Grocery inflation in the 12 weeks to July 7 saw a marginal gain after falling for 15 months in a row, new figures from Kantar show today.
Grocery inflation now stands at 2.6%, a small increase of 0.14 points over the last month but down 11.8 points compared to the same time last year.
Kantar said that take-home grocery sales in Ireland increased by 6.6% in the four weeks to July 7, despite the fact that summer has yet to make an appearance.
It noted an increase in shopping frequency in the period under review, with shopping trips up by 3.2%.
Today’s figures show that the poor summer weather so far this year means that people are not spending as much on the usual barbecue and summer fare.
In the last four weeks, shoppers spent a combined €800,000 less on chilled salads, burgers and grills and steaks than this time last year, turning to soups and hot beverages instead with a combined €1.8m more was spent on these items compared to last year.
Meanwhile, online sales were up 12.1% year-on-year, with shoppers spending an additional €19.2m on the platform.
Emer Healy, Business Development Director at Kantar, said that shoppers in Ireland remain on the lookout for value deals in the market with over 25% of value sales on promotion.
“With retailers keen to push their own label products, we’ve seen strong sales this period with shoppers spending an additional €67.8m year-on-year and total market growth of 4.5% on these ranges,” she said.
She also noted that premium own label ranges performed strongly as shoppers spent an additional €15.5m on these lines, growth of 10.8% compared to this time last year.
Brands grew ahead of the total market in the latest 12 weeks, up 6%, with shoppers spending an additional €86.3m on branded products compared to last year, she added.
Kantar’s figures also show that Dunnes holds a 23.2% market share with growth of 7.2% year-on-year. The retailer’s growth is mainly due to more frequent trips and larger trips, which contributed a combined €42.7m to its overall performance.
Tesco holds 23.1% of the market, up 7.5% on last year, with the retailer seeing the strongest trip frequency growth for another consecutive month, up 6.7%, which contributed an additional €46.4m to its overall performance.
Meanwhile, SuperValu holds 20.4% of the market with growth of 3.2%. SuperValu shoppers make the most trips in-store when compared to all retailers, an average of 21.6 trips. It also saw the strongest growth in volume per trip amongst all retailers, up 5.1%, while new shoppers in its stores contributed a combined additional €50.2m to overall performance.
Lidl holds 13.9% share with growth of 4.9% year-on-year with more frequent trips contributed an additional €36.8m to their overall performance, while Aldi holds 12% market share with growth of 0.6% year on year. More frequent trips and new shopper arrivals contributed an additional €11.6m to its overall performance.
Article Source – Grocery price inflation edges up in July after 15 months of falls – Kantar – RTE
