.

"Conversely, Tesco and Dunnes have both experienced declines in market share and actual sales as the result of the pressure exerted by the increasingly competitive market place."

However, it says SuperValu now accounts for just over 25.3% of shopper's grocery spend - just 1.1 percentage points behind Tesco.

However, February also saw the weakest performance in the market since September 2011 with sales down by 0.6%.