Irish shoppers are being a bit more liberal with their spending this Christmas than they were a year ago, new data shows.
Sales of key festive items across Irish supermarkets has increased with the number of Christmas puddings sold up 12.6 per cent on last year and wine sales up by 8 per cent.
Data released by Kantar Worldpanel Ireland also shows that Dunnes Stores remained Ireland's largest supermarket in the 12 weeks to December 3rd with a 22.5 per cent share. The company has seen sales growth of 2.4 per cent on last year with the average shopper now spending €2.30 more per shop.
"Dunnes Stores has always performed strongly in the countdown to Christmas and this year is no exception," said David Berry, a director at Kantar Worldpanel.
Tesco comes in second place with 22.3 per cent, while Supervalu had 22.2 per cent share. Discounters Aldi and Lidl both had 11.2 per cent share of the market.
Commenting on Tesco’s sales growth of 4.7 per cent, Mr Berry said: “Tesco has continued its strong run of form as we approach the peak Christmas shopping season, with consumers visiting the store more frequently and buying more items every time they shop...This is now the fourth month in a row that Tesco has experienced sales growth of more than 4 per cent. This strong growth has translated into increased market share.”
Kantar Worldpanel Ireland monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 5,000 demographically representative households in the Republic.
