Back to school spending drives up grocery sales

Irish households spent an additional €2.6m on fresh vegetables and €1.9m more on fresh fruit in the four weeks leading up to September 29 compared to the previous month. 

Take-home grocery sales increased by 6.1% during September with families seeing schools resume as grocery price inflation remained mostly flat, new data from market research firm Kantar shows.

Overall, Irish households spent an additional €2.6m on fresh vegetables and €1.9m more on fresh fruit in the four weeks leading up to September 29, compared to the previous month. Spending on bread increased by €1.4m while an extra €1m was spent on frozen goods.

Kantar’s head of retail Eimear Faughnan said as back to school routines resumed, families continued to purchase their favourite brands.

“Brand sales grew by 8% compared to last year, outperforming own-label products once again this period, increasing their value share of total spending to 48.2%,” she said.

Own-label ranges also saw their value sales increase by 3.9% this month compared to last year.

Some shoppers also got an early start preparing for the Halloween season, which was reflected in a significant €3m increase in spending on confectionery.

In the 12 weeks to the end of September, annual grocery price inflation stood at 2.76% — down just 0.09% from the previous report at the start of the month.

In terms of share of consumer spending, Dunnes Stores retained a 24% market share in the three months to the end of September. Tesco holds 23.4% of the market while SuperValu holds 19.6%.

Lidl held a 13.7% share of total spend while Aldi held an 11.7% share.