Grocery market data for Ireland released by Worldpanel by Numerator shows that inflation remains stubbornly high for shoppers, remaining at an annual 6.8% for the 12 weeks to 22 February.

The value of take-home sales was 4.8% higher in the four-week period to 22 February than in the same period a year ago.

Head of retail for Ireland at Worldpanel by Numerator Eimear Faughnan said: “February was a busy month of celebrations and the data indicates that Irish shoppers stocked up on their food and drink favourites to make the most of these events.”

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Despite the rising cost of shopping, consumer preference for branded goods remained in place, with the classification accounting for more than 50% of sales.

Supermarket own-label goods held 44.6% of the market, down slightly from the 45.6% share seen a year ago.

Market share

Looking at market share, Dunnes maintained the top spot with 24.5% of grocery sales over the 12-week period. Tesco remained a close second with 24.2% of the market, while Lidl and Aldi were at 13.6% and 10.5% respectively.

Worldpanel by Numerator notes that its inflation calculation is a ‘pure’ inflation measure, where the prices of 30,000 identical products are compared year on year.

This means that shoppers can reduce their personal inflation level by changing their shopping habits and replacing some products with cheaper or supermarket own-brand items.