It turns out that us Irish consumers are fairly predictable, as for the last ten years, one brand alone has sat atop our list of most bought items.
The big winners this year, again, are Coca Cola, who have now spent a decade at the top of the pile as the biggest selling brand in the Irish grocery market. Those brands in second and third, Avonmore milk and Brennan's Bread, have also been there for the last five years, and show no signs of budging either. The full top ten is as follows:
1) Coca Cola
2) Avonmore
3) Brennan's
4) Cadbury Dairy Milks
5) Tayto
6) Lucozade
7) 7UP
8) Walkers
9) Jacobs
10) Pampers
One thing that the top ten does show is a fondness on our part for sugary and salty snacks and drinks that probably aren't the best for us, but on the other hand, bottled water is increasingly becoming a bigger part of the market as Deep River Rock, Ballygowan and Volvic were all up on their places from last year.
Homegrown brands Glenisk, Flahavan’s, Cully & Sully and Clonakilty have all seen their stock rise too, but in terms of categories, it's broadly the same breakdown as above: Confectionery is the biggest selling category in Ireland, followed by Milk (2nd), Bread (3rd), Carbonated Soft Drinks (4th) and Biscuits (5th), according to Checkout Magazine, who published the results along with Nielsen.
Matt Clark, Commercial Director, of Nielsen Ireland said that while it's still a challenging market for retailers, "there are some positive signs that the European market is recovering, however Ireland still lags behind its counterparts". For those brands who are trying to break in to the market, he adds that "it can be difficult to justify investment in brand building and maintaining awareness" as a result of those factors.
Long story short, it seems us Irish know what we like and like what we know. Still, we could probably use a bit more fruit and veg, maybe?
