{"id":878068,"date":"2026-04-07T14:11:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/878068\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:11:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:11:41","slug":"northern-ireland-shoppers-spend-more-as-baskets-grow-and-easter-boosts-sales-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/878068\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland shoppers spend more as baskets grow and Easter boosts sales \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Take-home sales at Northern Ireland\u2019s grocers rose by 2.1% to more than \u00a34.4 billion in the year March 22 compared with the same period the previous year, according to the latest data from Worldpanel by Numerator.<\/p>\n

And although store visits continued to decline, down 8.8% year on year, shoppers bought more on each trip, adding an extra \u00a3106 million to the market, with seasonal events including Easter helping to boost spending.<\/p>\n

Emer Healy, business development director at Worldpanel by Numerator, says: \u201cAs the conflict in the Middle East continues to put upward pressure on global fuel prices, attention is increasingly turning to the impact this could have on household finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrocery inflation remains high, and further price rises are likely in the months ahead.<\/p>\n

\"Live:<\/a>\"Losses<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDuring previous periods of rising inflation, shoppers responded by changing the way they buy, whether that meant switching to lower-cost alternatives, buying less, or making more use of promotions.<\/p>\n

\"KantarEmer Healy, business development director at Worldpanel by Numerator <\/p>\n

\u201cWe would expect to see similar behaviour again as households look for ways to manage their budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the pressure of higher prices, branded goods continued to lead the market, holding a 56% value share and growing by 4.6%, equivalent to an additional \u00a3109 million. <\/p>\n

It was a slightly different story for own label, where growth was driven by premium ranges, as shoppers continued to look for small ways to treat themselves. <\/p>\n

Over the last 12 weeks, nearly 28% of Northern Ireland households bought hot cross buns, the data shows.<\/p>\n

Shoppers shelled out an extra \u00a315.2 million on chocolate confectionery compared with last year as well as \u00a314.7 million on alcohol year on year.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Tesco not only retained its position as the north\u2019s leading supermarket, but also increased its share to 38.9%. Its performance was boosted by both new shoppers and larger baskets, contributing an additional \u00a3126.3 million over the period.<\/p>\n

\"ClubcardTesco has strengthened its position as the north\u2019s leading supermarket with a 38.9% market share, according to new data (Joe Giddens\/PA) <\/p>\n

Sainsbury\u2019s follows with a 17.3% market share, and benefited from an influx of new shoppers, as well as existing customers returning to store more frequently, together contributing an additional \u00a318.9m to its performance.<\/p>\n

Asda now holds a 14.5% value share, while Lidl accounts for 9.6%. <\/p>\n

Other multiples command a 6.8% share, symbols boast 5.5% and \u2018all other outlets\u2019 make up 7.4% of the north\u2019s grocery market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Take-home sales at Northern Ireland\u2019s grocers rose by 2.1% to more than \u00a34.4 billion in the year March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[486,4416,1009,46518,1144,248716,1735,16,15],"class_list":["post-878068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-asda","tag-grocery","tag-lidl","tag-market-share","tag-northern-ireland","tag-sainsbury-s","tag-tesco","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116363833785656800","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}