Food and Drink Internet Retailing in Ireland

PROSPECTS

Strong growth expected in channel over forecast period

Food and drink internet retailing in Ireland is expected to see significant growth over the forecast period. It is expected that more and more consumers will engage with internet retailing to purchase their grocery needs due to improving services in terms of delivery times as well as continued demand for convenience among consumers leading busier lives.

More competition expected over forecast period

While only two of the main grocery retailers in Ireland currently operate online, this is expected to change over the forecast period. One challenge to retailers is that the cost of getting products on to supermarket shelves is likely to increase if there is a hard Brexit.

Brexit expected to impact channel over forecast period

Growth is expected to be slower compared to the review period. This is due to the fact that growth during the review period came from a very low base.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Tesco and Supervalu account for large share of food and drink internet retail sales

Tesco and Supervalu remain the leading players in the food and drink internet retail channel in Ireland. The majority of sales by both Tesco and Supervalu are food and drink products given that neither sells a significant proportion of non-grocery items online.

No online-only food and drink internet retailers

While online-only food and drink internet retailers have opened in other areas, none have started operating in Ireland yet. This is due to the fact that the Irish market is quite small and is struggling to build the scale that is required for internet only grocery retailers.

Public Health Alcohol Bill introduces minimum unit pricing

Very few internet retailers offer alcoholic drinks online. Both Tesco and Supervalu do sell alcoholic drinks through their internet retail channel, as well as a few select off-licences such as O’Briens and Wines Direct.

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