Record numbers shop at Lidl in Ireland

Kantar Worldpanel’s latest supermarket share figures for – for the 12 weeks to May 22 – show a strong sales boost for the grocery market with sales increasing by 4.0% compared with last year, the global expert in shoppers’ behaviour reports.

Kantar Worldpanel director David Berry said the data shows consumers are making more frequent visits to supermarkets, averaging an additional four trips in the latest 12 weeks compared with last year.

“Coupled with increased prices this means that the average household is spending an additional €50 on groceries this year, amounting to an extra €89 million for the market.”

In terms of grocery market share for the latest 12 week period, SuperValu, which enjoyed its tenth consecutive period of growth, was in the lead – for the eighth month in a row – with a 22.7% share of the market. It was closely followed by Tesco with 22.4% and Dunnes with 21.4%. Berry noted Tesco saw its first growth in footfall in 10 periods,

“suggesting its investment in keeping prices down may be starting to pay off.”

“Lidl continues to post impressive sales growth as more consumers choose to shop with the retailer – a record 72.4% of all Irish households shopped in a Lidl store in the last quarter, widening the gap between it and rival discounter Aldi. Sales growth for Aldi stands at 2.4% in the latest quarter – a positive step up from the previous results for April and an early sign that sales growth might be starting to improve again,” he said.