FDBusiness.com

The latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, for the 12 weeks ending 7 July, show shoppers with children are coming under intense pressure with families spending less on their weekly shops and switching to value stores.

Mark Thomson, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “Although inflation is stabilising, price increases are nearly double the rate they were this time last year. Consumers are responding by cutting back with families spending, on average over this year, €67 less than they did in 2012. As a result, we have seen the overall market decline by 0.2%.”

For the retailers, it is a testing period. Aldi, Lidl and SuperValu are the only retailers to increase market share, growing to 7.0%, 7.4% and 19.5% respectively.

Mark Thomson continues: “The discounters continue to benefit from shoppers who are looking to actively manage their grocery spend. If this performance carries on for the rest of the year, Aldi and Lidl’s combined share of the Irish market will hit 15% by December. The other retailers face a range of opportunities. Dunnes needs to concentrate on retaining its family customers, while Tesco and SuperValu must encourage existing family shoppers to spend more in store.”

Tesco’s share of 27.6% is in line with its 2011 performance, but a drop from the 28.8% recorded in 2012. Dunnes’ share now stands at 21.5%, down from 22.2% last year and Superquinn has held share at 5.4%.