Grocery sales hit €1.4 billion over record-breaking Christmas
New figures show that, as expected, Monday 23 December was the most popular shopping day of 2024, with consumers spending €107m on that one day alone, an increase of €11.9m on the busiest trading day in 2023.
The latest figures from Kantar show that take-home value sales over the four weeks to 29 December increased by 4.4% to reach nearly €1.4 billion, making it the biggest sales month of the year, despite grocery price inflation increasing by 3.6%.
Shoppers in Ireland also returned to stores more often in December, making 23 trips on average to pick up Christmas essentials and luxuries, compared to just 17 trips on average in the UK.
Kantar noted that shoppers were willing to spend slightly more than usual with sales of branded products up 5.9%.
Premium own label lines saw a sharp increase of 10.5%, surpassing the overall growth of own label products, which stood at 3.2%. Over the latest 12 weeks, shoppers spent nearly €140m on premium own label ranges.
Meanwhile sales on promotion hit a high of 23.8% in December, growing by 5.2%. Shoppers spent a bit more than usual on festive treats, with beer and cider, pastries and biscuits seeing the highest levels of buying on deal.
Emer Healy, Business Development Director at Kantar, said that alcohol took centre stage in this year’s Christmas shopping trollies, with shoppers spending an additional €79m on alcohol compared to November.
She said that champagne and sparkling wine, beer and cider, and wine were popular among shoppers who spent an additional €60.8m compared to the previous month.
9% of Irish households purchased no and low alcohol drinks in December, spending an additional €2m on these products.
Emer Healy also said that shoppers spent an additional €28.3m online, increasing sales by 14.7% year-on-year.
“Over the latest 12-week period, the number of online shopping trips increased 13.3%, with both new and existing online shoppers looking to save time during the busy Christmas period adding €28.3m to the platform,” she stated.
Dunnes and Tesco lead in retailer market share
Today’s figures from Kantar show that Dunnes holds a 24.8% market share with sales growth of 6.9% year-on-year. Shoppers increased their number of trips by 3.6% while picking up more packs per trips, which contributed a combined €44.3m to its overall performance.
Tesco holds 24.2% of the market, with value growth of 6.4% year-on-year as shoppers increased their trips to store by 5.1%.
Kantar also said that SuperValu holds 20.5% of the market with growth of 3.2%. Consumers made the most shopping trips to this grocer, averaging 23.8 trips over the latest 12 weeks. The increased number of shopping trips and more items picked up per trip contributed €27.1m to its performance, it added.
Meanwhile, Lidl holds a 12.3% share of total spending with growth of 4.6%. Increased trips to store and increased volume per trip drove an additional €24.2m in sales.
Aldi holds a 10.6% market share, up 3.9% on last year, with an increase in trips contributing an extra €18.3m to its overall performance.
Article Source – Grocery sales hit €1.4 billion over record-breaking Christmas – Kantar – RTE
