Own-label, not brands, are top of grocery list

SHOPPERS are stubbornly resistant to the power of marketing and instead prefer less fashionable names when grocery shopping, new figures show.

Checkout Magazine yesterday published the list of Ireland’s 100 most popular brands with Coca-Cola fizzy drinks topping the list for the third year running.

The list of the top 100 brands — including Brennan’s bread, Guinness stout and Batchelors soups — was based purely on sales in stores ranging from supermarkets to corner shops.

Yet the list accounts for only 16% of the average weekly grocery basket, revealing that in a market worth €13.7 billion annually, only €2.17bn was spent by consumers on products from the 100 most popular household names.

The remainder — a staggering €11.5bn — goes on own-label goods like Tesco’s or Centra’s, fresh produce and the grocery shops’ non-food items like kettles or irons.

Yesterday, Checkout editor Karina Corbett said: “I’m not surprised [that the top 100 account for just 16% of sales] as the list is a hundred of the many brands on the retail grocery market,” she said.

She said the list did show the strong attachment shoppers have to household names like Avonmore, Tayto and Bulmers as well as the trust people have in such manufacturers.

The list was compiled by researchers AC Nielsen and was based on sales in all outlets — apart from Dunnes Stores, Aldi and Lidl.

Dunnes, Ireland’s second-biggest supermarket chain, declined to take part while Aldi and Lidl were excluded as they primarily trade in non-branded, discount goods.

The AC Nielsen research also appears to show how immigration from eastern Europe was influencing the types of goods bought by shoppers in the Republic of Ireland.

Vodka has this year replaced whiskey as the third most popular drink bought in off-licences, supermarkets and corner shops. Lager is number one while wine is second.

“Vodka is the fastest growing of the top 10 drinks and has seen a 20% sales growth this year,” said an AC Nielsen briefing to Checkout magazine. Polish vodka brands are contributing to this growth.”

Based solely on the top 100 brands, the top 10 kinds of goods shoppers buy are sweets and chocolate at number one and then fizzy drinks, milk, crisps and bread.

Compared to last year, consumers are buying more bread and mineral water — and less juice drinks and biscuits.

“The health and wellness trend continues to gather momentum but we remain loyal to confectionery, carbonated drinks, crisps and snacks,” said Ms Corbett.

The Checkout survey also reveals a growing pattern of consumers are drinking alcohol at home, with a quarter of all drink now bought in shops.

Previous Checkout figures revealed that 80% of drink was sold in pubs, clubs and restaurants — and the remainder sold in shops.

In the top 10 alcohol brands, the popularity of whiskey and cognac have been slipping, while consumers are becoming fonder of wine.

Budweiser was the number one take-home alcoholic drink with Smirnoff vodka second and Heineken lager third.

The most popular Irish-produced drink for those having a tipple at home was Bulmers cider, followed by Guinness while Cork-distilled Jameson whiskey was the top-selling branded spirit.