Leading outlets all closely matched
ANALYSIS {slide= Click here for more} Neill O Neill Competition among Mayo’s main supermarkets is keen, with prices in our main grocery stores in line with national price ranges, The Mayo News has found.
A recent survey by the National Consumer Agency found that there is little difference in the cost of shopping between Dunnes Stores, Tesco and SuperValu and this was verified by a price survey carried out by The Mayo News in Mayo last week.
Visiting the main supermarkets in Ballina, Ballinrobe, Castlebar, Claremorris, Kiltimagh, Swinford and Westport, very little price difference was found on the total cost of a basket of 22 everyday top brand products.
However, a misconception that it is cheaper and more worthwhile to travel to nearby larger towns to shop as the price differences are so vast also became apparent during the research. Many people stated that they believe the overall savings on a basket of shopping in Dunnes or Tesco would justify the trip from Swinford or Westport to shop in Castlebar.
Dunnes Stores, as in the national survey, was marginally cheaper, at €55.18, for the 22 items and was not beaten on price for anything in the basket. Tesco followed closely in second place with a price of €55.28, while SuperValu stores in Ballina, Ballinrobe, Claremorris, Kiltimagh and Westport trailed by eleven cents – their total price for these items was €55.39. The total at the Centra supermarket in Westport was €55.45 while EuroSpar in Swinford priced the 22 items at €57.55 – some €2.37 behind Dunnes Stores.
Meanwhile, a sample survey of 25 shoppers in Westport and Swinford who were asked where the same 22-item shopping list would be cheapest, found comprehensively in favour of Dunnes Stores. Tesco were second cheapest in public opinion, followed by SuperValu.
This is the correct order, but a large discrepancy appeared when people were asked to estimate the total price difference between the three supermarket chains. Nobody was within €1.60 when comparing the products between Dunnes and Tesco, while SuperValu fared worse with a €3.90 average when compared to what people thought the 22 items would cost in Dunnes.
Some believed that local supermarkets in smaller Mayo towns like Swinford could cost up to €7.50 more for the 22 items when in reality the difference between Dunnes Stores in Castlebar and EuroSpar in Swinford was just €2.37.
It was not possible to include own brand items in this survey as price comparisons can only be drawn between exactly the same items and brands. For this reason it was also not possible to compare fresh fruit and vegetables and over-the-counter meat, as the same brands are not always carried by suppliers to different stores. The items selected were chosen from a list of the top 100 brands in Ireland and are deemed to be everyday items which are stocked by all the surveyed stores. Items on special offer in any one of the stores could not be considered as part of the overall survey as this would be advantageous to that store. SuperValu, for example, are currently selling 12 packs of Birds Eye Potato Wafflles at €1.34 compared to €2.59 in Dunnes and Tesco, and had this product remained in the survey it would have given a misrepresentation on the real price picture.
Similarly, Aldi and Lidl do not carry a comprehensive range of top brand products but base their appeal around discounted items, thus excluding themselves from a survey like this.
There were no discrepancies in prices noted within individual stores operating in the same group, and on the surface it seems that the day when individual store owners or managers inflated prices on certain items or at certain times of the year is in the past. Some operators contend that several years ago this may have been the case but with prices regulated by central computerised control systems within individual companies at present, it is now unlikely.
Dunnes Stores and Tesco (known as multiples) both operate two supermarkets in Mayo – in Castlebar and Ballina. As the survey is specific to supermarkets, convenience stores operated by these companies, such as the Dunnes in Westport, were not included. There are eight SuperValu stores in Mayo with the ones not included in this survey located in Ballyhaunis and Achill.
Centra stores in Mayo operate mainly as provincial supermarkets and community convenience stores. There are 14 Centra stores in the county, operating in three different formats and prices in these stores vary according to format and location. Therefore it was not possible to include them all in the survey.
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BRANDING {slide= Click here for more}
HOW THE CHAINS DIFFER
DUNNES Stores is a name synonymous with retailing in Ireland and is one of the most recognisable indigenous brand names in this country. The company, which is still operated by the Dunne family, has 111 stores in the Republic of Ireland, not all of which are grocery stores.
Tesco Ireland is a subsidiary of Tesco plc, a British retailing company, which is the third largest grocery retailer in the world. Tesco Ireland operate 95 outlets in this country, some of which are convenience stores.
SuperValu stores are different in that they are owned by individual retailers who operate their businesses under the SuperValu brand. The brand is owned by The Musgrave Group – a Cork-based food wholesale company, which is the largest private company in Ireland by turnover. All SuperValu stores sell the same own brand and branded products and use the same layout, which they acquire from The Musgrave Group. This is not done on a franchise basis as no fee is paid to Musgraves, but all stores buy their products directly from the group. SuperValu is unlike other symbol group stores in that the layout is on a larger scale, thus allowing it – with the buying power of the Musgrave Group as a whole – to compete with Dunnes Stores and Tesco. There are 180 SuperValu stores currently operating in Ireland.
Centra stores are operated on the same basis as SuperValu from The Musgrave Group. Traditionally, Centra has been known as the convenience store section of The Musgrave Group as opposed to SuperValu, which is the supermarket section. The chain has four different formats available to franchisees – City Centre Convenience, Community Convenience, Community Market and Provincial Supermarket. There are currently 424 Centra stores trading in the Republic of Ireland with the City Centre Convenience the most common format. Stores in the Provincial Supermarket Category, like the Centra in Westport, can often operate on the same price scheme as SuperValu, and consequently compete with SuperValu and the multiples.
EuroSpar is the supermarket section of Spar Ireland, which is owned and operated by the wholesale company BWG Foods Ltd. Spar operate in three formats here – Spar Convenience, Spar Express (filling station shops) and EuroSpar, which is the supermarket format. There are 470 Spar stores in the Republic of Ireland of which 40 are EuroSpars. Two of these are in Mayo, in Belmullet and Swinford.
Other symbol groups such as Londis, Gala, Costcutter, Mace and XL Stop and Shop also operate in Mayo but did not form part of this research. While it is incorrect to brand any particular outlet as a supermarket or convenience store given that their location may pit them against a nearby multiple or nobody at all, in the main the majority of shops operating under these symbols are convenience stores and their prices, by their nature, tend to be higher.
Due to the massive variations in product lines, and accordingly their price structure, the ‘discounters’ – Aldi and Lidl – are automatically excluded.
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WHAT THE CUSTOMERS THINK
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People travel to shop for a variety of reasons and, apart from value, many cited the prominence of special offers along with variety as a reason they travel to other towns for their grocery shopping. In Swinford and Westport last week, we asked 25 people a number of questions about their shopping habits - and their perceptions.
{/slide} THE SHOPPING LIST {slide= Click here for more} HOW THE SUPERMARKETS COMPARED 
{/slide} THE CHOSEN TWELVE
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SIZE AND SERVICE
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