SuperValu To Open 3 New Stores And Create 210 Jobs In 2019 As Part of €30 Million Investment Programme

Pictured at SuperValu Kinsale are (from left): Ian Allen, Sales Director, SuperValu; Martin Kelleher, Managing Director, SuperValu and Michael Smith, SuperValu Kinsale and SuperValu Retail Chair.

25th February 2018: Ireland’s leading grocery retailer SuperValu recorded a new sales milestone of €2.724 billion in 2018. Adding to this SuperValu plans to expand its network by opening three new stores in 2019, creating 210 new jobs in the process, and revamping 30 additional stores as part of a €30 million investment programme.

A key trend in 2018 was the continued growth in SuperValu’s online shopping service, with 25% year-on-year growth in online sales and an additional 26,000 new customers using the service. The retailer also invested substantially in its Real Rewards loyalty programme, with membership growing to 1.2 million people.

Building on its reputation for food leadership, SuperValu’s Signature Taste premium range was a standout line for the retailer, growing sales by over 10% on the previous year. This can be attributed to shoppers looking for an award-winning premium own band range. The range currently features over 330 products with another 40 expected to hit the shelves in 2019.

One of the key sales trends last year was increasing consumer demand for health and wellness-related products. For example, SuperValu now boosts a health and wellness aisle in all stores with a range of over 1,000 products. It also introduced a range of over 340 vegan products to meet consumer demand and has begun rolling out dedicated Vegetarian/Vegan zones across stores as part of its ongoing strategy to differentiate the brand from its competition.

In 2018, SuperValu became the first retailer in Ireland to introduce fully compostable and biodegradable bags for produce, along with increasing their loose range of fruit and veg. The grocery retailer followed this up by becoming the first national grocery retailer to introduce 100% compostable coffee cups through all Frank and Honest stations in its stores. These form part of a broader strategy to reduce packaging and make 100% of SuperValu’s Own Brand and fresh produce packaging become recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.

Speaking at the SuperValu conference in the Great Southern Hotel in Killarney, Co. Kerry, SuperValu Managing Director Martin Kelleher said: “We continue to build on our food leadership credentials and further establish SuperValu as a destination shop by responding to consumer trends and shopping requirements both in-store and online. We plan to build our momentum in 2019 with a €30 million investment programme, which will see three new stores opened and an existing 30 stores revamped as we continue to rollout new shopping concepts such as Vegetarian and Vegan zones, new salad bars and health and wellness aisles, adding both theatre and on trend ranges for the new shoppers evolving tastes.”

SuperValu serves over 2.6 million customers every week and has 219 stores nationwide. Together with its retail partners, SuperValu employs approximately 14,500 colleagues, making it one of the State’s largest private sector employers. SuperValu continues to source locally wherever possible which helps to sustain 30,000 jobs in the Irish economy.