The rate at which grocery prices are climbing has more than doubled over the last 12 months, according to the latest data from retail analysts Kantar Worldpanel.
Grocery price inflation currently stands at 4.96 per cent compared to the same 12-week period last year with the annualised rate of inflation increasing by 2.4 percentage points since that time.
At the start of last summer, there was some hope that grocery prices had stabilised with inflation a long way off its high of almost 17 per cent recorded when the cost of living crisis was at its most severe in mid-2023.
Kantar’s figures suggest that the financial pain of higher price groceries is still being felt by many, however.
Spread over the course of a year, price inflation of 5 per cent will add close to €400 to a typical household’s grocery spend.
“Rising prices are influencing both sales performance and consumer behaviour,” according to Emer Healy, business development director at Kantar.
“Although households have been adjusting their spending for some time now, what we’re seeing is a clear ‘tipping point’ when inflation goes above 3 per cent to 4 per cent. This is when shoppers really start to feel it in their wallets, and they change their behaviour.
“As a result, supermarkets are having to be more creative in the way they attract shoppers in-store and online – offering quality products at the right price.”
Shoppers spent an additional €124 million on promotional lines over the last 12 weeks compared to the same period last year, according to Kantar.
The data also suggest that the promotional market grew by 17.6 per cent with key categories including table sauces, skin care, deodorant, soft drinks, frozen confectionery and chocolate all growing ahead of the average.
Despite the added pressure on household budgets, Irish shoppers continue to support brand names which still hold a higher value share of the total market at 47.4 per cent compared to own label with 47.1 per cent value share.
With growth of 12.6 per cent over the 12 weeks, premium own label continues to grow faster than the market as a whole with premium own labels holding a 4.1 per cent value share of the total market compared to 3.9 per cent last year.
“Irish shoppers enjoyed a warm and sunny start to May,” noted Ms Healy. “With many firing up the BBQ and dining alfresco for the first time this year, shoppers spent an additional €14 million on typical summer fare [and], with shoppers taking full advantage of the sunshine, we saw an additional €50,000 spent on suncare compared to this time last year.”
In terms of market share, Dunnes holds 23.8 per cent with sales growth of 7.2 per cent year-on-year while Tesco is on 23.3 per cent with value growth of 7.1 per cent. SuperValu is still underperforming – relatively speaking – with a market share of 20.3 per cent of the market with growth of 5.4 per cent.
Lidl is on 13.8 per cent up 6.3 per cent while Aldi is on 11.7 per cent up 6.8 per cent.
