Grocery price inflation dips to same rate as headline inflation

The rate of Ireland’s grocery price inflation fell slightly this month and is now on par with the headline inflation, new figures from the market research firm Kantar shows.

Kantar said grocery price inflation is now at its lowest levels since March 2022. Kantar’s data is based on over 30,000 identical products compared year-on-year in the proportions purchased by Irish shoppers.

According to the data, in the 12 weeks to May 12, grocery prices rose by 2.6% compared to the same period last year. This is down slightly from the 2.9% recorded in April.

The latest figures from the Consumer Price Index from April, show that the overall rate of inflation across the economy is now running at 2.6%. Grocery price inflation has been consistently running higher than headline inflation. 

Overall, take home grocery sales across the country increased by 4.7% in the four weeks to May 12 but while value sales are up, grocery price inflation remains the driving factor rather than increased purchasing.

The figures also show that sales of supermarket’s own-label items are performing well and growing ahead of the total market. Own-label sales grew by 5.7% year-on-year with shoppers spending an additional €86m.

Branded items also grew by 4% over the 12 weeks to May 12 with shoppers spending an additional €59m compared to last year.

Irish consumers have also been making use of some of the good weather and dusting off their barbecues. This month, shoppers spent an additional €614,000 on sausages, €497,000 on chilled burgers and grills, and €454,000 on chilled prepared salads. There was also €3.4m more on soft drinks.

Online sales were up 18.6% year-on-year with shoppers spending an additional €31.3m on the platform.

During May, Dunnes Stores’ share of the total consumer spend stood at 23.7% with more frequent trips from its customers contributing €29.7m to their overall performance. Tesco holds 23% of the market while SuperValu holds 20.4% of the market.

SuperValu’s customers make the most trips in-store compared to all retailers, an average of 21.6 trips, and the retailer also experienced the strongest growth in volume per trip, up 8.9% compared to last year. This contributed an additional €56.2m to their overall performance.

Lidl holds 13.8% of the total consumer spend with Aldi down at 11.6%.