German discount chains Aldi and Lidl have almost doubled their combined market share over the last year and look set to take a 5 per cent slice of the market between them in the near future.
According to this week's issue of newsletter Retail Intelligence, figures from TNS/MRBI show the chains grew their Irish market share from 2.7 per cent in March 2002 to 4.6 per cent in March 2003. The publication said that they were close to reaching the "psychologically important" 5 per cent share of the Irish market.
Tesco cemented its position as the market leader in March with a gain of 0.7 of a percentage point to reach 24.3 per cent.
Superquinn, whose position has been the subject of recent speculation, was shown to be stable at 8.6 per cent.
SuperValu has slipped slightly to 19.1 per cent, down 0.4 of a point. But its owner, Musgrave is up from 22.1 per cent last year to 22.2 per cent. Convenience store brand Centra drove that growth.
Dunnes Stores' share slipped 0.2 of a point to 22 per cent.
The newsletter also reported that the anti-inflation action group, comprising the social partners and set up under the most recent national pay deal talks, did not want the Government to drop the ban on below-cost selling.
The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, signalled last week that she was considering ending the ban, part of the 1987 Groceries Order, in a push against inflation in the domestic economy.
Retail Intelligence reports that the anti-inflation action group believes grocery prices are not driving inflation, as the official figures show that food inflation is running at 2.7 per cent year-on-year. The group includes employers, trade unions and farmers.
