Dunnes Stores increased its market share of the supermarket sector in the 12 weeks to September 15 on the back of a ''back to school'' boost.
The supermarket group rose by 3.3% to stand at 22.1% from 21.6% the same time last year, the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel group show.
Kantar noted that Dunnes turned what was a €17m loss from shoppers switching away from the chain this time last year into a €10m gain this year.
Today's figures show that Tesco remains the market leader with 26.8% market share despite a 5.6% fall, while SuperValu's strong summer performance continued with sales growth of 1.8% to bring its share to 19.7%.
The performance of Aldi and Lidl continued to improve, with growth rates of 24.3% and 13.1% respectively. However, Kantar said that their combined market share dipped slightly to 14.9% compared to the record 15.1% in the previous three month period.
''The build up to the key Christmas period will show if the discounters can sustain their strong growth of if a ceiling is starting to be reached,'' commented David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel.
Kantar also noted that grocery inflation fell to 4.8% for the 12 week period under review from a level of 5.5%.
