Grocery sales in the Republic grew by 3.5% in the 12 weeks ending 18 June compared with the same period last year.

“While average pack prices are down, shoppers are choosing to take advantage of this recent period of deflation by adding more items to their baskets per trip, driving the market’s overall growth,” observed Cora Campbell, consumer insight director at the market research company.

SuperValu retained the largest market share as it grew sales by 2.5% year-on-year. However, the gap narrowed to just 0.2 points with second-placed Tesco.

Each of the two top retailers control just over 22% of the market, with Dunnes Stores showing even stronger growth and closing in on Tesco.

Aldi and Lidl, too, saw sales continue to grow.

Kantar’s sample of 30,000 identical products showed that grocery prices fell by 0.2% in the past three months compared with the same period last year.

This confirms the level of deflation already observed last month.

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Although retail food prices decreased in the past quarter, shoppers spent more and competition between Supervalu and Tesco intensified for top market share, according to Kantar Worldpanel.