Soaring inflation means Irish grocery shoppers face extra spend of €1,000-plus this year

Irish shoppers face shelling out more than €1,000 extra on their shopping bill this year after grocery price inflation soared by a record 16.3 per cent in the three months to January 23rd, new data from retail analyst Kantar shows.

This figure is based on over 30,000 identical products compared year-on-year in the proportions purchased by Irish shoppers. Kantar said it was the highest level of grocery inflation on record, and represents the most authoritative figure currently available.

Kantar said the level of inflation still trails just behind Britain where it hit 16.7 per cent after two months of slight decline. Irish households will now face an extra €1,159 on their annual shopping bills if they don’t change their behaviour to cut costs.

The group said take-home grocery sales in Ireland increased by 5 per cent in the four weeks to January 23rd, with grocery price inflation driving value sales growth rather than volume driving market growth.

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In January, average price per pack rose 14.6 per cent, while volume per trip was down 13 per cent, showing the challenges Irish shoppers are facing.

In the 12-week period to January 23rd, take-home grocery sales increased by 6.8 per cent, as shoppers contributed an additional €211.8 million to the overall market performance. As a result, shoppers spent an additional €90.50 per household year on year.

[ Hopes of end to price squeeze as OECD inflation slows to 9.4% in December ]

[ UK grocery price inflation rises to record 16.7% ]

Kantar senior retail analyst Emer Healy said shoppers were shifting to supermarket “own labels” to cut costs.

“It’s no surprise that shoppers continued to trade down to supermarkets’ own label products this period, with sales rising 10.4 per cent, well-ahead of a 4.7 per cent increase in branded lines,” she said.

Sales of premium own-label lines reached €152.6 million, up €5.7 million from last year, with €26.7 million of that coming from premium own-label chilled convenience products, representing strong growth of 11.6 per cent.

Value own-label lines saw the strongest growth, up 34 per cent year on year with shoppers spending €17.9 million more on these ranges.

Nearly 38 per cent of shoppers claim to always use a money-saving voucher. As a result, the amount bought on promotion has fallen to 27.7 per cent, the lowest level for five years, exaggerating the usual post-Christmas drop-off in deals.

However, the number of households who classified their financial situation as “struggling” fell from 32 per cent in October to 23 per cent in December, with just over half of Irish shoppers (52 per cent) feeling they were managing financially.

Shoppers spent an additional €848,000 on vitamins and mineral supplements. Sales of meat-free alternatives grew 4 per cent, with shoppers spending an additional €102,000 on tofu.

Sales of non-alcoholic beverages grew 4.6 per cent, with 5 per cent of Irish households purchasing a non-alcoholic beverage during January.

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Online sales remained strong during January, up 5.6 per cent year on year with shoppers spending an additional €8.5 million in online channels. An influx of new shoppers boosted online sales, with nearly one in five Irish households purchasing online.

Dunnes Stores held the highest share among all retailers at 23.7 per cent, with growth of 10.3 per cent year on year.

This growth stemmed from an influx of new shoppers in-store, up 1.34 percentage points, and shoppers returning more often contributed an additional €24.9 million to their overall performance.

Tesco was close behind with 23.1 per cent market share and growth of 9.8 per cent year on year. Tesco also had the strongest frequency growth among all retailers, up 10 per cent year on year.

SuperValu held 20.9 per cent of the market after adding 0.9 per cent growth. SuperValu shoppers made the most trips in-store with 20.8 trips on average, up 9.2 per cent year on year.

Lidl held 12.2 per cent share after 9.9 per cent growth year on year. New shoppers and more frequent trips contributed an additional €25.5 million to its overall performance.

Aldi held 11.6 per cent after 6.8 per cent growth year on year, with new shoppers and more frequent trips contributing an additional €10.8 million to its overall performance.