SuperValu has thanked its customers following the announcement by Kantar Worldpanel today that SuperValu has the largest market share of any grocery retailer in Ireland. SuperValu now holds 24.9% market share and feeds one in four people in Ireland every week.
Earlier this year, SuperValu announced that it reached its highest ever sales total in 2014 after recording sales of €2.58 billion. This follows the growth of the brand by 30% over a ten year period, highlighting the momentum behind Ireland’s leading grocery retailer.
Commenting on the milestone, Martin Kelleher, SuperValu managing director, said: “It is nice to be recognised as the largest grocery retailer in the market, a feat which is even more important when you bear in mind that SuperValu is a brand that is essentially made up of independent retailers from across the country. So this success belongs to our retail partners and the communities that support them every day.”
“We have achieved this by focusing on three key areas – providing the best quality Irish food to our customers; offering unrivalled expertise through our people like our butchers and bakers; and supporting communities across the country through a variety of charitable causes, initiatives like TidyTowns, as well as putting money back into the local economy due to our independent retail model.”
“This milestone is testament to the fantastic work of our retail partners across the country. Local ownership is one of our unique selling points: the fact that our stores are operated by people from the local community, the store owner knows his or her customers and what they want. For example, as stores owners can source directly from local suppliers, you will find products on our shelves that you simply cannot buy in any of the other grocery retailers.”
“Clearly the Irish grocery market is highly competitive and will continue to be neck and neck in the future. We aim to repay our customers’ loyalty by continuing to invest in our brand and further improving our offer. In this respect, we will open four new stores in the year ahead and continue to invest in refurbishing our store network, adding 280 employees to the SuperValu family in the process. Similarly we will help more local suppliers gain their first retail listing through the Food Academy programme and support a range of initiatives such as the TidyTowns Competition and the GAA All-Ireland Football Championship.”
SuperValu has received a number of accolades in recent years. The brand was recognised as the best supporter of Irish producers according to an independent study by Checkout and Ignite Research in 2014. Of the 3,000 respondents surveyed for the ‘Where We Shop 2014’ report, one third of shoppers named SuperValu as the best promoter of Irish products, ahead of any other grocery retailer in Ireland. SuperValu was also named as the most reputable Irish brand last year, according to the results of the annual Ireland RepTrak study.
Together with its retail partners, SuperValu employs approximately 14,500 colleagues, making it one of the State’s largest private sector employers. 75% of everything on SuperValu’s shelves is sourced or produced in Ireland. SuperValu continues to source locally wherever possible and purchases almost €2 billion worth of goods from Irish suppliers which help to sustain 30,000 jobs in the Irish economy.
