Big five supermarkets up their share of market to 90% of €13.2bn sales during Covid        

Supermarkets have made over €13.17bn at the tills and online in the past year

The growth of supermarket sales has slowed from a year ago when households were still stocking up on essentials during the first of the Covid lockdowns.

The big five supermarkets — SuperValu, Tesco, Dunnes, Lidl, and Aldi — have increased their combined dominance of the Republic's grocery market during the Covid pandemic and now account for 90% of €13.2bn in annual sales, new research shows.

The figures from researcher Kantar show that all supermarkets took in a further €3bn in grocery sales in the latest 12 weeks and that they made over €13.17bn at the tills and online in the past year. 

The Kantar survey also showed that Irish grocery price inflation, which was running ahead of the general rate of inflation as measured by the CSO since the onset of the pandemic, has slowed sharply in the latest survey, to just 0.1%, as the economies of Ireland and Britain prepare to reopen fully.       

The inflation rate across 30,000 grocery items in the Republic is the lowest since the negative rate of -0.1% posted in October 2018, Kantar said.

The Kantar figures show that in the Republic, as was the case in Britain, that the growth of supermarket sales has slowed from a year ago when households were still stocking up on essentials during the first of the Covid lockdowns.

As a similar Kantar survey for Britain showed last week, the over 65s in the Republic who have been vaccinated have significantly increased the number of visits they are making to supermarkets.

The big five supermarkets have all increased their market shares in the past year of lockdowns when grocery shops stayed open as essential retailers. 

It means that while the big five now control 90% of the spend, only €1.3bn in annual grocery sales is left to be fought over by branded outlets and small independent grocers.          

In the latest survey, SuperValu is the largest store by sales with a market share of 22.5% of the €3bn spent by shoppers on groceries over the recent 12 weeks. 

With a share of 21.7% Tesco is in second place, with Dunnes securing a share of 21.1% in the period. 

Lidl and Aldi had shares of 12.6% and 12%. 

"Growth may have dipped year on year in April, but we’re still some way from normal and take-home grocery spending remains an incredible 19.4% higher than pre-pandemic levels," said Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar. She said the average household grocery spend was €245.10 higher than two years ago.