2019 sees the Irish grocery market continuing to grow with a strong performance. Market Activity The latest grocery market share issued by Kantar for the 12 weeks ended 19th May outlined that Dunnes Stores retained its number 1 position in the market followed by Tesco and Supervalu. The Irish grocery market has grown by over 3% when compared with the same period in 2018 with all major retailers seeing an increase in average spend in-store. Circle K, the Canadian owned forecourt retailer opened its largest service station globally on the M11 outside Gorey, Co Wexford. This site incorporating a McDonalds restaurant is part of an overall €35m investment by Circle K in 4 new sites in 2018/19: Kilcullen, Athlone, J7 Kill & Gorey. Musgrave have announced that they will open 3 new Supervalu stores in 2019 (locations not disclosed but will monitor with interest). They also announced that c30 Supervalu stores will undergo a revamp in 2019 resulting in a total investment of c€30m in the Supervalu network nationwide. Maxol CEO, Brian Donaldson has announced that the McMullan family owed business will invest c€100m in revamping their store network nationwide over 3 years. This will see their forecourt stores shift in focus from fuel to food/convenience. The CSO retail Index issued on 30th April demonstrates a strong performance in the sector in Q1 2019. Sales Volumes are +6% and Sales values are +4% when compared with the same period in 2018. The proposed merger of Sainsbury’s and Asda in the UK has been blocked by the UK competition authority. This would have created the largest supermarket group in the UK. Walmart, the owner of Asda are now reported to be fully reviewing their UK strategy. Owen Clifford – Head of Retail Convenience Connect on LinkedIn Email: owen.clifford@boi.com Mobile: 087 907 9002 Retail Convenience Sector Review & OutlookViewPrint
