Supermarket sweeps – marked increase for NI sector

Supermarket sweeps – marked increase for NI sector

Latest Kantar Figures Show Marked Increase for Northern Ireland Grocery Market

Latest figures from Kantar show that the Northern Ireland grocery market grew by 8 per cent for the 52 weeks to 21 September 2020.

Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar, comments: “The Northern Irish grocery market grew by 8.0 per cent during the 52 weeks to 6 September 2020.  That figure accelerated over the latest 12 weeks, with sales up by 10.4 per cent as people continued to spend more time at home.

ASDA volume sales up 19.2 per cent

“Sales at Asda were up by 3.1 per cent and at Sainsbury’s by 7.6 per cent.  Sainsbury’s was the only retailer to see an increase in shopper frequency over the latest 52 weeks, which grew by 4.8 per cent.  Asda customers meanwhile made the biggest additions to their weekly food shop and volume sales were up by 19.2 per cent.

Tesco up 9.2 per cent

“Tesco, which holds the biggest share of the market, increased its sales by 9.2 per cent year on year, adding 0.4 percentage points to its market share.  It was also the only retailer to recruit new shoppers in the past year, which contributed an additional £12.7 million to its overall growth.  People buying more in store, up 12.2%, and average prices growing by 2.8% both contributed to its success.

Lidl ‘strongest performing retailer’

“Lidl took the prize for the strongest performing retailer once again and its growth accelerated from last period.  The retailer grew its sales by 11.1 per cent over the 52 weeks and gained 0.2 percentage points in share.  Like Tesco, this was driven by significantly larger trips, with volumes up 15.4 per cent, and higher average prices, up 0.6 per cent,” said Emer Healy.

“Typical school lunch box categories have been in strong growth in the latest 12 weeks.  Popcorn, a popular children’s snack, grew by 58 per cent, while cheese and butter where up by 8.4 per cent and 11.9 per cent.  Household food wraps like clingfilm and tinfoil also grew by 19.8 per cent.”