Sales of €2.6 billion in 2015 has been reported this week by supermarket group SuperValu and it said it now has 25% of the total market share. The retailer, owned by Musgraves, said it performed particularly well in the lead up to Christmas, with growth of 4.3% in the last 12 weeks of the year.
SuperValu regard themselves as the number one supporter of the Irish food industry as they source from over 1,800 Irish suppliers – more than any other grocery retailer in the Irish market – equating to an economic contribution of €2.19 billion.
“From 100 per cent fresh Irish meat, scratch bakeries in-store, locally-sourced fruit and veg, specialist fish counters and our Food Academy suppliers, we continue to give shoppers the best locally sourced food. As our stores are independently owned and operated, this means even more money goes back into the local economy.” said Managing Director Martin Kelleher.
SuperValu has now helped 250 small Irish food producers secure a retail listing through Food Academy, a joint initiative with Bord Bia and the Local Enterprise Office. In 2015 alone sales of Food Academy products reached €13 million, exceeding targets and highlighting the consumer demand for local produce.
Serving 2.6million customers every week, SuperValu have 221 stores across Ireland also cite their online shopping being a key sales driver last year, growing by 32 per cent for the last six months of the year and projected to grow over the next twelve months. There are plans to invest €28m in its network this year and aiming to open five new stores, which will create 350 new jobs.
This is good news all round for the consumer as there is healthy competition between the supermarket retailers and can only better both the quality and value going forward for the consumer.
The grocery retailer’s online shopping active customer base grew by 23.6% while their Online Shopping App had 129% more downloads with visits to SuperValu on mobile phones increasing by 37 % in 2015.