Take-home value sales in Ireland increased by 3.4% over the four weeks to 23 March 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to our latest grocery data. This is the slowest market growth rate since November 2022, despite Irish shoppers enjoying St Patrick’s Day celebrations and Shrove Tuesday in March. The average volume per trip also continued to fall by 2.9% in March as shoppers preferred to shop little and often.
Grocery price inflation stands at 4.52%, up 1.16 percentage points compared to the same 12-week period last year.
The continued rise in average prices – up 3.8% year-on-year – is contributing to a slowdown in sales, having a marked impact on consumer habits. With a combination of higher grocery prices and rising household costs, supermarkets are focusing on promotions to attract shoppers both in-store and online.
Promotional sales increased in the latest 12 weeks with shoppers spending an additional €99 million on promotional lines compared to the same period last year. Promotional sales currently hold 23% of total grocery spending compared to just 19% during the same time last year.
Alongside promotional activities, retailers are also pushing own label products as an alternative to brands. As a result, own label sales have jumped compared to last year by 4.5% with shoppers spending an additional €71.9 million on these ranges, accounting for 47.6% of all value sales. However, brands also remain popular with Irish shoppers, growing 4.5% compared to the same period last year and representing 47% of the total value market share.
Shoppers enjoy St Patrick’s Day and Shrove Tuesday but late Easter hits sales
Despite a late Easter this year, St Patrick’s Day and Shrove Tuesday helped boost seasonal sales in Ireland. Shoppers spent an additional €6.8 million on beer, spirits and wine combined, along with an extra €590k on hot cross buns, pancakes, sugar and sweet spreads, compared to last year. Sales of fish were also up as shoppers spent an additional €930k on fresh fish and ready meals combined.
It seems that this year’s late Easter is prompting shoppers to delay the temptation to buy Easter eggs too early. Irish shoppers spent €7.5 million less on Easter eggs in March compared to last year. But when we compare February 2025 with March 2025, we can see a significant increase in sales of €18.4 million. This is the same for total chocolate confectionary with year-on-year sales down 12.3%, but month-on-month spending up an additional €20 million.
Retailer and channel performance
Online sales rose 10.8% year-on-year, with shoppers spending an additional €20.8 million through this channel. Over the 12-week period, shoppers purchased their groceries more often online, up 11.4%.
Over the latest 12 weeks, Dunnes holds 24.4% market share, with sales growth of 6% year-on-year. Dunnes shoppers picked up more volume per trip, with the strongest increase compared to the other retailers, up 1.9% versus last year, contributing a combined €15.6 million to its overall performance.
Tesco holds 23.2% of the market, with value growth of 6% year-on-year. Shoppers increased their trips to store, which contributed €33.6 million to overall performance.
SuperValu holds 20.2% of the market with growth of 5.4%. Consumers made the most shopping trips to this grocer, averaging 24.5 trips over the latest 12 weeks. This increase in the number of shopping trips alongside new shopper arrivals contributed an additional €44.4 million to its performance.
Lidl holds 13.5% market share up 4.7%. Larger trips drove an additional €3.3 million in sales. Aldi holds 11.6% market share, up 4.9%. Increased trips to store drove an additional €13.9 million in sales.
