Ireland

Ireland performs extremely well in economic freedom and business indices. Owing to its resilient economy, the country is expected to bounce back from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Growing incomes, particularly for older people, could support ...

There was a significant shift towards economy wet dog food in 2020 with this trend carrying on into 2021. Despite the rising popularity of smaller dogs, this was driven by the adoption of more large and medium-sized dogs during the pandemic, as ...

During 2020 cat treats and mixers and premium cat food witnessed strong growth driven by higher disposable income among some households due to lockdown, with people saving money on dining out and holidays due to the closure of foodservice outlets and...

There was a considerable rise in the numbers of pets being adopted during the first and second lockdowns in Ireland, with the rise in the number of new pet owners boosting sales of pet products. The average spend on pet healthcare also rose as did ...

The increase in pet ownership from 2020 is expected to continue into 2021 as lockdown initiatives and other government measures to control the spread of the virus continued into the new year. Households enduring home seclusion developed a greater ...

Bird food is expected to experience the steepest decline in 2021 as households will opt to buy fish and small mammal/reptile food instead during ongoing periods of isolation and lockdown as these pets are easier to maintain. The positive growth of ...

The outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent stockpiling of cleaning and disinfectant products led to significant rises in volume sales for some wipes categories in 2020, particularly all purpose cleaning wipes in the home care segment. Demand remained ...

Stockpiling and working-from-home arrangements were major contributors to growth in retail tissue in 2020....

There were significant increases in demand for various retail tissue items in 2020, buoyed by stockpiling behaviour that lasted well into 2020 and working-from-home arrangements, which maintained higher product usage, especially in the case of toilet...

The stockpiling of nappies/diapers/pants at the beginning of the first national lockdown in Ireland did not yield a stronger overall 2020 sales performance for the category. The fall in the country’s birth rate continued to erode volume demand, with ...

AFH tissue saw a notable decrease in volume sales in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and the prominence of working from home. Indeed, many people were able to do their jobs at home amid office and other workplace closures, reducing ...

In 2020, sales performed slightly better compared with 2019, supported by stockpiling and a natural progression of increase in demand. Given that sanitary protection products are deemed essential goods in Ireland, there was never any likelihood of ...

Retail adult incontinence continued its positive sales performance in Ireland in 2020, due to the ageing population and greater awareness of the products spreading further across Ireland. Stockpiling because of the national lockdown did not lead to ...

The coronavirus pandemic and Brexit uncertainty led to a stagnation of Irish economic activity over 2020. However, due to rapidly deployed measures, comprehensive macroeconomic policy, high productivity, and a flexible labour market, Ireland managed ...

Though Ireland has so far weathered the negative economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic better than many Western European countries, Irish consumers still became much more cautious in their spending habits in 2020, including when grocery shopping. ...

Classed as essential businesses, chemists/pharmacies and drugstores/parapharmacies in Ireland were permitted to remain open during lockdowns in 2020. By providing access to prescription and OTC medications, such outlets played a key role in ...

Supermarkets outperformed all other grocery retailers formats in current value growth terms in 2020. The channel was the primary beneficiary of increased spending on groceries during the first lockdown, which lasted from late March to mid-May. While ...

Mobile e-commerce sales increased dramatically in current value terms in 2020. Although this was in line with the broader pivot to online shopping caused by COVID-19, because the pandemic left them mostly confined to their homes for much of the year,...

As part of the wider effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, from the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 the Irish government advised people to reduce the frequency of grocery shopping trips, and to shop locally for food and other necessities where ...

Contactless vending machines performed comparatively well in value terms in 2020 as COVID-19 made Irish consumers much more hygiene-conscious. The pandemic also encouraged many private independent operators to enter the vending channel with machines ...