Sales of frozen burgers in Irish supermarkets have collapsed in recent weeks as shoppers have turned their backs on the products in the wake of the horse meat scandal which continues to tarnish the reputation of food producers and retailers across Europe.
Frozen burger sales are down 42 per cent across all the State's leading supermarkets, new figures from market research company Kantar Worldpanel have revealed. The decline mirrors sales data in the UK where frozen burger sales fell 43 per cent over the same period.
While significant numbers of consumers have lost faith in certain products they have not shifted their buying habits away from the large supermarkets, the research indicates.
"The impact of the horsemeat issue has so far only affected what consumers put in their baskets rather than where they do their shopping," said Kantar's David Berry.
While Aldi was one of the first chains implicated in the current scandal, the latest supermarket share figures do have some good news for it.
In the 12 weeks up to the middle of last month, the German discounter recorded sales growth of 29 per cent and its market share has gone up from 4.6 per cent last year to 5.9 per cent now. It is now the fifth most popular supermarket in the State having moved ahead of its main rival Lidl for the first time late last year.
"What is notable from Aldi's performance is that it has grown sales of fruit and vegetables – the most valuable grocery category – by 39 per cent this year," Mr Berry said.
Among the main supermarkets Dunnes was the only one to increase its share of the market. It beat the market with 4.1 per cent sales growth in the last quarter. The news for Tesco was not so good. While it remains the most popular supermarket in the Republic with a market share of 28.1 per cent, it has lost 0.5 per cent of that share in the last 12 weeks.
According to Kantar, grocery inflation was at 5.8 per cent for the 12-week period up to February 17th, the highest level seen since the 6.2 per cent price inflation recorded by Kantar in September 2008.
Its inflation figure is based on over 30,000 products compared year-on-year in the proportions purchased by Irish shoppers.
It is a "pure" inflation measure in that shopping behaviour is held constant between the two comparison periods – shoppers are likely to achieve a lower personal inflation rate if they trade down or seek out more offers.
