Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland has revealed that grocery sales at Ireland’s supermarkets fell by 1.3% in the 12 weeks to July 8 compared with the same period last year, a drop of €26.8mn in the steepest decline since August 2010.
Discounters Aldi and Lidl continue to perform well while consumers look to control their spend, as has Tesco which now accounts for 28.7% of the market, the figures show.
Mark Thomson, business unit director at Kantar Worldpanel, said that the economic situation has remained tough in Ireland throughout 2012, and consequently consumers have been looking to control their spend at the weekly shop.
“Shoppers have spent €26.8mn less at the tills than they did during this period last year as household budgets remain squeezed. This has also resulted in a 1.9% rise in sales of own label products as consumers try to control their weekly spend. This trend is bolstered by the strong growth of discount retailers who predominately stock their own range of brands,” he said.
“Aldi and Lidl now have a combined share of 12.2% and are the big winners from austerity shopping, with respective growth rates of 22.5% and 3.4%. Tesco has also performed strongly, extending its market-leading share to 28.7% this quarter. This has been driven largely by good performance across key areas of the store such as fresh and chilled products.”
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