Latest data from Kantar shows that in the four weeks to 29 December, Irish shoppers spent almost €1.4bn on groceries - a record for the period and the highest total since the pre-lockdown rush in March 2020.

The rise in the value of sales came as grocery price inflation moved to 3.6%, an increase from the 3.3% reported in November.

Kantar said that consumers spent €79m more than the previous month on alcohol, with pastries and biscuits also seeing a notable increase. The single busiest trading day of the year - Monday 23 December - saw €107m of grocery purchases.

Market share

On retailer market share, Kantar put Dunnes in the number one spot again at 24.8%.

Tesco was in a close second place with 24.2% of the market and SuperValu was at 20.5%. In the discount sector, Lidl held 12.3% of the market, while Aldi had 10.6%.

Perhaps due to the time of year, there was strong growth in spending on branded and premium own-label products during the four weeks covered by the report.

However, there was significant growth in sales of products on promotion, showing consumers are still look for bargains when shopping.