www.retailnews.ie|November 2012|Retail News|5
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Threatened Drink Tax ingredient awareness is gaining some traction with customers. They’re exercising their choice in relation to the products offered.” Jennings called for more education and wants the Government to stop plans for a soft drink tax. “If the
alternative is to make nothing other than negative revenue for the state, you have a duty to delay what you’re doing,” he said. “If you wanted this to be revenue neutral, you might want to be positive about other products, but we have 23% VAT on bottled revenue. Is
this a revenue-raising exercise or an attempt to address the elements that are considered to be problematic?” All parties are now playing the waiting game. Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan TD, will announce Budget 2012 on December 5.
Paul Kelly, Director, Food & Drink Industry Ireland.
Grocery Market Returns to Growth THE Irish grocery market has grown by 0.1%, the first increase recorded since the Easter boost in April but still a long way behind the inflation rate of 4.1%, according to the latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, for the 12 weeks ending October 28, 2012. “While the growth seen this month is a good sign for the grocery market, we are not out of the woods just yet and many grocery retailers are still struggling,” explained David
Berry, Commercial Director at Kantar Worldpanel. “Shoppers are continuing to watch their purse strings, buying fewer groceries per trip but shopping more often. They are also spreading their spend across a broader spectrum of stores, meaning that it is a challenge for the grocers to drive sales growth.” Berry described Aldi as the standout performer: “It has posted growth of over 30% and improved its share of the market from 4.7% last year to
a record high of 6.1%. A key feature of its success is its ability to bring in new shoppers, with 70,000 more through the door this year, while also encouraging them to come back more often.” Lidl and Tesco have also posted solid results, both growing ahead of the market and boosting their respective shares by 0.2 and 0.6 percentage points. Both retailers have also benefited from the ‘shop more, spend less’ trend which has helped attract
new customers to their stores. Dunnes has reversed its recent decline in fortunes, with an increase in market share to 22.4%, compared with 21.6% last month. This coincides with its October initiative which gave shoppers €5 back for every €50 spent in-store. With initial results suggesting that shoppers have responded well to this deal, it will be interesting to see how each of the competing retailers will respond in the lead-up to the Christmas period.
MARKET SHARE - TOTAL GROCERY Includes all expenditure through main store tills and excludes petrol & instore concessions
Total Take Home Grocery - Ireland Consumer Spend 12 Weeks to 30 Oct 2011 %*
12 Weeks to 28 Oct 2012 %*
change %
100.0%
100.0%
0.1%
Total Grocery Multiples
87.7%
88.2%
0.6%
Tesco
27.7%
28.3%
2.0%
Dunnes
23.9%
22.4%
-6.2%
SuperValu
19.5%
19.5%
0.0%
Superquinn
5.6%
5.4%
-3.6%
11.0%
12.6%
15.3%
Aldi
4.7%
6.1%
30.5%
Lidl
6.3%
6.5%
3.9%
12.3%
11.8%
-3.9%
Total Grocers
Total Discounters
Other Outlets**
*= Percentage Share of Total Grocery **= Includes stores such as M&S, Boots, Spar, Centra, Greengrocers, Butchers and Cross Border Shops