Less than a week after the Superquinn brand was subsumed into SuperValu, new figures show the latter chain continuing to grow market share at the expense of its rivals.

SuperValu increased its share to 20.1 per cent from 19.9 per cent for the 12 weeks ending February 2nd, according to new figures from Kantar Worldpanel. The grocer, which officially welcomed around 30,000 new customers last Wednesday when 24 Superquinn stores were rebranded under the SuperValu banner, was the only multiple to see growth during the period under review.

Superquinn, which appears in the rankings for the final time, saw its market share decline by 6.5 per cent to 5.1 per cent over the 12 week period.

Discount chains Aldi and Lidl continued to gain customers at the expense of their rivals. Aldi's share rose by 1.3 per cent to 7.2 per cent while Lidl increased from 5.8 per cent to 6.6 per cent.

Tesco’s market share fell again from 27. 7 per cent to 26 per cent, despite 87 per cent of Irish shoppers frequenting its stores. Dunnes market share was down 1.9 per cent to 23.8 per cent.

Grocery inflation stands at 2.9 per cent, unchanged from the previous reporting period.

Kantar Worldpanel linked the slowdown in overall grocery spending to price inflation, which has halved from 6 per cent last year to 2.9 per cent currently.

"Although levels of inflation are reducing in Ireland, the financial pressure on people's budgets remains an important factor in deciding where people shop, and what they are buying," said Mark Thomson, business unit director.