Northern Ireland Grocery Market Accelerates – Kantar

Northern Ireland Grocery Market Accelerates – Kantar

The latest figures from Kantar show that growth in the Northern Irish grocery market accelerated to 12.9% in the 52 weeks to 27 December 2020.  A remarkable uplift from last Christmas, when growth was just 0.4% year on year.  Sales were stronger again over the most recent 12-week period, rising by 14.8% in the lead up to Christmas.

Kantar Latest Figures for NI Grocery Market

“Looking back over the course of an extraordinary year, national restrictions and various lockdowns saw shoppers visit supermarkets 18.5 fewer times while average basket sizes jumped by 17% in 2020″ said Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar.

Tesco maintains position

“Tesco maintained its position as Northern Ireland’s biggest grocer with 35.2% of the market this period.  More than 9 in 10 Northern Irish households visited the store in 2020 to help it grow sales by 11.7%.

“Sainsbury’s saw the second highest growth of the top four retailers, with sales up by 12.8%.    Sainsbury’s shoppers bucked a wider trend of declining footfall and only made one fewer trip than this time last year, aiding growth for the retailer.  Meanwhile, Asda sales rose by 8.3% this period.  The retailer achieved growth through consumers making bigger trips, with basket sizes up 25.6%.

Lidl increase sales

“Lidl, which increased sales by 19.7%, was the only retailer to grow ahead of the market this period.  The grocer successfully recruited more shoppers and over three quarters of the population visited the supermarket at least once in 2020.

Turkey sales dipped

“Christmas was far from traditional this year and fewer seats around the table meant sales of turkey declined by 1.4% while sales of lamb and roast beef were down by 12.8% and 0.3% respectively.  There was also a drop in spend on other indulgent categories like cheese, cakes, seasonal biscuits and smoked fish.  However, shoppers still found small ways to treat themselves and sales of ice cream, crisps, chocolate, sweets, and nuts all grew this period.  With the closure of bars and restaurants, alcohol was top of the shopping list this Christmas as sales grew by 36.7% to add £100 million to the total market.”

*Alcohol defined as wine, beer and lager, and cider.