Take-home value sales over the four weeks to the end of 2024 increased by 4.4% to reach nearly €1.4 billion for groceries, making it the biggest sales month of the year, according to data from Kantar.

Shoppers in Ireland returned to stores more often in December, making 23 trips on average to pick up Christmas essentials, compared to just 17 trips on average in Great Britain.

Business development director at Kantar, Emer Healy said: “December was the busiest trading month we have seen – not just this year, but since the pre-lockdown rush in March 2020.

"As anticipated, Monday 23 December was the most popular shopping day of the year, with consumers spending €107 million on that one day alone, €11.9 million more than the highest trading day last year."

Shoppers were willing to spend slightly more than usual with sales of branded products up 5.9%. Meanwhile, premium own label lines saw a sharp increase of 10.5%.

This surpassed the overall growth of own label products, which stood at 3.2%. Over the latest 12 weeks, shoppers spent nearly €140 million on premium own label ranges.

Shoppers spent an additional €28.3 million online over the festive period, increasing sales by 14.7% year-on-year, according to the latest data.

Over the latest 12-week period, the number of online shopping trips increased 13.3%, with both new and existing online shoppers looking to save time during the busy Christmas period adding €28.3 million to the platform.

The data shows that Dunnes holds 24.8% of the market share, with sales growth of 6.9% year-on-year. Tesco holds 24.2% of the market, with value growth of 6.4%.

SuperValu holds 20.5% of the market with growth of 3.2%. Consumers made the most shopping trips to this grocer, averaging 23.8 trips over the latest 12 weeks.

Lidl holds a 12.3% share of total spending with growth of 4.6% and Aldi holds 10.6% market share, up 3.9% versus on last year.