Grocery inflation falls to 5.9% as promotional sales increase

Irish grocery inflation has continued to fall with the latest figures from retail analysts Kantar World Panel putting the rate in the four weeks to January 21st at 5.9 per cent.

That compares with inflation of 7.1 per cent in December and a rate of 16.4 per cent in March of last year.

The data also suggests that after a record-breaking festive period, take-home grocery sales are starting to slow with a more moderate 2.2 per cent increase in the four weeks to the middle of last month compared with a sales bounce of 7.8 per cent in December.

“Many Irish consumers are keeping a very close eye on their purse strings after indulging over the festive period and, to help manage household budgets, many are trading down to supermarket’s own label products and looking for deals,” said Kantar’s Emer Healy.

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“The amount of sales on promotion has grown by 9.9 per cent year on year with shoppers spending €92.6 million more than last year, meaning that 28.9 per cent of all value sales this period were on promotion.”

Ms Healy also noted that sales of own label lines were performing strongly and growing ahead of the total market at 8 per cent year on year.

Premium own label ranges also performed well with shoppers spending an additional €157 million on these lines with growth of 10.3 per cent when compared with this time last year.

“Health always becomes a top priority after an indulgent festive season, with many Irish consumers kicking off 2024 with good intentions,” Ms Healy added. “Across Ireland consumers took on Dry January with alcohol sales falling by 8.6 per cent and shoppers spending €7.4 million less during January compared with last year.

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Veganuary didn’t have the same impact as in times past and despite nearly 38 per cent of Irish households purchasing chilled or frozen plant-based products, sales fell 2.6 per cent with shoppers spending €200,000 less compared with last year.

Dunnes, Tesco and Lidl all grew ahead of the total market in terms of value this month.

Dunnes hit a new record share of 24.6 per cent with growth of 9.9 per cent year on year.

Tesco holds 23.8 per cent of the market, also a new record for the retailer, with growth of 9.4 per cent year on year.

SuperValu has 20.6 per cent of the market with growth of 4 per cent while Lidl holds 12.5 per cent share and Aldi is on 10.8 per cent.

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