Northern Ireland shoppers spend big on barbecue as summer hits
The brighter, warmer days saw Northern Ireland consumers hit the shops as barbecue season got underway.
Shoppers spent £684k on chilled burgers and grills, £826k on fresh sausages and an additional £3.4 million on beer and lager.
Grocery inflation now stands at 9.6% for May – the eighth consecutive month of decline and is now sitting at a level last seen in January 2023, according to Kantar.
In the year to 12th May 2024 £4.24 billion ran through the tills, up 8.7% year-on-year, which is an additional £341 million versus last year.
As Emer Healy, Business Development Director at Kantar explained, the average household spent an all-time high of £5602 which was up £437 year-on-year.
“Take-home grocery sales grew with shoppers visiting store more often, an average of 4.5 trips more than last year, however the number of packs bought continues to fall year-on-year by 0.3%,” said Emer.
‘We tend to see an uplift across many categories when there are major sporting events, especially alcohol’
Own-label ranges remain popular growing 9.4% year-on-year with shoppers spending an additional £160 million on the products versus last year. However, brands are still important to Northern Irish households and grew ahead of the market at 8.8% year-on-year, capturing 54.5% value market share. Also, over 22% of all sales were made through a promotional offer, a level this high has not been seen since October 2020.
Brighter days called for shoppers in Northen Ireland to kick start the barbeque season and there is a summer of sports on the horizon, kicked off with the 2024 UEFA European men’s football.
“We tend to see an uplift across many categories when there are major sporting events, especially alcohol. Over the 12 weeks we have spent a combined £6.4 million more on beer and lager and savoury snacks versus last year,” added Emer.
Tesco maintains its position at the top of the table and is Northern Ireland’s largest grocer with a 35.2% share of the market, up 9.6%. More frequent trips and new shoppers contributed a combined additional £85.5 million to their overall performance.
Meanwhile, Lidl holds 9.2% market share, up 10.9% year-on-year. Lidl welcomed new shoppers in store alongside more frequent trips which contributed £9.3 million to their overall performance.
Sainsbury’s holds 16.9% share, up 11.5%, and welcomed more frequent trips which contributed an additional £151.6 million to their overall performance. Asda holds 16.1% of the market, up 9.8% this period and saw a boost in trip frequency, volume per trip and new shoppers which contributed an additional £9.4 million overall.
