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# Top Dogs
The king is dead - Tesco is no longer the number one supermarket in Ireland
After months of threatening to do so, Super Valu has finally knocked the UK grocery giant from its perch.
IT’S BEEN A long time coming but Tesco has finally been dethroned as Ireland’s number one supemarket retailer.
The latest figures from grocery industry monitors Kantar Worldpanel show Irish chain Super Valu has taken the top spot as at the end of March 2015.
Super Valu sits top of the pile with 24.9% market share, Tesco drop to second with 24.7% and Dunnes, they of the troubled industrial relations, sit third with 22.7%
German retailers Aldi and Lidl sit some distance further back with 8.7% and 8.2% respectively, albeit they are the brands to make the biggest gains in the last month despite their lesser stature.
Oddly enough, Super Valu’s market share hasn’t changed since the last round of figures were produced a month ago – Tesco and Dunnes Stores have both fallen by 0.5 and 1.1% respectively with Aldi and Lidl filling the void.
The reason for Dunnes’ fall is possibly attributable to the protracted build-up to the controversial employee strike that took place two weeks ago.
The news caps a stellar couple of weeks for Super Valu after a year that saw them absorb the SuperQuinn brand officially having acquired the business in 2011.
They recently announced record sales of €2.58 billion for 2014, and are planning to create 280 jobs across the country this year. Currently they employ roughly 14.500 people nationwide.
Broadening appeal
Managing Director at the franchise Martin Kelleher was in buoyant mood when commenting on the news.
“It’s nice to be recognised as the largest retailer in the market,” he said.
It’s all the more important when you consider that we’re basically made up of independent retailers. This success belongs to them.
Commenting on the latest figures, Kantar director David Berry said that Super Valu’s rise is all about them ‘broadening their appeal’.
“They have increased shopper numbers by 63,000 in the last 18 months,” he said.
Rebranding Superquinn was also key – that led to an immediate jump in market share from 20% to 25%, and even better, their performance in Dublin more than doubled to 22.2% market share.
