Grocery sales in NI drop 6.8% in past year: Kantar

The latest figures from Kantar have revealed that the Northern Irish grocery market saw sales drop by 6.8% in the year to 20 February 2022.

Kantar analysts said it comes against a backdrop of supply chain pressures pushing up the cost of living, with shoppers keeping a watchful eye on supermarket price rises.

Emer Healy, Senior Retail Analyst at Kantar, said: “Northern Ireland grocery price inflation stands at 1.9% over the latest 52 week period, a figure we’d expect to rise in the coming months.

“With the majority of COVID-19 restrictions now lifted, people are really making the most of eating and drinking out in restaurants, pubs and cafés. As a result, sales over the latest 12 week period dipped by 6.4%. We also saw a 7.8% decline in the volume of items in shoppers’ trolleys, and the number of trips to stores dropped by 2.5%.

“A return to offices and busier routines has also meant sales of home cooking ingredients like flour, sugar and cake mixes declined by 16.1% as shoppers struggled to find as much time to cook from scratch as they did this time last year.

“Tesco maintained its position at the top of the table and is Northern Ireland’s largest grocer with a 35.7% share of the market. While its sales dropped by 5.3%, the grocer boosted its market share by 0.6 percentage points this period.

“Lidl is the only retailer to achieve growth over the past year and holds 7.1% of the market. The supermarket, typically a popular choice for shoppers watching their pennies, also grew its market share by 0.6 percentage points.

“Asda’s share rose by 0.2 percentage points to 16.0%. Sainsbury’s holds 16.9% of the market this period.”