Irish supermarkets head for record €13bn sales in Covid-19 year

Figures by market researcher Kantar show the supermarkets made more than €12.8bn in sales over the 52 weeks to the end of November, which includes the €1bn in sales made during the level 5 lockdown

'November was the busiest month for the grocers since the height of the previous national lockdown in June,' said Kantar retail analyst Emer Healy. Picture: Larry Cummins

Irish supermarkets are emerging as the out-and-out retail business winners of the Covid-19 economic crisis, with record grocery sales likely to jump close to €13bn this year amid the Covid-19 lockdowns. 

Figures provided to the Irish Examiner by market researcher Kantar show the supermarkets made more than €12.8bn in sales over the 52 weeks to the end of November, which includes the €1bn in sales made during the level 5 lockdown, but before Christmas 2020, which is widely anticipated to top all records. 

The supermarkets had sales of almost €11.2bn in 2019 and over €10.8bn in 2018, according to Kantar. The figures suggest that Irish grocery sales will have soared by more than €2bn during this pandemic year compared with 2018.  

As essential retail services, the supermarkets remained open and their sales boomed as people who were forced to stay or work from home had few other ways to spend their money, with many sit-down restaurants and cafés, pubs, fashion retailers, and general retailers closed down for weeks on end since March.     

The figures also suggest that the grocery sales boom will be a huge boost for the top five supermarkets – Dunnes, SuperValu, Tesco, Aldi, and Lidl – which between them increased their market share to 90% of all the grocery sales in the Republic.

The rest of the market is fought over by franchise grocers, a few independents, and by the relatively small value of cross-border sales in grocers in Newry, Derry, and Enniskillen. 

In the 12 weeks to the end of November, which covers the latest level 5 lockdown, grocery "take-home" sales climbed by 16.4% from a year earlier, "as Irish shoppers prepare for an extraordinary Christmas", Kantar said.

November was the busiest month for grocers in Ireland since the height of the previous national lockdown in June. An extra €164 million rang through the tills compared with last year as shoppers readjusted to eating more meals at home. https://t.co/SvDr0bDrZL #GroceryMarketShare

— Kantar UK & Ireland (@Kantar_UKI) December 14, 2020

Unsurprisingly, the figures show online grocery sales soared, by almost 75%, over the same period. 

"As a result, customers spent an average of €103 more when shopping for groceries online than they did last year,” Kantar said. 

In the latest 12 weeks ahead of Christmas, Dunnes had the largest share of the grocery sales, at 22.1%, just ahead of Musgrave's SuperValu on 22%.

Tesco had 21.5% of all grocery sales in the period, while Lidl and Aldi secured market shares of 12.5% and 12%, respectively.

"November was the busiest month for the grocers since the height of the previous national lockdown in June," said  Kantar retail analyst Emer Healy.