Online groceries to ring up €540m sales in four years
THERE has been a surge in online grocery shopping that is expected to double again in the next four years, experts have predicted.
The amount will go up from the current €258million a year to a massive €540million in 2022 – an extra €282million, more than doubling online’s grocery share from 2.4% to 5%, experts forecast.
And they put the growth down to people’s increasingly busy lifestyles giving them less time to browse the supermarket aisles.
Douglas Faughnan, director at Kantar Worldpanel which compiles supermarket sales figures, said: ‘If you look at Dublin, people’s lives are increasingly hectic – we’re working longer hours, commuting longer distances, which you could link to the housing situation at the moment.
‘People are spending more time working, more time travelling, so anything that saves time elsewhere in their lives is likely to continue to be popular.
‘If you’re taking a couple of hours out of your Saturday or Sunday morning, it becomes really attractive if you can shift that online.
‘It’s definitely one of the reasons in Dublin it’s growing. People are cashrich, time-poor.’
Dermott Jewell of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland added: ‘There’s a distinct change being driven by a younger cohort of consumers and they have different demands and expectations and this reflects it.
‘You can’t help but feel it will double again. It very much depends on the quality of the service but it has the potential to grow significantly.
‘The amount of hot food, prepared food, that is delivered is phenomenal, so too are courier services. Here we have probably one of the most important sectors and maybe it’s quite low because people want to see what they’re buying, the potatoes, the veg, etc – it’s personal choice.’
Tesco is Ireland’s largest food delivery service covering more than 85% of the population.
A spokesman said: ‘We have invested significantly to make online shopping easier and more convenient for customers and we’ve seen double digit growth in orders year on year.’
The retail giant has also just launched free deliveries at certain times of the day for over-65s who spend more than €50. Business, Enterprise and Innovation Minister Heather Humphreys said: ‘Government welcomes innovation in our retail sector and this is a good example of combining technology with social good.
‘It is positive to see an age-friendly initiative that aims to assist older people across the country. This Tesco initiative will be great for older people, especially in rural areas.’
Kantar’s Mr Faughnan added: ‘Tesco’s recent announcement of free delivery for over-65s when they spend €50 or more shows it is looking to further cash in on the growth of online shopping in Ireland.
‘Although just 2.4% of grocery retailing comes through e-commerce at present, this figure is forecast to hit 5% by 2022, and retailers are now looking at new ways to capture their fair share of the online pie.
‘The challenge for retailers is around delivery, particularly when you look outside of Dublin. Dublin is fine because geographically it’s a small densely populated location.
‘But when you think of the difficulty of delivering to rural Ireland, I’d say the costs of that are still quite high so partnerships with apps like buymie with Lidl provide a way around that.’
Dunnes Stores was the largest retailer in Ireland over the past 12 weeks, with its focus on shopper campaigns increasing its market share to 22.1% pushing Tesco into second place with 21.5%. SuperValu was third with 21.4%.
‘The challenge is around delivery’