Supermarket Price Comparison Ireland

A  Supermarket Price Comparison survey was carried out in March 2018  (on behalf of Aldi) by Grant Thornton.  They compared prices at Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, SuperValu and Dunnes Stores. The sample in the survey  consisted of 62 items,  and was found to cost on average:

  • €65.04 in Aldi,
  • €65.53 in Lidl,
  • €76.54 in Tesco,
  • €80.74 in Dunnes Stores
  • €95.50 in SuperValu.

The sample of products included strawberry jam, fresh cream, honey, ice-cream, rice, orange juice, cheese, yoghurt, soda bread and a range of fruit and vegetables including cucumbers, mushrooms, apples and broccoli.
They say they focused where possible on mid-range own-brand products.(Exact details are not available.)
The fact that the price survey was commissioned by Aldi might make some people suspicious.


The Consumer Association of Ireland  seems to carry out regular but small supermarket price comparison surveys in Ireland.   The most recent CAI Grocery price comparison we found was carried out in 2016 – we had a look at some of the results…

They checked the prices of a basket of  selected  branded items  at Dunnes Stores ,  Tesco  and Supervalu .
Basically – the  price comparison in 2016 found that there was very little difference in prices on the selected branded products in the 3 major supermarkets.

In the past their survey used to check the prices of quite a few items – but now they only compare prices of “19 staple items ” .
In 2016 the average price of these 19 items was €43.03 . There was only a difference of €1.14 between the dearest and the cheapest shop . So – it looks like it doesn’t really pay much to shop around in Ireland (not on brand name products anyway.)

Price matching was found to be common – with more than half (ten) of the items in the basket carrying identical price-tags across all three supermarkets.

They also compared the 19 items to “broadly equivalent” own brand items in Aldi and Lidl.  When compared to the average branded basket, which cost €43.03,  the survey found that Lidl and Aldi customers could purchase equivalents of these essentials for around  €20  – less than half the price.

They also checked equivalent own brand items in Tesco , Dunnes and Supervalu and found that store-brand baskets were found to be almost half the price of the branded items in the same shops

The comparison also found that when the prices of  Lidl and Aldi’s baskets were compared to to the “own brand” baskets from the 3  major supermarket retailers   – prices were almost the same.


How Important is Price ?

Another survey (in 2016) by Nielsen found that having lowest price was only the sixth most important influencing factor for Irish supermarket shoppers.

In the survey – most (60%)  Irish shoppers said that having products they want regularly being in stock was “highly influential” in choosing which retailer to buy from.

This came just ahead of having high quality fresh produce (59%) with  good value for money (58%) coming in as the third most influential factor.

Having the lowest prices ranked just sixth (with 52%) in terms of influence.

The survey compaany commented that “Irish consumers are more interested in the right ranges of quality products than pure low prices. Value for money is more important than a low price


Irish Supermarket Popularity –  (March 2018 figures)
Figures from Kantar Worldpanel

Dunnes is at top position with 23.1% of shoppers’ grocery spending.  Growth remains strong at 5.0% but this has dipped from a high of 5.7% last period.

Tesco is in second place with  a market share of 22.3%.

SuperValu is in third position with market share of 22.0%

Lidl  fourth with – 10.8% and very close behind is Aldi  with 10.6%