Top stories in the papers this week 22 – 29 October 2010
Discounters main success story in market share growth; BWG fill gap in the market with 'Glenmor' products; Cheap casseroles back on the menu
Print29 October 2010
1. Discounters main success story in market share growth
Grocery market growth reached 1.2% this month, the highest since February 2009; according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel statistics. The Sunday Tribune reports this lags behind grocery inflation of 2.4%, suggesting that, while customers are continuing to shop, they have traded down to cheaper goods to save money. The paper also gives a full breakdown of each multiple’s respective rise or fall in market share; noting that while fewer shoppers are visiting market leader Tesco, that German discounters, Aldi and Lidl, continue to be the main success story.
2. BWG fill gap in the market with ‘Glenmor’ products
BWG has launched a new fresh meat range for its outlets, the Irish Independent reports. The company is making a €1m investment in the ‘Glenmor’ brand which will be used for own-brand pre-packed beef, ham, poultry and lamb. BWG’s managing director, Willie O’Byrne, believes his company has found a gap in a market they have previously been missing, by providing local fresh meat on its shelves. Glenmor will be seen mostly in the Mace and Spar convenience stores, as the majority of the larger Eurospars already have an in house butchers.
3. Cheap casseroles back on the menu as country goes to pot
The average household now spends €5,572 on groceries each year — down 10% from the €6,172 being spent two years ago, a new Bord Bia report shows. However, the Irish Independent reports the volume of food purchased has not changed, with research showing frugal shoppers are saving €294 a year by substituting cheaper choices for expensive foods on the family dinner table. Butchers have also noted reported consumers are increasingly buying cuts of meat shunned during the Celtic Tiger years, such as shanks of lamb, oxtails and shin beef.
4. Retail sales down over 3%
Retail sales declined again in the third quarter of 2010, according to new figures from Retail Excellence Ireland. Sales were down more than 3% as against the same three-month period a year earlier. However the Irish Times reports September just fell shy of like-for-like parity, recording a minimal decline of 0.21%; whereas like-for-like sales declined by 5.24% in July and 3.87% in August. REI statistics show the grocery sector also performed badly, falling 4.97% from the same quarter a year earlier.
5. Operating profit of more than €1m for Xtra-vision
Xtra-Vision has made an operating profit of more than €1 million in the first four months following its purchase by the Dublin firm Birchall Investments. The Irish Times reports that this figure fell short of the level at which Birchall would have had to pay the former owners, Blockbuster, an additional payment of €12 million. Directors at Birchall Investments noted the “difficult” economic background and climate of declining retail sales in Ireland during 2009.
Also:
Revenues down at Premier Foods (Irish Times)
Heineken revenue rises 13 per cent (Irish Times)
Shops get 50% rent cut as half-empty centre struggles to stay afloat (Evening Herald)
Discount phobia – Germans fail to thrive in UK (Sunday Tribune)
Shell profits up in third quarter (Irish Times)
Ireland – IFA target Tesco again (Meat Trade News Daily)
Action on vacant shops urged at ‘Vision for Dun Laoghaire’ meeting
Ciaran Cuffe TD and participants (Ciaran Cuffe.ie)
Bulmers cuts to lead to 50 job losses (RTE)
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