Grocery volume per trip soars 18% in Northern Ireland: kantar
The latest Kantar figures for Northern Ireland show that volume per trip soared 18% – with Northern Ireland’s grocery market growing by almost 14% in the last quarter. Lidl has the highest growth – of just over 20% – but Tesco still wears the crown.
Symbols were by far the top performers when it came to change in value sales – up 26%, with overall sector growth from 8% to 8.8%.
Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, comments: “The Northern Irish grocery market grew by 13.9% in the 52 weeks 24 January 2021. This decelerated slightly in the shorter-term as sales increased by 13.4% in the past three months.
“After almost a full year of national lockdowns and restrictions, we visited stores an average of 20 times fewer than we did the year before the pandemic. With people eating more meals at home and adding more items to their trolleys, volume per trip soared by 18.1% year on year as shoppers picked up an average of two additional items each time they visited the supermarket.
Lidl wins
“Lidl increased sales by 20.5% and achieved the strongest growth among the retailers. The grocer successfully recruited more shoppers which contributed an additional £5.9 million to its overall takings this period.
“Asda’s sales rose by 9.3% this period with its success driven by shoppers putting more groceries in their trolleys in the store than in any other retailer. Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s regulars also continued to pick up more items during their shop which boosted its sales by £61.2 million and helped the supermarket achieve growth of 13.7%.
“Tesco maintained its crown as Northern Ireland’s biggest grocer, taking 35.1% of the market this period and increasing its sales by 12.2%. More than nine in ten Northern Irish households have visited the store during 2021.
“Shoppers continued to look for ways to treat themselves as we all spent more time at home and, with pubs and bars closed, sales of alcohol increased by 37.9% year on year. Confectionery and savoury treats also proved popular this period, with sales growing ahead of the total market at 15.7% and 18.2% respectively.”
